When people are in debt, their main focus is getting out of debt and as quickly as possible. However, many people have so much debt that they dont know where to begin. People often start off strong and then find themselves making little progress on actually paying down the debt. There are ways to jump start your debt reduction plan, and best of all, they dont take long at all to complete!

Slash your rates

Im sure you have heard this before and questioned whether or not it could possibly be true. Well it is; you can call your credit card companies and ask them to reduce your interest rates. Provided that you pay on time, most credit card companies will reduce your rates a little bit. Tell them that you have been a customer for a while and have enjoyed doing business with them, but would like your interest rates lowered. Dont try to negotiate for too low rates; it will never happen. Instead shoot to lower your rates about 5-7%.

Cut them up

Thats right, cut up your credit cards. Leave one for absolute emergencies, but the rest can be destroyed. Make sure you have your credit card numbers and other information in case you need to contact your credit card companies, but as long as you cant carry the card around, you cant spend on it either.

Low Limits

Another way to accelerate your debt is to call the credit card companies and ask them to lower your spending limits. Obviously you cant make them lower than the balance on your card, but the lower they are the less you can spend.

Pay more than you have to

Many people just get by and pay the minimum balance due. This will get you nowhere! You are only paying interest and hardly paying anything off the actually balance of the card. Pick the card with the highest interest rate and work on it first. Pay as much as you can to that card every pay period. Pay a little above the minimum on the others until the first is paid off and then move onto the next.