1) Don’t Increase Credit Card Debt by Charging Necessity of Life Expenses.

If you're serious about getting rid of credit card debt, get the scissors out and start cutting. Destroy every one of your credit cards and don't forget to include your gas and department store cards. These cards are the worst, with some of the highest interest rates.

From now on, until your credit card debt is reduced to zero, use cash or debit cards for all your transactions. Dedicate twenty minutes, twice a month to structure a household budget. For the first couple of months you may want to get a receipt for every transaction you make until you have an idea what your expenses will be. Be sure to know your monthly budget very well and if you go beyond your means, be sure to adjust for the upcoming months. Basically it boils down to, if you want something and don't have enough money, you can't afford it and probably don’t need it anyways.

If you must keep a credit card open make sure you choose the one with the lowest available credit limit and don't carry it with you. Only use it on pre-planned occasions when it's the only payment method available. The odds of your credit card debt steadily increasing will be greatly reduced if you avoid the danger of impulse buys.

2) Never Pay Just the Minimum Payments.

Credit card companies require that you repay a minimum amount each month, normally 2.5-3.0% of the outstanding amount or $15, whichever is greatest.

Unfortunately that is the biggest financial mistake that anyone can make. Banks and credit card lenders all over the globe make billions each year in profits because people repay their debts are the minimum monthly figure. Remember, you are balances are continuing to accrue interest every day. So for each day you carry a balance it costs you a substantial amount of money.

For example, if you owe $1000 on a credit card and make the minimum monthly repayment, it could take you more than 20 years to repay that debt. And in the process, it would cost you more than $3000. That's three times that amount that you originally borrowed!

So from now on, make it your aim to carry out your credit card debt reduction as quickly as possible. Pay off as much as you can every month. I’ll discuss how to free up extra money each month to repay your debts later in this article.

The longer you take to repay your credit card debt, the more you'll swell the banks' profits.

3) Negotiate A Lower Interest Rate With Your Creditors.

In the meantime, you can take steps to reduce the amount of interest you pay. Contact your credit card issuer(s) and ask them to reduce the rate of interest on your account. They've always got some sort of special offer that they could give you for perhaps 3 or 6 months. At this stage, it's always a good idea to look at the interest rates available for new customers on other credit cards. Credit card companies are always offering low or introductory rates for balance transfers. It will help you to decide how good their new offer is.

If you don't get a reasonable offer, tell them that you'll move your balance elsewhere. Who knows, they may be able to offer you something better, in order to keep your business. After all, you represent a nice regular income for them (as long as you owe them money and continue to make minimum payments, that is).