And what about that Credit card?

Reduce credit card debt

“Reduce credit card debt and eliminate it before it assumes a horrifying shape” – This is really the gist of the story. So, how do you reduce credit card debt? Well, you reduce credit card debt by preventing it from increasing and by paying off what it is currently. Simple, isn’t it?

Not really. If it was that simple to reduce credit card debt, then we wouldn’t have had so many people with credit card debt related problems. We would have been able to reduce credit card debt problems and finally eliminate them (or reduce them significantly). There are all kinds of advice available on how to reduce credit card debt, but still nothing much seems to change. The problem still seems to persist and in fact, worsen. However, it’s not that difficult to reduce credit card debt. As we just said, there is a lot of advice available on how to reduce credit card debt and the only thing you need to do is put that advice, on how to reduce credit card debt, to practice in real life. Well, no one but you will benefit if you reduce credit card debt.

So the first step to reduce credit card debt is to prevent it from taking dangerous proportions. The 2 most important ways of implementing this step are – balance transfers and use of cash.

Balance transfer is often treated as the number one measure to reduce credit card debt. This is really something that can help reduce credit card debt by slowing down the pace at which your credit card debt is getting built. It also provides you relief in terms of the APR being 0% for initial 6-9 months (and hence helps reduce credit card debt faster). To reduce credit card debt using this mechanism, you need to transfer your balance from your current credit card(s) onto another credit card that has a lower APR than your current card. Thus you reduce credit card debt by preventing it from increasing so rapidly.

The other preventive measure to reduce credit card debt is to use cash instead of card (as such, hard earned cash is difficult to get out of pocket as compared to just a credit card). So you reduce credit card debt by not adding more to it. That is the simplest way to reduce credit card debt.

However, you can reduce credit card debt only if you stick to your resolution to reduce credit card debt; otherwise it will fail miserably.

And what about that Credit card?

What is a ‘good credit card deal?’

You must have heard people say – ‘I got a good credit card deal’. So if you happen to be looking for a credit card at that moment, do you just go with what your friend has told you as a good credit card deal?

Let’s check what one can term as a good credit card deal. A credit card deal is good if it works for you. So, if the credit card fits into your lifestyle in a way that rakes in maximum benefits for you, that is a good credit card deal. The most important thing to realize here is the word ‘your’ as in ‘your lifestyle’. So logically speaking there is nothing like a good credit card deal. What it is - is good credit card deal for ‘you’ i.e. the individual who is going to use that credit card. This is because the lifestyle and the needs differ from person to person (and that is precisely the reason why every credit card supplier offers so many different kinds of credit cards). It might be true in some cases (where the lifestyle of two individuals/friends is similar) that the credit card deal which is good for one be good for the other too, however, this is just in a few cases.

You can always check with your friend who has recently got a credit card deal, since that might cut down the time needed for researching/hunting-for a good credit card deal. However, it’s really a matter of evaluating your own needs. If you travel a lot and to far off places by air, a card that offers you good rewards/rebates/benefits on travel would comprise a good credit card deal. Sometimes the airlines themselves have their own credit card issuing/supplying company from where you can get a good credit card deal.

For people shopping at a particular retail store or a shop, a good credit card deal would be a card that offers discounts, rebates and rewards on shopping. Again, the retail stores themselves might have credit cards on offer that could be beneficial to you. Then there are credit card deals that are linked to gasoline stores or big grocery chains. If you don’t have any specific needs, you might use a general purpose credit card that gives reward points on every purchase you make on your credit card. These points can then be redeemed for cash/rewards. Hence, this card could become a good credit card deal for you.

Good, for credit card deals, is really a relative term and there is no credit card deal which is equally good for all.