It might surprise you to know, that according to surveys, that more than 63% of people that are trying to get out of debt are doing so without any kind of plan.

They haven’t really thought about how much they need to repay each month, or even set a target date for being debt free.

Since you’re reading this, the chances are that you have an interest in getting out debt, so here’s how to do it.

Before we even get down to the nitty-gritty of how to pay off debts however, the very first thing to do is to get your creditors to lower their interest rates, and you can most likely achieve that by simply calling them, and asking them to do it.

Believe it not, but it will probably be that simple, because studies show that more than 50% of people that call and ask credit card companies, and other lenders to lower their rates, get them lowered by up to a third.

Look around and see if there are things that you never use that you can sell, and after you’ve sold them, use the money to pay down some of your debts.

If your paperwork’s not organized, then here’s how to do it.

Buy some big envelopes, label them and have a separate one for each account, and put all the statements that you can find in them.

If you don’t have printed statements, then go online and print them out. I know it’s hard on the trees, but it’s easier to work with paper that’s in envelopes, than it is on a monitor.

Either set up a spreadsheet if you know how to, or use pen and paper to list your balances, APR, payment dates and minimum payments.

Then assemble a summary sheet, showing your total credit card spending, and total credit card debt.

If you’ve done all that, you should now know your total debt, your total monthly required payment, what you currently pay on your debt, and how much you charge each month on your cards.

The most effective debt payment plans start with a constant total monthly amount, and this is how you figure out how much you should pay.

Add up all the minimum amounts that you have to pay, and that is your starting figure. Now check your last two months of expenses and see if you can reduce them somehow, and if you can, then add the amount that you think that you can save to the starting figure.

Be conservative about how much you think you can pay each month, because it’s better to start out with a lower amount and then raise it, than to start with a higher one, and then lower it.

We’ll now look at three different payment systems, and you should choose the one that you think will work best for you.

The most efficient technique is to make the same payments on all your accounts with the exception of the one that has the highest interest rate. The “same payments” means that even when the card company asks for a smaller payment every month, that you continue paying them the same amount as before.

The card with the highest interest is the one that you should focus your attention on, and any extra money that you have, should be paid into that account.

The second system is similar to the above one, but instead of focusing on the account that charges the highest interest, you focus on the one with the lowest balance in order to get it paid off quickly.

The third system is the least complicated, and you simply pay the same amount on every card every month, and as one account gets paid off, you use the extra cash to raise the monthly amount that you’re paying on all the accounts.

All three systems work as long as you stick with them, so just start using one of them as soon as possible, and start getting out of debt.

The author of this article was a film producer, and award winning film sound editor for many years. One of his primary interests is economics, and one of his websites -> Get Financial Help is for people with bad credit that need a loan. The cost of an extended list of lenders is extremely small, and anyone not getting a loan within 60 days gets a full refund.

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