If you are falling behind on your credit card debt,
you are not alone. But WCPO 9 Consumer Reporter Taylor
Nimmo spoke with the experts about ways to pay off
that debt and avoid some extra credit card fees.
Yeah, John, let's talk credit card debt.
We posted this on social media asking what questions you
had about credit card debt,
and I sat down with financial advisor Al Riddick to
get you some answers.
So the first step that I would ask people to
ask themselves is a question.
Led me to get into all of this credit card
debt in the 1st place.
Riddick says. Some questions to ask yourself.
Are you spending beyond your means or are you in
denial of your current financial state?
Secondly, when you are trying to get out of credit
card debt,
you need to have a very good handle on your
cash flow.
How much money is coming in and where is that
money going?
He suggests going through your credit card statement line by
line to see exactly where the money is going and
ask for avoiding additional.
People typically complain about are the late fees,
right? One of the easiest things you could do,
and this not only applies to credit card debts,
but debt in general. Know when your debt is due.
I'm a big fan of automatic payment on my bills.
Riddick says to be cautious of credit cards that charge
annual fees.
And I look at it like this.
How much are you willing to pay as a customer
to let someone?
Buy your business, so to speak,
if you're using your credit card primarily to earn miles
or rewards.
To me, that's the danger zone,
OK? Riddick says to avoid using credit cards to supplement
your income.
When you do that, you have to keep in mind
that you are now buying money at a cost of
about $0.25 on the dollar.
That money is way too expensive and you cannot get
ahead in life by purchasing money at such a high
cost.
Taylor Nemo, WCPO 9 News.