One of the things that uncontrolled debt tends to do is to put your life on hold. A pile of unpaid credit card statements and incessant phone calls from creditors are not exactly a great background on which you can start planning your next vacation in a destination of your dreams. However, if you are quick to acknowledge that possibly, it is only you who is to blame for the miserable state of affairs and are fired by the thought of heading off to the mountains or the beach for a dream holiday, then surely there is hope. Many people have successfully conquered their debt issues and gone on to enjoy fulfilling lives, so there is no reason why you cannot do the same. Here are some great tips that you can immediately start working with:
Know Your Debt
It may seem surprising, but many people do not really know the extent of the debt they are in. They only see the credit card statements piling up and after a quick glance at the monthly dues, just pretend that they do not exist and keep on committing financial suicide. If you are to sit under the coconut tree in a remote Caribbean island, then it is high time that you compiled a list of all the dues you have and got to know the amount of principal outstanding, the monthly outgo, and the accumulated penalties. If you cannot decipher the card statements give a call to the helplines listed. Find out the gap between you monthly income and the your monthly expenses, including the credit card payments.
Save Money
The idea of saving money while groaning under a pile of debt may seem incongruous, but you can really examine your current lifestyle and crop off quite a few unnecessary expenditures. Forget those expensive lunches, the weekends with friends hitting the disco, and you can immediately see the difference it can make to your cash flow. If you have extra assets lying around that you really do not need, such as a vehicle or even a coin collection, consider getting rid of them and plowing back the proceeds to service your debt. If your debt issues are really immense and you think you need professional help, you can seek advice from financial counselors at a reputed debt relief company like national debt relief that also have a host of different programs that can help to bail you out.
Reduce Debt — What You Can Do By Yourself
If you have a credit card that will allow you the balance transfer facility, then you could look into the possibility of transferring all the outstanding at a favorable rate of interest. Not only will you be left with a monthly payment that is lesser, but only a single payment every month. You no longer have to track multiple statements every month. You could also think of negotiating with the credit card issuers to reduce your accumulated interest and waive off your penalties. If the card issuers perceive you to be a bad credit risk, they could do a significant reduction that will work towards your being able to pay them back faster and start your tour.
Reduce Debt — Take Professional Assistance
If you do not have a card that offers a balance transfer facility, then consider a debt consolidation program that will leave you with only a single payment to be made every month, while the creditors are paid off with a debt consolidation loan. Debt settlement companies have the necessary skills to help you to achieve a substantial saving. With the right approach, they may be able to help you to knock off as much as 50% of your outstanding. You however need to deal with the service charges and fees as well as the short term impact on your credit score, but if this means that you would be able to fulfill your wanderlust, then maybe the price is worth the while. In the meantime, you could start planning your vacation, getting to know the destination details, as well as interacting with travel junkies on social platforms for great money-saving tips.
Nice to see an article on debt and travel. Topic of the article is nice. Know your debt is really crucial. You have mentioned 1 point in the article is that we should find out the gap between monthly income and monthly expenses including credit card payments. Many thanks for all the 4 points in the article. I think you have explained last 3 points in wonderful way. Because those 3 points have come in order which makes article look better. Conclusion in any article makes it better you have also done that. I will sure it this with my friends. Good to read!!
“How to get rid of debt and travel the world” is a great article by you. You are correct Andi, that debts put the life on hold. You can do nothing when there is burden of debts. This article is so nicely written and is much informative. All the points are written correctly and in simple language so that anyone can understand it. The main thing is to know your expenses and cut down it as much as you can. There are two ways to reduce the debts which are explained neatly in this article. Thank you so much Andi for sharing such a helpful information through this article.
Great post!
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