Debt Happens.

Credit card debt happens. The banks will send a credit pre-approval card to anyone, your five year old daughter, even a persons dog!

It is so easy to get into credit card debt that it is almost scary. The problem is that after only a short time or one slip up, those low interest rates can sky rocket. This is when paying off credit card debt can get tough. You want to get out of debt but can only afford to make the minimum payments. So if you are making the minimum payments, all your money is going to the interest and none to what you actually owe. You can see how much interest you end up paying on your debt with this great Debt Calculator.

Let me give you an example of this situation. We had a client who's husband had recently been injured on the job and couldn't work for two weeks. The normal bills kept rolling in. They were smart and paid their mortgage and car notes first. (You never want to default on secured items like a mortgage or car, because if you get too far behind, they can take them.) This didn't leave a much money left for their credit card debt. They missed a payment. Once you miss a payment on your credit cards, that's when all the fine print kicks in. The fine print is how they make their money on you by severely raising your rates. With their new 18% interest rates, they'll be paying off the credit cards for the next 30 years. At this point they are now running on the credit card debt treadmill. The best way off the treadmill is with a debt elimination service.

Know of a story how someone got behind? We'd love to hear about it. Feel free to post your stories here.