Drowning In Credit Card Debt?
Credit card debt seems like a financial issue. There is another level, however, to what looks like the purely financial problem of how to handle your credit card debt. That side has to do with the human toll that carrying credit card debt from month to month and year to year can have on a person and on a family. A family’s finances are at the core of what make the family work. Credit card debt eats away at that core.
The old joke goes “Money can’t buy happiness – but it can rent it.” And while that’s cute, credit card debt can make the difference between a family that is able to live peacefully within its means and one that is on the verge of disaster.
When you sit down and take seriously the challenge of conquering your credit card debt, you have some battles to fight that are not just about credit card debt, interest rates and minimum payments. The truth is that none of us can face down something as overwhelming as a massive credit card debt if we just don’t think we can do it.
A person’s self confidence to deal with a large credit card debt is rooted in the idea that he or she can and has had success at facing a challenge before. You believe you can take on a new challenge, such as conquering credit card debt, because you have accomplished difficult tasks before. When it comes to facing tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt, it’s possible you have never before faced such an overwhelming enemy. Credit card debt can cause despair, and make you just want to throw up your hands and give up.
So, when is the appropriate time to panic about your credit card debt? Well, you know the answer to that question is – NEVER! This is not just pie in the sky optimism talking here. There are some very pragmatic reasons that you should stubbornly refuse to panic no matter how bad the credit card debt appears to be.
For one thing, if you are the responsible adult in the house whose job it is to handle the finances of the family, those people you love depend on you to guide your family out of messes, including credit card debt. The last thing they want to see is for you to come unglued because of a few bills. So for the sake of the people you love, keep your head and keep looking for options and answers to your credit card debt problem.
The other reason to not panic about credit card debt is that there is always something you can do. You can get another job, or find another income source to keep paying that credit card debt down. And as long as you can make the payments on your credit card debt in any given month, there is hope the next month you will start to pull ahead. As long as you have your health and there are jobs to be had, you can work and slowly get on top of even the most daunting credit card debt. It might take some hard work, but you can do it.
You may also be able to refinance for debt consolidation purposes, rolling your credit card debt in with your mortgage. This provides instant relief by lowering your monthly interest bill on your credit card debt from credit card rates to mortgage rates – a saving of up to 10% and sometimes more on the APR.
But even if you cannot work, have no home to refinance, and the credit card debt keeps getting higher and higher, there is still no reason to panic. You can renegotiate with lenders to get some control over the credit card debt. You can use a credit consolation service to get your credit card debt payments down, and get on a schedule to pay the credit card debt off over time. At the very end of the spectrum of what you can do, there is bankruptcy. If your total credit card debt exceeds your total annual income, you should seriously consider bankruptcy. Experts believe that a credit card debt of that size cannot realistically be repaid.
As bad as that word sounds, bankruptcy is not the end of your world. Lots of people use bankruptcy to escape unbearable credit card debt, and come out the other side of it fine, ready to take on the world again.
There is no need to panic – no matter how bad your credit card debt problem, you really are not doomed. There is always a way out of the mess you are in with credit card debt. It might take some looking, some creative thinking and some leadership to get on top of your credit card debt. But you can find those resources inside yourself if you stubbornly refuse to panic.
