If you find, like millions of  Americans, that you have too much  personal debt, take  comfort.  You’re not  by yourself, and there ways to reduce your debt.  Credit card debt reduction, in fact, doesn’t have to be a dream, but an easy reality. 

These days, the  typical  American with debt carries more than $12,000 in  credit card debt.  (Of course, the debt we have from mortgages, car loans and other loans don’t count in this amount. ) For many  people, this causes them no stress, but  the majority of people   are burdened  about the amount of debt they  have  and for  valid  reason – learning to control and  eliminate  debt is one step toward financial freedom as a debt free Christian, something  many  of us would love to attain . 

In this article, we’ll look at several ideas for credit card debt reduction . Some might not be interesting to you , while others will strike you as something  to try out  . 

1)  Spending & Buying Habits

To reduce your credit card debt, you  will have to quit using them for purchases  . This is a difficult  one.   Maybe  you pay some of your bills with your credit cards. You tellyourself it’s for the “rewards” like  hotel credits  and airline miles. But if using your credit cards for these purposes is adding to your debt, you should pay anotherway.  Stop any  automatic bill  payments that go on your credit card and use a debit cardinstead. 

 A lot of  people  talk themselves into  paying for things with  credit  with the good intention of paying  the charge back off  when the bill comes, but when the  statement arrives  , the  balance often  is not available.  The credit card balance continues to increase as little more than the interest is paid down each month. 

Credit card debt reduction means working toward eliminating debt  , of course, but you can’t do that without working toward reducing your expensesfirst. 

Now, once you  quit  using your credit cards for  payments and activities that you have been  used  to pulling out a credit card for , you also  need to quit  using your credit cards for  daily  spending. That means if cash is short and you want tocatch a movie , you simply don’t go, if going means pulling out a credit card to pay for it. You forgo dinners out, and the new shoes you don’t really need.

 If  reducing debt  is a priority then the  things that have to be given up along the way  will be worth it.

2)  Debt Elimination 

Once you have dealt with your spending , you need to  start working on the debt  . If you are only making minimum payments,  find a way to increase the amount you pay . Financial experts say that if you pay 2% of your balance each month –  many times  the minimum payment is about 2% of your balance – it  could take up to  22 years to pay off a $1,000 debt!

If you double your minimum payment each month, you can cut down your overall repayment to 11 years instead of 22.

 Increasing your payments  might seem  hard  , but  as  you see your credit card balances decrease , you’ll be pleased with your efforts.  

If you can afford to  pay additional amounts ,  think about  focusing on one debt at a time. If you have more that one  bill  you are looking to reduce the balance on, or pay off, here are some tips: 

  • Focus on paying extra on one  bill or credit card  at a time, perhaps paying only minimum payments on the others.
  • When you get extra money, say a tax refund , or a rebate, apply that toward the one  bill  you are working on.
  • Add as much money as you can each month to the card you are working on paying off.  Make multiple payment each month if you can.  Set up your account online so can quickly and easily make payments from your checking account. 
  • Look for ways to make additional money  in order to  to pay down debt.  Have a garage sale or if you are really serious take a part time job delivering pizzas or as a waiter or waitress.

As each debt is retired you will feel more in control of your finances and the payments that you no longer have can be  used on  existing debt to reduce it even  faster  .  This is known as the “debt snowball” method of debt repayment.

3)  Stay Focused  

To successfully see your credit card balances reduced, you must be committed. It’s not easy to take extra money and apply that to debt, and not spend it. It’s not easy to shop with cash only and not credit, especially if it’s become a habit. But if you reduce or completely eliminate your credit card debt, you will begin to see the immense benefits of financial freedom.

Debt-Free-Christian.com is a website with many articles on topics such as Christian debt consolidation and Christian debt management.