What has caused the Americans to be trapped in more credit card debt than ever ? $900 billion worth? It’s surprising that even people with excellent credit who always make their payments on time are starting to default on their credit card payments or having a hard time paying off their credit cards.

The recent credit crunch that is in large part behind the bust on Wall Street is one of the causes. The rising prices of just about everything and the Christmas and New Year holidays just around the corner are undeniably also the causes that many Americans use their credit cards more than ever.

While credit card users are to be blamed for their spending habits that result in credit card debt, banks and credit card companies should also take the blame too.

The banks and credit card companies that easily approve credit card applications should be responsible for the now-than-ever high credit card debt. Don’t you think the banks and credit card companies should enforce stricter requirements when it comes to who qualifies for credit cards or higher credit limits?

It’s so common to see that anyone that can fog a mirror can get a gold card. Or an existing credit card holder is suddenly offered a large credit line without checking his or her credit history first.

If the banks and credit card companies had enforced stricter requirements when it comes to who qualifies for credit cards or higher credit limits, there would be less than $900 billion credit card debt now.

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The credit management agency provides you a professional credit counselor to give free credit counseling service and free debt management program information. The credit counselor negotiates with your creditors to lower your monthly payments and reduce your interest rate charges for free. And then the debt counselor will restructure your credit card debt into a debt repayment plan.

Although I can heave a relief because of low monthly payment of $93 (RM320) and having extra cash in hand, there is a need for me to save even more money. Money saved as emergency funds or personal saving can be used to pay off credit card that carries the smallest amount at one go.

Here are a few areas that hubby and I can save money from:

1. Petrol Expenses. Hubby was able to cut down the petrol expenses from $120 to less than $60 a month earlier. But with recent low oil prices, hubby is confident that the petrol expenses will be less than $40 per month.

Hubby was recently given a tip on how to get more petrol than he pays. But we are not sure if this tip really saves you money on petrol expenses.

The tip is, you should use the pumps furthest from the petrol station if you want to save some money on petrol expenses.

The logic is that some petrol-station pumps in the forecourt could dispense a little less petrol than you pay for, whilst others a little more. The petrol station could ensure that it’s the pumps closet to the shop that leave you slightly short, because when the forecourt is empty people will normally go to those pumps.

Another tip that is commonly accepted is that if you fill you car with petrol at the coldest time of the day, you get more petrol. You see, a pump dispenses a volume of liquid. Liquids expand on heating so you get more petrol at the coldest time of the day.

Another way of cutting down petrol expenses is riding a motorbike. Hubby only drives when he needs to go to the town which is a half an hour’s drive.

2. Electricity Bills. To save money on electricity bills, there is a need to cut down on electricity usage and thus reduce the electricity expenses from $37 per month to less than $30.

3. Food Expenses. Since hubby and I moved back to his small village, we have been able to cut down our meal expenses to less than $10 (RM34) for 3 meals a day.

With recent credit crunch and looming recession, I think it’s wise to save more money as emergency funds and personal saving to be used in future to pay off my credit card debt fast.

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Like millions of American families out there, you see your hard-earned money goes into paying off the various monthly credit card and loan payments, leaving you only very little money to use. With Sometimes, you think that your life only revolves around working hard and paying off credit card debt and loan payments.

Your debt burden makes you helpless and you start thinking if you should just file for bankruptcy.

Wait! There are better debt relief options than resorting to filing for bankruptcy. A debt consolidation loan, debt settlement plan or debt management plan is definitely a much preferred debt free option over filing for bankruptcy.

Debt Consolidation Loans. A debt consolidation loan allows you to combine all your credit card debt into one loan. In other words, you take out a new loan to pay off a number of credit card debt.

By consolidating all your debts into one loan, you keep track of only one fixed lower monthly payment that comes with a low rate of interest. No more stressing yourself to pay off various monthly payments to different creditors on different dates.

There are two types of credit card debt consolidation loans: secured debt consolidation loans and unsecured debt consolidation loans.

A secured debt consolidation loan requires you to pledge some of your assets as a security to the lender against the loan amount. It comes with a low rate of interest and has a long repayment term from 10 to 25 years.

An unsecured debt consolidation loan requires no collateral pledge. As there is no collateral pledge needed, this loan charges a bit higher rate of interest. The repayment of the borrowed amount has to be met within the period of 1 to 10 years.

Debt Settlement Plans. A debt settlement company makes negotiations with all of your creditors trying to reduce your debt up to 50%. This means you pay only half of the amount which you actually had to pay originally. Imagine half of your debt is eliminated! It’s like that half of the burden is removed from your head.

Debt Management Plans. A debt management plan can be done either by yourself or a debt management service agency.

Let’s say you hire a debt management plan agency. The debt management plan agency is in charge of negotiating with your creditors to allow you to repay your debt in one single monthly payment with a lower interest rate.

In brief, you see one thing in common among debt consolidation loan, debt settlement plan and debt management plan — each debt relief solution allows you to repay your multiple debt in one monthly payment with a lower interest rate.

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Listen. There are various credit card debt free options that you can consider before you think of filing bankruptcy. I used to think that filing bankruptcy was my only way out. Apparently, I was wrong.

There are debt relief options such as debt consolidation programs, debt management programs, debt settlement plans or credit counseling services that you can seek help from to avoid bankruptcy.

I am now under a debt management program that helps me restructure all my credit card and personal loan debts into one repayment plan.

I am relieved for the time being because there is only ONE small monthly payment to ONE agency on ONE date. I no longer need to be stressed out with multiple credit card monthly payments to various banks on different dates.

You can do debt management either directly by yourself, by a free debt management agency or by a hired third party. For me, I sought help from a free credit management agency.

The free credit management agency handled the negotiations with my creditors to allow me to repay my credit card and personal loan debts with a lower interest rate. All my credit card and personal loan debt are merged into a single lower monthly payment.

Through the debt management program, I make one monthly installment to the credit management agency and the agency is in charge of distributing the monthly installment evenly to my creditors.

Lower monthly repayment also means that it takes longer time to pay off my credit card debt, 5, 8 or 10 years. However, I can make full settlement on a credit card outstanding balance in future once I can afford to do so. This helps shorten the tenure of debt management program.

As I pay a small monthly payment under the debt management program, any extra cash I have I must manage it properly by saving it up as emergency funds for unexpected expenses such as separation, job loss, illness or business failure. The funds can also be used to pay off a credit card outstanding balance at one go to shorten the tenure of my debt management program.

If you find your credit card debts unmanageable but not ready for bankruptcy, go for a free debt management program, a debt consolidation program, a debt settlement plan or a credit counseling service.

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However, many of them have managed to get out of credit card debt. You can be debt free too if you do your part to pay off your credit card debt as fast as possible.

Here are some credit card debt reduction tips that many debtors have used to free themselves from credit card debt successfully:

1. Stop Using Your Credit Cards. As a credit card debt woman who has been paying off my credit card debt for more than one and a half year, I totally agree with this. You’ve got to stop using your credit cards to avoid adding new debt to your existing total credit card debt.

By not adding new debt to your old debt amount, you find yourself getting out of debt faster and more easily.

2. Pay More Than the Minimum Payments. After making a list of the balance owed on each of your credit card, along with the interest owed, start making the minimum payment for each card. If you have extra money, pay more than the minimum amount on the credit card that has the highest interest or the lowest outstanding balance.

Paying more than the minimum payment on the highest interest rate card saves more money as you pay your credit card debt down while making more than minimum payment on the lowest outstanding balance card gives you a boost and encouragement to pay off the rest of the credit cards fast.

3. Seek Debt Free Relief Help. You can consider debt consolidation, debt management program, debt settlement plan or credit counseling for your credit card debt. Each of these debt free management plans helps you consolidate or restructure your credit card debt into one so that you pay one lower monthly repayment to one creditor on one date.

There are non-profit credit management agencies or organizations that can help you manage your finances and restructure your credit card debt for free, so don’t fall easily into credit management scams.

Being burdened with credit card debt is definitely no fun. On the contrary, it stresses you out, especially when you are falling behinds on credit card payments and banks keep haunting you with phone calls and warning letters.

You can get out of debt fast too if you do your part to follow debt reduction tip advice that helps you pay off credit card debt fast.

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In July, my credit card debt dropped to $12,916. I was so happy that I hit $12,916. Unfortunately, my happiness was short lived. My online income started to drop because of frequent travels to the city to visit my uncle who was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. Hubby was there giving him foot reflexology treatments while I tagged along to give my uncle some support.

In August, I decided to apply for a debt management program (DMP) at my place after checking out the information at the debt management agency website.

This credit management agency is available at my place and provides the debt management program for free. There are some charges imposed by the credit card issuers, not the credit management agency.

I submitted my debt free management program application in August after having a few appointments with my credit counseling management counselor. The debt counselor did the negotiations with my creditors to lower the monthly payments and reduce the interest charges. In the end, the credit counselor worked out a debt repayment plan that I could afford.

My debt free management program application was officially approved a few days ago and I am now under the free debt repayment plan.

Under this debt management program, I only need to make ONE monthly payment to ONE credit agency on ONE date.

Once I make the monthly payment to the free debt management program agency, the deposit is then disbursed to my creditors individually.

Being enrolled in the debt management program (DMP) also means that my creditors must stop late payment fees from accruing to my credit card debt. To be honest, late payment fees used to be one of the culprits that slowed down my efforts in paying down my credit card debt.

If you are like me burdened with unmanageable credit card debt, haunted by phone calls and warning letters from banks and creditors, and faced with decreasing income, maybe it’s time for you to consider if you need to seek help from a debt free management program to pay off your credit card debt without stress.

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It’s PayPal that caused the delay. Not Tune Money. It’s not Tune Money’s fault, but PayPal.

As my PayPal funds arrived in my Tune Money Visa debit card within 3 business days, I was very confident that it’s not PayPal’s fault. I blamed Tune Money for the delay of my PayPal funds.

I made tons of calls to Tune Money in the hope that they could trace my PayPal funds, but was told by Thilaga the customer service executive that my PayPal funds had not reached the Visa center yet.

Read Why Is My PayPal Money Not In My Tune Money Visa Debit Card Yet? Part 1

Read Why Is My PayPal Money Not In My Tune Money Visa Debit Card Yet? Part 2

Thilaga the customer service executive is the only Tune Money staff that really followed up with my complaint by checking with the finance department, updating me daily and reporting to me the final outcome.

The other day, I tried to withdraw a small amount of PayPal funds into my Tune Money Visa debit card. The money arrived in 3 business days.

I am still using Tune Money Visa debit card for my PayPal withdrawals for the time being while waiting for my new Public Bank Visa electron debit card to arrive next week.

My first Public Bank Visa Electron debit card application was rejected a few months ago. But after the recent delay in PayPal funds, I decided to apply for another debit card as a backup in case something happens to Tune Money Visa debit card.

My application was approved. I am going to get my Public Bank Visa electron debit card in a week or two weeks’ time.

In future, I will take turns withdrawing my PayPal funds into both Tune Money Visa debit card and Public Bank Visa debit card.

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Debt consoldation loan is a perfect debt free solution for you to get your credit card debt under control, without the need to file bankruptcy or fall behind on your credit card bills.

But before submitting your application for a debt consolidation reduction loan, you need to read the best consolidation debt info available online.

1. Gather the latest statements for all your credit cards that you want to consolidate.

2. Jot down each credit card’s minimum monthly payment, interest rate, monthly finance charge, due date, total due balance, and credit limit.

3. Add up all your credit cards’ total outstanding balance. Also add up all the minimum monthly payments.

Once you have this handy information with you, you can start shopping around and comparing debt consolidation loan offers available on the market.

Each time you come across a good consolidation debt loan deal that your feel it is the best debt consolidation loan, make sure you find the answers to the questions below.

You must get the questions answered to see if what the debt consolidation loan company offers will benefit you:

1. How much does the debt consolidation company charge for the service?

2. By how much of a percentage or how much of a dollar amount will your total monthly payments go down?

3. What is the actual interest rate for the debt consolidation loan monthly payment?

4. How will getting a consolidation debt loan affect your credit score?

5. How long will it take for you to pay off your credit card debt if compared to remaining paying your credit card debt?

6. How fast will you be allowed to apply for a new credit in the future?

7. Will your existing current creditors close your accounts?

8. What happens if you fall behind or default on your consolidation debt loan payment?

9. Could you negotiate again the terms of your consolidation debt loan agreement some time later?

A debt consolidation reduction loan not only provides you an affordable lower monthly payment, it can also be beneficial to your health. This is because you no longer need to stress yourself to keep track of multiple different card and loan accounts. Instead, you only have to keep track of debt at one company and make one monthly payment.

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My first visit was not a success because I didn’t bring my payslips or income statements. I am self-employed and I don’t prepare payslip for myself.

Fortunately, the credit counselor asked me if I had any proof to show that I made money online and I transferred my money to local banks. Yes, I could prove it. I printed out my PayPal statement that showed every PayPal withdrawal I made into my Tune Money Visa debit card. I also requested a hard copy of transaction statement from Tune Money.

The counselor was surprised that people could actually make money online. I was relieved that he accepted my online income proofs, too.

If you have payslip or income statement, your journey will be less bumpy than mine.

Next, You Must Have a Positive Source of Income After Meeting Your Expenses. In my case, my monthly income is RM3,500. My expenses include RM820 car loan installment, RM605 home loan installment, RM800 groceries, RM400 petrol and car maintenance, RM180 bank overdraft interest charge and RM375 miscellaneous spending.

RM3,500 - RM3,180 = RM320

This RM320 is my monthly debt repayment made to AKPK and AKPK is in charge of distributing the money to various banks. In my case, there are 6 banks. 2 banks get RM60 each and 4 banks get RM50 each every month until I settle the credit card debt.

So, it’s important that you have positive source of income after deducting your expenses.

For me, I didn’t give up my house and car. You can choose to give up your house and car together with your credit card debt if you really really can’t make payments for your house and car loan.

The second visit was also not a success because I thought of keeping one credit card for emergency use. I was not told that I must give up all my credit cards during my first visit.

If you are thinking of applying for the debt management program, you must give up all your existing credit cards.

If your debt repayment plan is approved, you won’t be able to apply for any new credit card or loan for the next few years unless you fully settle your debt. Banks will not approve any new credit card or loan you apply in future once you are under the AKPK debt management program.

Who cares? I just want to pay off my credit card debt with One Payment to One Agency on One Date. I don’t mind not being given any new credit card or personal loan in future.

I am grateful that I am under AKPK debt management program with God’s help. With only One Payment to One Agency on One Date, I can now sleep well at night and focus on building up my online business slowly.

In brief, the percentage of getting your debt management program approved is high if:

• You have payslip or income statement
• You have a positive source of income after meeting your expenses
• Your total debt does not exceed RM2million
• You are not under advanced litigation process
• You are not a bankrupt

Don’t wait any longer. Pick up your phone and call AKPK for an appointment. Get all your questions answered there and submit your debt management program application. It takes 3 months to process your application, so start as early as possible.

Again. It’s free. The AKPK debt management program is free.

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Let me share with you my bumpy journey from getting to know AKPK from the television channel to being approved to be under the debt management program.

I first came to know about AKPK (Agensi Kaunseling Dan Pengurusan Kredit or Credit Counseling & Debt Management Agency) in April this year. The AKPK’s advertisement appeared very very often during that time.

The next day, I went to AKPK’s website to find out more information. The first thing I wanted to know about AKPK was whether it was legitimate or not.

AKPK is an agency set up by Bank Negara Malaysia in April 2006 to provide financial counselling and debt management to individuals as well as financial education to help individuals take control of their financial situation and gain peace of mind that comes from the wise use of credit.

After making sure that AKPK was set up by Bank Negara, I was relieved. I was even more relieved when I knew that it’s FREE. Yes, it’s FREE.

I didn’t visit the nearest agency at my place during that time because I thought I could still manage my credit card debt and I didn’t have to resort to any debt repayment plan.

When did I decide to apply for the debt management program? I made up my mind when Bank Negara changed the late payment penalty charge policy. The late payment penalty charge policy was revised to a minimum of RM10 or 1% of total outstanding balance.

I used to pay RM5 or RM10 for my late payment fees. But after the change of BNM policy, I had to pay RM30, RM40 or more for the late payment charges. Bear in mind that I had more than 6 credit card payments to pay every month and I was always late in payments.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I felt suffocated by the accumulating credit card debt caused by the finance charges and late payment fees.

So, in August, I made an appointment with one of the AKPK counselors at Ipoh branch.

All in all, I dropped by at least 3 times before I successfully submitted my debt management program application.

The first time I paid a visit, I didn’t bring my payslips or income statements to prove that I make certain amount of income every month. I don’t have any payslip because I am working online. I make money from the internet.

You Must Have Pay Slips Or Income Statements. If you have no payslip or income statement, the counselor will not give you the application form at all. He will not let you apply if he knows that your application will not be approved.

You have only ONE chance to apply for the debt management program. Everyone has only ONE chance for this debt management program. Because of this reason, the debt management counselor is very strict. He wants to make sure that you have all the necessary documents so that your debt management program application will be approved.

• You have a positive source of income after meeting your expenses
• Your total debt does not exceed RM2million
• You are not under advanced litigation process
• You are not a bankrupt

Read my AKPK Debt Management Program Part 2.

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