Get Out of Debt the Smart Way

No matter how much money we make every year, Americans statistically carry a higher debt to income ratio then 25 years ago. Experts like Suze Orman and others offer simple, everyday solutions to try and manage your debt on a daily, monthly, yearly and long -term basis.

Some basic steps include:

· Pay off high income rate credit cards. If you do not have the cash on hand, try and move the balances over to lower rate or fixed rate card.
· Always pay more than the minimum payment every month. This will help eliminate The endless cycle of just putting money towards the interest and not lowering the principal balance
· NEVER make a late payment. The majority of companies now allow you to make payments online free of charge. You also can set up reoccurring monthly payments so that you know that you will never be late again.
· Monitor your credit scores. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies to provide you (upon request) to one free credit report every 12 months. These can be obtained online at the following sites:
1. www.transunion.com
2. www.experian.com
3. www.equifax.com
· Be sure to dispute any information on each report that is incorrect, out of date or accounts that do not belong to you
· Try to stay well below your credit limits. In other words, if you have $10,000 of credit available, it is wise to use the 80/20 ratio and keep 80% of your credit available.
· Try to have 3 months income saved in case of emergencies
· Banks such as www.ING.com. Currently are offering interest rates for savings accounts with no minimum balance between 4-6%, well above the national average.
· If you find that you are in over your head look to non-profit companies like www.acc.net to help manage your debt and possibly work with your creditors to lower interest rates and payment and help get you back on track.
· Finally and most importantly, if you can’t pay cash DON’T BUY IT