Credit card debt can take over your life before you even realize it, especially if you have more than one card. A shopping trip here and there or eating out a couple of times a week may seem harmless, but the balances can quickly add up! Add in high interest rates that compound over time, and you can find yourself at the bottom of a debt hole, struggling to make minimum monthly payments, much less paying off the debt entirely.

So, how do you get yourself out of this mess? Here are a few strategies:

• Consolidate your debt– Find a low-interest credit card and transfer all your balances. This will consolidate your debt into one place, where you will only pay one interest charge. Some cards will offer 0% for the first set number of months. If you focus on paying off the debt before you start incurring interest, this can save you a ton of money.
• Debt Avalanche– Focus on paying off the card with the highest interest rate. Once that is paid off, work your way down the list. Eliminating the higher rates first will save you money.
• Debt Snowball– Focus on paying off the card with the smallest balance first. This gives you feelings of achievement and can motivate you to pay off cards with higher balances.
• Take Out a Personal Loan– If you have decent credit, you can take out a personal loan at a much lower interest rate than your credit cards. Request a loan amount that will cover all of your debt and pay all cards off. Then, you can repay your loan at a fixed rate over a fixed amount of time. You can be debt free much faster!

Any of these strategies can help you pay down debt and save you money. Choose one and get on the road to a debt-free future!