by Joseph Kenny | 05/18/09

If you've been involved with the movement to eliminate personal debt in your life and to rebuild your credit, then you've no doubt realized just what an impact credit card debt can have.

In fact, studies show that credit card debt comprises the majority of individually owned debt in the western world. Moreover, it's one of the hardest kinds of debt to rid yourself of because of the incredibly fast pace at which it accrues interest. If you don't make it a major priority and pay the maximum amount possible on your credit card debts, you'll usually find your balance increasing rather than diminishing over time, or at the very least, diminishing at such a slow rate that you'll never pay them off in your lifetime.

However, we don't always have the liberty to make it a number one priority. After all, just because we have credit card, that doesn't stop the mortgage from coming due, or any of our other debts and bills. What to do? Whatever the case, if you, like millions of others, have fallen prey to credit card debt, you need a solid plan to get rid of it.

The first step of any plan for getting out from under credit card debt is to quit using your credit cards altogether. You may be tempted to use one in reserve to pay monthly bills and re-establish your credit rating, but you have to be certain that you can absolutely pay this one on time and infallibly, otherwise you'll get right back into trouble. The secret here is to stop the cycle that creates debt before it gets even more out of control.

The next step is a somewhat more difficult one, but necessary. You have to pay more than the minimum balance on all of your outstanding cards. If you just pay the minimum balance, then you're going to be in trouble, because the accruing interest is just going to cause your overall balance to grow higher and higher over time - you'll literally never pay it off! Therefore, always pay the most that you can afford to pay in any given month. Consistently do this, and you'll see your balances crumbling to nothing in no time.

The last step is, appropriately, the most difficult, but also the most important. You have to reevaluate your spending philosophies. You need to look at the key reasons that you got into debt in the first place and then do all that you can to avoid repeating those same mistakes again. Otherwise, you'll pay your way out of debt just to end up right back in the same place all over again. You don't want this to happen, do you?

The real lesson here is of course that one must use credit cards wisely or not at all. Ask yourself the painful questions - are you really equipped to handle the responsibility of using a credit card? If not, just don't use them! There's no shame in this, and it's far better to make the admission and live by it than it is to live in overwhelming debt. In any case, if you *do* find yourself snowed under, a sound strategy such as this one should help you escape and breathe the fresh air of debt free freedom once more.