How To Approach The Growing Problem Of Debt
Friday, August 29th, 2008Most people today run their lives to a certain extent on credit and there can be very few of us who do not have debts of one sort or another. Unfortunately, there are also an increasing number of people who have taken on more debt than they can handle and know that they are in trouble.
Despite this fact however all too often these people find it difficult to face up to their debt problem and simply bury their head in the sand and hope that the problem will go away. It doesn’t of course and, in most cases, it simply gets worse. So, how should you deal with what you know is a growing debt problem?
The first thing that you have to do is to assess just how big the problem is. For example, if you are paying $300 every month simply in interest charges to service your debt and have a monthly net income of $3,000 then you are paying out 10% of your income and getting nothing in return for it. True, you were able to buy some things earlier than would have been possible if you had not bought them on credit but nonetheless the price which you are now paying for that privilege is 10% of your monthly income. So, is it worth it?
The problem here is that the $300 you are paying every month is simply the cost of interest on your loans and does not represent the repayment of the loans themselves. In other words, if you can afford to pay back say $400 each month then at least a quarter of this payment is going to repay the loans but, if $300 is as much as you can afford then you can go on paying this forever and your loans will never be cleared.
At this point you need a plan which is going to allow you to use whatever money you have available each month to not simply meet the interest payments required on your loans but to start bringing down the actual loans themselves as quickly as possible. Two common approaches here are either to start with your smallest debt and work your way up to your largest debt or start with your largest debt and work your way down to your smallest debt. There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods but, whichever, you choose the secret is to concentrate on one debt at a time and work your way steadily through the list until they are all paid off.
While you are clearing your debt of course the other thing which you need to do, and something which most people find to be very difficult, is to stop borrowing. If you are struggling now then there is little point in putting together a plan to clear your debts and then simply going on adding to the problem. Of course you do not need to clear your debt completely before you start taking on further credit, but you do need to get it down to a level which you can manage comfortably and with money to spare each month before adding to your financial commitments.
Facing up to a problem of debt is not always easy but you will find that life becomes far more difficult if wait until the debt collection letters start arriving in your mailbox. Many millions of people today are in a similar situation and help is available if you need it. All you need to do is take the first step and ask for it.
