Do you feel like you’re in over your head with credit card debt? Are you worried that your debt will spiral out of control if you don’t make changes soon? Stopping the patterns that led to credit card debt in the first place aren’t always easy, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have options. Let’s talk about some basic things you might be able to do to put your credit card debt on ice while you pay down your balances.

Let’s take a look at five things that might be able to help some consumers stop spiralling into deeper credit card debt.

5 Things You Can do To Avoid Getting Deeper Into Debt

1. Stop charging purchases. – It might sound obvious, but that doesn’t mean everyone does this. Putting your credit cards away can be easier said than done if you’ve become over-reliant on them. But you’ll never stop going further into debt if you keep charging new purchases to your credit card. Stop. If you can’t get used to using cash and cheques again, switch to your debit card. Come up with a new budget that will stop letting you charge excess amounts to a line of credit. No matter what else you do, this has to be your first step.
2. Hide or destroy your credit cards. – If you can’t simply stop charging, you might have to go further by eliminating the temptation. Destroying your credit cards should be an absolute last resort. Consider the freezer method instead so credit cards aren’t readily available and you can’t use them to rack up more credit card debt.

3. Call your credit card company to work out a temporary change. – If your inability to pay down your credit card debt is a temporary problem (such as a result of a job loss that you think will be resolved in a few months), call your credit card company. You might be surprised to find them willing to work with you. Remember that it’s in their interest. They want you to pay your debt to them. To help you out they might be able to negotiate a temporary lower interest rate, waive this year’s annual fee, or waive late fees that would increase your debt by giving you a short-term extension.

4. Negotiate better permanent terms (or transfer your balances if possible). – You can negotiate longer-term changes too. For example, your credit card might have a very high regular interest rate — much higher than those of otherwise comparable cards. If that’s contributing to the problem, ask them for a lower and more competitive rate. Go in armed with information about the competition, showing them what similar cards are charging. If they won’t budge to keep you as a customer, consider moving your balance to a balance transfer card like the Citibank Gold credit card to wipe out that high interest rate.

5. Always pay more than your minimum payment due. – Do whatever you have to do to make this happen. Sell stuff. Get a second job. It won’t necessarily be easy, but do it. One of the worst things you can do if you want to stop accumulating more debt is to pay only your minimum amount due each month. Pay more. Otherwise, for every two steps forward you’ll take another step back as you’re charged more interest on your remaining balance. Minimum payment amounts are not set up in your interest. They prolong the debt repayment and total interest you’ll pay to maximise what the credit card company earns.

Some of these options might be tough or even intimidating (such as trying to negotiate with a credit card company). But you can’t afford to passively sit by while your debt continues to accumulate. If you want to be in a better situation down the road, you need to make financial changes today. You don’t have to do all of these things. Just start somewhere and continue to tackle your debt and problem spending habits one step at a time.