Having a credit card is very easy now a days, there are many sales officer approaching people in the malls and offering a Free umbrella para mag-sign up sa card.
I can’t deny the convenience it brings, imagine makakabili ka using a small plastic card kahit wala kang dalang cash. But again, charged to experience (and to bank interest), even pala almost 3 years na akong good credit card payer, I am still not exempted sa possibility to accumulate credit card debt.
Time flies real fast, its been almost 3 years since we paid off our credit card debt. But I can still recall the pain and burden of having a credit card debt.
The shocking P50,000 amount due didn’t surprised me because we know how we accumulated that amount, but what made me scratched my head is “how can we pay for it? Paano?!”
Here’s a little background how we accumulated that credit card debt:
- Being a first time parent, we love shopping for our little one’s needs and our “WANTS” for him as parents.
- Siblings hospitalization due to dengue, the hospital accepted credit card, since I don’t have a cash-on hand to lend my parents, we just used our card to pay off the hospital balance.
We used credit card for its convenience and POINTS not knowing that the next month, we will not have a new project (in our business and work. Long story but to give you a background, we get paid project-based). So yung pang-bayad namin dapat sa card nai-allot namin sa needs namin. Yes, sadly, we do not have an emergency fund yet that time.
So we ended up paying of just the minimum payment for almost 6 months.
This bible verse suddenly made sense to us.
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. Proverbs 22:7 NIV
After ilan months, natauhan ako and nagulat ako sa laki ng compound interest tapos parang wala naman nababawas sa utang. Dahil napaka-stressful talaga ng may utang, we’ve decided to pay it off as soon as possible dahil ito rin yung may interest na debt namin that time, kahit challenging dahil we were facing an income problem during those times.
If you are buried to a credit card debt, I know how it feels. I know how stressful and burdensome it is. Don’t lose hope. And I’m very happy to share with you the small steps our family did, that helped us pay of our debts, most specially our credit card debt.
Here are some of the steps that we did that helped us paid off our credit card debt:
- Acknowledge that credit card balance is a debt
Yes, it is a type of debt, it may offer an easier way to pay it off (minimum payment) but we’ve learned that by acknowledging that it is a debt that needs to be paid as soon as possible it will help you get started in your plan to pay it off. We shouldn’t treat it like an ATM, nor an “utang” na open due date. Set your target payment date in case you are only paying the minimum amount like us before.
- Keep your card and use cash for the mean time
“Cash is king”, ayan muna ang mantra namin that time, we don’t want to add purchases and items to be paid while we still have credit card debt. Cash basis muna lahat. I’ve heard some financial advisers even suggested of breaking it muna so it will stop you from using it, what we did is, we called our bank to cancel our credit card yung parang same procedure in case nawala yung card, so we cannot use it because its inactive.
- Include the “debt payment” in the budget
Like utility bills, food and others, we treated our credit card debt as one of our payment priorities, we’re paying extra on top of the minimum payment para mabawasan yung main balance.
Don’t forget to strategize on how to pay the debt better: You can also check other bank’s promo like “Zero percent or lower interest rate for balance transfer” so you can save on the interest rate. This is very advisable if you have two credit card balances.
- Generate additional income
We sold pre-loved items (online garage sale), talk to as many clients as possible, do part-time gigs – yes hindi madali kailangan talaga ng discipline and determination. But we want to hit our target to “pay off our debt asap”. But honestly, there are items that we wanted to keep sana but since we have debts to pay, we have to let them go…
- Live Simple and below your means
At a snap our way of earning changed, indeed we cannot place our security in our businesses nor bank accounts. We’ve learned since then that our way of living should remain simple no matter how much we are earning, while paying off our debts, sobrang tipid living talaga muna ika nga nila “kapag maikli ang kumot matutong mamaluktot”
We are amazed on how God opened doors of opportunities after we repented on our mismanagement of resources and we lifted to Him our family’s desire to be debt-free and be better stewards and that’s one of my “WHY’s” or the reasons why I started this blog.
Just this year, after years of training and self-discipline. I think we are ready to use the card again only for convenience, reward points and freebies sake, but more wisely and responsibly now. I called my bank and asked for a card replacement, though it is already passed their standard of 6 months holding period lang, but since I have a good record of paying my debt, it was given a consideration.
If its possible for our family who doesn’t have a regular paycheck every month to pay off our credit card debt, it is also possible for you!
If you are in a credit card debt yourself, don’t lose hope.
There is always a way out and it all starts in admitting the problem and staying committed to solving it.
What about you mommies? What are your tips to be credit card debt-free?
My father’s mantra and his advice to us is from two quotes: “Money saved is money earned” and “If you buy things you do not need, soon you’ll need things you cannot buy.” He failed in our family business years back, our family never recovered from it except when all of us had jobs and families of our own..
I love those words of wisdom from you father.
I know how hard and painful it is to face a business failure, but everything happens of a reason, happy to know that you’re fully recovered now Mommy Sunshine 🙂
Ugh been there and done that. We had to pay off our 120K debt sa credit card and it was sooo hard because we had to do it for two years! Long story. Anyway, good on you to have finished off your debt without regular income.
Wow! That was huge Mommy May but glad to hear na tapos na. Yahooo!
And thank God talaga, because aside from Credit Card Debt, we have other debts that time din. But God is faithful, natapos na rin lahat 🙂
(Charge to experience and Life Tuition Fee)
Oh yes, it was huge alright. We had our card deactivated talaga to stop the accumulation. We had to make special arrangements with the bank so we can be able to complete our payments.
I don’t like using cards. I don’t like utang. I don’t want to play sosyal. Some people use cards for status symbol. I just don’t. If it is a requirement, then it’s ok. My husband uses it for travel and business purposes. I try to use cash all the time. Parang takot akoagkautang. Hahaha I agree that you become a slave of the lender in the long run. Thanks for tips like this. We need more financial literacy going viral in the net. 🙂
Glad to hear mommy that you’ve never been into credit card debt, mahirap talaga may utang sis (sakit sa bangs at bulsa! hehe), kaya keep it up to use cash all the time and stay debt-free 🙂 and agree, go to financial literary! we can all learn from each other.
Credit card can be a temptation talaga but we just need to be disciplined in using it. There are times talaga na hindi maiiwasan magkadebt lalo na pag may emergency pero as long as willing ka magbayad, wala problem. I love using my credit card for points, miles, rebates and discounts.
That’s true, andaming perks ng credit card, basta dapat may sure na pang bayad na for the bill 🙂
Ever since, I don’t apply for a credit card application. I don’t have one. Growing up, I’ve seen the burden my parents faced because of excessive use of credit cards kaya ayoko talaga. But now that I am a mother, I think I might need one too. But until now, I don’t have one. I told my husband that one credit-card owner in the family is okay. “Live Simple and below your means” that’s the key.
I hope your parents are able to settle it na mommy, glad to hear that you’ve learned from their experience, ok din naman ang credit card for rebates, points, freebies and convenience, basta may self-control 🙂
I like how you said it. That we may end up selling what we need jut because of the wrong purchase we did before. Ive been staying at home for almost two years now and I seldom use my card because I dont have fix income. Buti im able to control myself from buying
Or else we might end up with a huge debt din. But glad youve recovered and learned from the experience.
I salute your self-control mommy, we stay at home moms, really need to be “practical and wise” 🙂
Same sentiments! I experienced some credit card debts too in the past. It’ just very convenient to use kase. But I’ve learned my lesson.
“We are amazed on how God opened doors of opportunities after we repented on our mismanagement of resources and we lifted to Him our family’s desire to be debt-free and be better stewards and that’s one of my “WHY’s” or the reasons why I started this blog.” — my favorite line. Kudos to you!
Awww! Thank you, Indeed, we could have not do it on our own.
Doors of opportunities opened that time (parang pinag bayad lang talaga kami ng debts sis), we saw how God pulled us out of that painful situation.
Charged to experience nalang natin and tuition fee to financial literacy 🙂
Mas wise spender na tayo now hehe.
Masarap sa feeling when you finally paid off debts from credit card. In my younger years masarap ikaskas yung card mo when there’s a sale or travels pero I learned that you need to plan and save muna before travelling. Plus use credit card wisely talaga and after one credit card ayaw ko na ng additional card kasi additional utang lang.