Elite Document Management Services
Gives Tips on Avoiding Debt
As of December 2019, statistics indicated that more Americans owed a whopping $4.2 trillion in credit card debt alone, which translated to about $6,200 in credit card debt per household in the U.S. While credit cards are the easiest ways of accessing credit, even for people with bad credit, accumulating too much credit debt can present insurmountable risks—thousands of dollars in penalties for delayed payments, high-interest rates, and a potential to damage your credit score. But experts say that while it may appear so challenging to live a debt-free life, people can still avoid debt provided that they are able to maintain financial discipline by creating and sticking to their financial plans.
Your spending and payment habits contribute greatly to your financial health, so learning to control yourself can go a long way in helping you avoid running into huge debts. Here are some of the expert tips to help you avoid plunging into unmanageable debts that may have far-reaching negative effects on your ability to leave a stress-free life.
Tip #1: Build a Safety Net
People who do not have access to a solid emergency savings fund can only resort to a credit card as the only option to get out of financial troubles, especially when they are faced with unexpected bills such as car repairs, medical bills, and more. While it can take pretty long to establish a formidable savings base to cover your monthly living expenses, beginning the journey with as low as $200 or $500 every month can go a long way in helping you take care of your small expenses that often come up. Over time, you will discover that you have built a sound emergency fund that will help you avoid running into credit card debts.
Tip #2: Do Not Go for What You Cannot Afford
When you can easily access credit to purchase what you really want but cannot afford, it can be the start of financial woes you will fight for years to come. While the repayments may seem affordable and give you the impression that you can easily pay over time, piling up credit only serves to put pressure on your future incomes. The best approach to avoiding this situation is saving up for what you want to own instead of buying them on credit only to swipe your credit card.
Tip #3: Avoid Unnecessary Balance Transfers
Experts say that transferring a high-interest rate credit card to a lower-interest-rate credit card is one such smart move you can make to manage your debt cost-effectively. However, there are cases where individuals may transfer balances between cards so as to beat the system, such as avoiding missing due dates, something can seriously backfire. Transferring balances repeatedly without necessarily paying off a good portion of the outstanding balance would mean getting into a higher balance upon adding back a transfer fee.
Tip #4: Make Timely Payments
The best way to avoid credit card debt is by staying up to date with your credit card payments. Once you miss a payment, you’re going to have to grapple with a higher cost since you will be expected to pay your debt plus the due payment and the late fees or penalties. This can be difficult to stay on track, putting a strain on your already limited budget. Chances are you may be tempted to use your credit cards to purchase what you need to keep going.
Elite DMS Can Help You Manage Your Debt
As already seen, it is not easy to manage your finances to the extent that you live a debt-free life. However, working with a reputed debt management agency such as Elite Document Management Services (Elite DMS) can help you figure out the best debt management strategies you can deploy to have your debt under control if not cleared.
Elite DMS has an excellent credit monitoring program that allows clients to get timely alerts on their credit standing. This means you can know the factors leading to your credit score, so you can immediately find a quick fix to the problem before it grows from bad to worse. By utilizing its many years of combined experience, Elite Document Management Solutions leverages its teams’ expertise to provide custom solutions to a variety of scenarios in which clients find themselves unable to get out of a vicious cycle of debt.