As the year draws to a close, many begin to look at the financial situation and make resolutions to improve it. This is especially true when one focuses on the build up of debt related to holiday spending. So, what can you do? Here are 5 helpful hits for paying down debt:
1. Brutal Honesty
The first thing you have to do is have an idea of where you are at. This means that you need to be brutally honest about how much debt you have, and how much income you have to help pay it off. You also have to take …read more

Numerous stories are popping up around the personal finance blogosphere with regard to the fact that Chase is raising the minimum payment on its credit cards. Last month, I wrote a post about things are about to get ugly for consumers in terms of their credit card accounts. So it was no surprise when that post (although a month old) saw this recent comment from a reader, Lisa:
Yesterday (6-25-2009) I got a notice saying my “minimum” monthly payment was going from 2% to 5%. That means my payment of $345.00 will start to be $810.00 in August. I will not …read more

We’ve all heard about the great deals being cut for a number of companies. They’ve enjoyed bailouts and preferential treatment on their financing. Now, consumers may be able to get a bit of a break — and the intiative is coming from the credit card companies.
Credit card debt settlemtent made easy
It has always been possible to employ debt settlement as a method of getting rid of unsecured debt. However, the process has long been fraught with complications and strenuous negotiations. Not so much anymore. CNBC offers an example of what happened when one customer asked to settle his credit card …read more

One of the more popular modes of debt consolidation is using one’s home equity loan. Debt consolidation can be an effective debt management technique, and it can be a good part of a debt plan that is made to get out of debt fast. However, a home equity loan debt consolidation can be a risky way to go about it.
Why home equity loan debt consolidation seems attractive
If you have a great deal of debt, home equity loan debt consolidation seems attractive because you would never be able to get a debt consolidation loan that would pay off such a large …read more