You have many options when considering credit card debt reduction. The basic premise behind reducing your credit card debt is to lower the amount you have to pay either by lowering your interest payments, by lowering the principal amount due or both. Your options include loans or programs from financial professionals, assistance from debt counselors or a strategy you can develop on your own to reduce your debt using your current resources.

Consolidation

One of the methods of debt reduction is debt consolidation. When you consolidate debt, you bring all of your high-interest-rate credit card debt under one lower-interest-rate loan program. You reduce the amount you pay each month because you eliminate all of your monthly service charges and replace them with one loan service charge, and the lower interest rate helps to reduce your monthly payment as well. You also reduce your overall debt by using the lower interest rate to scale back the amount of interest you owe. Debt consolidation can be done with the assistance of a debt consolidation professional, or you can combine your debts on your own with a personal loan or by transferring your balances to one credit card account that offers a low rate for balance transfers.

Debt Negotiation

If you find yourself unable to pay your credit card debts and you do not foresee any chance of being able to pay your debt in full, you may want to consider debt negotiation. Negotiating your debt is sometimes used as a debt reduction option prior to having to declare bankruptcy. You can have a professional debt negotiator perform that task for you, or you can speak to your credit card companies yourself. With debt negotiation, you are trying to find out how much the credit card company will accept as payment in full to satisfy the account. Once you have reached an agreement on a payoff amount with the credit card companies, you can then discuss an installment plan that will allow you to pay your debt monthly. Be certain to get every aspect of your agreement in writing, and keep notes on whom you spoke with at the credit card company and what you spoke about.

Your Own Resources

Sometimes you can reduce your debt by applying your own resources toward paying down your credit card balances. Develop a budget that will show you how much you make each month in income versus what you pay in bills and spending money. Apply the extra each month toward paying down your credit card debt. You can alter your lifestyle and reduce how much you spend to free up more money to apply toward your own debt-reduction plan.

Source:

Bankrate.com: Debt Consolidation

CreditInfoCenter.com: Debt Settlement Advice

Motley Fool: 9 Ways to Pay Off Debt

More Information:

ConsumerReports.org: How to Settle Your Credit Card Debt for Much Less