Consolidate Credit Card Debt:  Make One Payment A Month

You might want to consolidate credit card debt if you are like most people and have more debt than you want of can handle. Understanding the brief history of credit cards will hopefully convince you to pursue completely getting rid of all your credit card debt. 

The purchasing experience was revolutionized for most consumers by credit cards  when Diners Club released the first credit card in the year 1950.The Dinners Club credit card gave consumers so called limited credit that was so large, at times the credit limit was larger than the personal savings of some participants. It allowed them to buy items they usually could not afford if they were paying cash. This credit also provided the convenience and safety of not having to carry large amounts of cash.On average, American households possess 4 credit cards or a total of 13 payment cards if debit cards and store cards are included. There are, actually, 1.3 billion payment cards of assorted types in circulation in the United States.But, if you think that credit cards have made the lives of modern American consumers easier, you may be wrong…Statistics show that the average credit card balance for each household in the U.S. is now approaching $9,000 per month. Also, there were 1.5 million credit card holders declaring bankruptcy in the year 2006.

If you have some credit card debt, but still consider yourself unaffected by it, then consider this: upon retirement, most Americans can only expect to receive about 37% percent of their annual retirement income because of prior debt payment. This will leave many individuals depending on the government, family and charity for economic survival.

These are some scary facts. So before you find yourself in a position of economic uncertainty, it might be wise to evaluate your spending and consolidate your credit card debt.

If your credit card debt exceeds what seems to be a reasonable level, you may want to consider credit card debt consolidation.

So, should you consolidate credit card debt?

In a nutshell, credit card debt consolidation is when you take all your credit card payments and put them together into one loan with one monthly payment. This way, you don’t have to worry about managing the payments individually. Aside from this advantage, it may also provide you with the following additional benefits:

- Reduce interest payments
- Waive late and overtime fees
- Reduced monthly payments
- Debt relief in a shorter time
- Credit improvement
- Save more money in the long run

There are actually two major types of credit card debt consolidation…

You may want to consider a Credit Card Counseling firm. They assist consumers by consolidating all their monthly payments into one single payment and then dispersing this to the creditors on behalf of the consumers.

The other type is through a home equity loan or other secured loan. This is done by exchanging an unsecured debt (such as
credit card debt) for a secured debt (a debt backed by specific assets such as real estate).

Now, credit card debt consolidation isn’t a magic balm that will drive all your credit card debt problems away. But, making the decision to consolidate credit card debt is something you might want to seriously consider, especially if doing so will make paying all your debt easier and save you money in the long run.