At the end of last year, Australians went on a shopping binge, putting over $20 billion on their plastic and raising the average balance on each card to $3,196, according to figures compiled by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Now, with the new year underway, with interest rates rising, back-to-school costs due, and costs increasing for utilities, rents, and repayments, more and more of those shoppers are feeling a financial pinch. A survey recently released by credit rating agency Dun & Bradstreet showed that 43% of Australians would have no alternative but to pay for something essential with their credit or charge cards in this first quarter of 2010.
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You would be hard-pressed to think of anything “good” about being in credit card debt. Still, many consumers are and they struggle to dig their way out. Some consumers struggle to even start paying off their credit card debt.

One possible reason people struggle to get started with tackling credit card debt is the psychological aspect of being in debt. It’s stressful. It’s sometimes easier to look at the total you owe and feel like it’s a helpless battle than to make smaller goals and start making real progress on getting credit cards paid off.

Here are a few tips that might help you get past that psychological hurdle and start taking action:
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This article is part of a series on credit card debt reduction strategies. Visit the links at the end of this article to read about other debt reduction strategies to find one that’s right for you.

If you want to get out of credit card debt, there are several ways to go about it. Most credit card debt reduction strategies revolve around the idea of paying off each of your current credit cards. For some people, that might get too confusing (how much to pay on each card every month, how to minimise interest, etc.).

Does that sound like you? If so, you might want to consolidate those credit card bills into a single account with a balance transfer (or with a loan). read more..

This article is part of a series on credit card debt reduction strategies. Visit the links at the end of this article to read about other debt reduction strategies to find one that’s right for you.

There are a lot of different credit card debt reduction plans you could follow. In some cases they involve paying off a specific type of credit card first, such as the card with the lowest balance or the credit card with the highest interest rate. Today we’ll talk about a different kind of debt reduction strategy — making flat rate payments on all of your credit card accounts. read more..

This article is part of a series on credit card debt reduction strategies. Visit the links at the end of this article to read about other debt reduction strategies to find one that’s right for you.

Nobody wants to be in credit card debt, but sometimes digging your way out from under a mountain of debt can be discouraging. No matter how much money you pay, it feels like taking two steps forward and one step back when you see new interest charges counteracting your payments. There is a debt reduction strategy that can help you minimise those interest payments though. Today let’s talk about the strategy of eliminating credit card debt by paying off your highest interest credit card first. read more..