You know, I began serious about saving money after a few months in the AKPK debt management program (DMP).

Before in the DMP, there was never money left after making payments to credit cards, home and car loan installments, utility bills, and groceries.

Since being placed in the free debt management program in October 2008, I have been able to save RM320 in my personal savings account so far for emergencies and other high-expense endeavors.

Oh, not to forget that there are still small change in my ceramic piggy bank.

Seeing some money in my savings account spurs me to try harder to find more extra cash to put away for emergency needs.

If you are loaded down with credit card bills to pay each month and are wondering how you can begin a savings account for emergencies and other high-expense endeavors, try out two tips that I have been using.

1. Pay Yourself First. This tip didn’t work for me before my and hubby’s debt management programs. Why? Because there was never enough money to pay the bills; the expenses always surpassed the income.

Of course, the rule of “Pay Yourself First” works now. Thanks to hubby’s full time teaching job that generates fixed income every month. I am able to transfer his money to my personal savings account on his pay day, which is on the 28th each month.

You will grow richer each month if you begin to pay yourself first. Before making any bill payments, decide whether you will pay yourself 5% or 10% first. Then, deposit or transfer the amount into a savings account before paying any bills.

2. Save Your Extra Change in a Jar. Oh, I love this technique for saving money very much. I started inserting small notes into my ceramic piggy bank this February after reading the power of small penny and dollar savings.

To date, I don’t know how much I have saved in my piggy bank. I only want to find out the end of the year. Hopefully there will be a few hundreds that I can add to my emergency fund.

Am I worried about my credit card debt now? No, I am not. But I used to be very worried and stressed out about it before I enrolled in a free debt management program called AKPK debt management programme (DMP).

What about you? Are you worried about your credit card debt?

You should be if your credit card debt has spiraled out of control; you pay more than 15% of your monthly income to your credit card bills or/and borrow cash from one credit card to pay another.

You are not the only one who is dealing with credit card debt nowadays. In fact, almost 40% of credit card holders are in the same predicament!

So what should you do to avoid the need of getting help from debt relief options such as debt consolidation, debt management program, or debt settlement and worst of all filing for bankruptcy?

Start doing credit card debt management to help yourself get out of debt as fast as possible!

Most financial experts will advise you to stop using your credit cards. Quit using credit cards is to prevent you from adding new debt to your existing outstanding balance.

If you have more than one credit card, pay the minimum payment on them all. Then, pay the most to the credit card with the highest APR. Once the card with the highest APR is paid off, keep paying the minimum payment to the rest of your cards and pay the most to the next highest APR. Do so until all the credit cards are paid off.

Another way to help you is try balance transfer deals that offer 0% interest free period for 6, 9 or 12 months to save some money.

Credit cards are convenient, but you don’t have to use them all the time and put everything from groceries to petrol to night’s-out on them. Instead of using credit cards, cultivate the habit of using cash to help yourself curb your spending habits and get into more credit card debt.

If you are really concerned about your credit card debt, start doing debt reduction before you end up resorting to debt consolidation, debt management plan, debt settlement or bankruptcy.

Do your monthly minimum credit card payments that exceed 15% to 20% of your take-home pay make you feel that you just can’t face another month of credit card bills? If so, you may want to consider enrolling in a debt management program.

A debt management program, also known as debt management plan, is individually designed to combine your multiple credit card payments into one low monthly payment and then the monthly payment received is disbursed to your creditors on your behalf by the credit counseling and debt management agency.

Besides getting a low monthly payment, a DMP can get you a reduction in interest rates, an elimination of finance charges, late payment and over-limit fees, relief from collection agents, and one-stop bill paying.

Before signing up with any credit counseling agency, beware of e-mail and TV ads for credit and debt management companies that make tons of promises.

Not that there aren’t reputable debt management firms. There are. But credit counseling agencies tend to fall into one of three categories: the good, the bad and the ugly. Knowing the difference can save you a lot of heartache and money.

Look for reputable non-profit credit counseling agencies known as consumer credit counseling services (CCCS) affiliated with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC).

You must avoid debt management companies that:

• Have an “unsatisfactory record” with the local BBB. Serious, unresolved complaints, such as late payments to creditors and false advertising are some contributors to the “unsatisfactory record” at the BBB.
• Don’t spend 30 minutes conferring with you. If a credit counselor promises to enroll you in a debt management plan in less than 30 minutes, well, get outta Dodge. The less time spent with you, the less a credit counselor works in your best interest.
• Don’t let you review your contract before signing it. A good debt management agency will let you review a contract at home before signing it. It’s recommended that you compare three or four contracts from different companies to see who’ll give you the best deal.
• Automatically enroll you in a debt repayment plan.
• Expect upfront fee equal to one month’s debt payment.
• Require “voluntary” contributions. Beware of of credit counseling agencies that say they have no upfront fees but tuck a sentence into your contract stating, “I voluntarily agree to contribute one month’s payment…”
• Pay your creditors late, despite your making on-time payments

It’s important to choose a certified credit counselor that takes time to: review your assets, liabilities and spending habits; explain the benefits of a debt management program; work out an affordable amount that you need to pay each month to clear your debt; and help you come out with a plan that can clear your debt within five years.

Hi, I need money to pay off my credit card debt.

During tough economy times, who doesn’t want money to pay off credit card debts?

The weakening economy and looming recession have no doubt impacted many credit card holders; there is an increasing number of credit card users who have found it hard to settle their credit card bills at one lump sum or make even the minimum payments.

Like you, I want money to pay down my credit card debt. But I am not as desperate as I used to be when it comes to paying off credit card debt fast.

The reason? Well, I am now under a free debt management program that allows me to pay a lower monthly repayment to the debt management agency before the 30th every month.

I am no longer chased by 6 banks for 15 credit card payments.

I do need money to settle my credit card debt but not as urgent as I need it for my emergency fund. I need money to hit my goal of $1,000 emergency fund.

Once I have the initial $1,000 (RM3,550) as emergency fund, I can start paying off credit card fast.

After hearing so much about layoffs, job cuts and job losses, my sister is serious about having a part-time job.

She thinks of having a part-time job so in case she is put layoff one day, she still has a part-time hour job to pay her credit card bills, home mortgage installments, car loan repayments, gas and electricity bills or daily expenses.

After much discussion, she has narrowed down the scope of jobs to sales jobs, finance jobs, payroll jobs, tutoring jobs, secretarial jobs, computer jobs, receptionist jobs and customer service jobs.

As a women who has two school-going kids, she needs a flexible job that she can make changes of time and schedule easily.

Tutoring is the best part time job. By being a private tutor, she can have tutoring classes at home and at her convenient time.

I don’t know about your country, but in my country, Malaysia, parents put emphasis on children’s education very much.

Parents can live below their means and save money on everything, except kids’ children.

Children education is the top priority. No matter how poor the parents are, they will do their best to provide the kids good education.

This explains why tuition classes are still fully packed during bad economy and recession. Tuition or tutoring jobs are considered recession proof jobs.

Maths tutors, science tutors and English tutors have been top tutors wanted by tutoring agencies for many years and will still be even in times of economy crisis and depression.

I went back to giving tuition again in December since parents had asked me a few times in 2008. After quitting teaching for one year, I feel good teaching those kids again.

My tutoring income is almost one-third of my online income now. Oh, must really work hard to increase my online income in year 2009 too.

Good news to struggling credit card holders! Credit card companies like Bank of America are willing to throw out a life preserver to save you from drowning in accumulating debt.

Lowering interest rates, waiving late fees and even decreasing balances are some approaches that credit card companies take to help more than 500,000 struggling card holders who just can’t pay their credit card bills during struggling economy.

If you failed to ask credit card companies for help after the implementation of credit limit reduction a few months ago, perhaps you can give it a try now.

Have you ever felt that you will never ever get out of debt because there are simply too many credit card bills and threatening phone calls and letters from banks? You’re not alone. There are millions of US families out there who are also burdened by heaps of credit card debt, personal debt and loan debt.

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.

If you are burdened by a heap of credit card debt and find it unmanageable anymore, you are not alone. Millions of US families out there are like you too. But what sets the them different from you is that they have resorted or are resorting to consolidation debt loans to help them achieve debt free living. Is it time for you to consider consolidating all your debt into one loan?

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.

Are you fed up with the hidden and miscellaneous fees that you thought they were not in the terms and conditions when you applied for the credit cards?

Like most credit card users, I am so sick of paying late payment fees, cash advance fees, balance transfer fees, and other hidden fees charged by credit card issuers.

I am sure most credit card users are like you and I only know there are annual fees and balance transfer fees. You only get to know there are not so obvious fees when your credit card bills arrive at the end of the month.

Do you actually spend your time reading the tiny prints of terms and conditions for your credit cards to check out other fees? I don’t and I bet most credit card users don’t do so.

As you don’t careful pay attention to the terms and conditions thoroughly, you have to pay through your nose for any hidden and miscellaneous fees imposed by credit card companies.

Before you apply for any new credit card in the future, check if there are not so obvious fees charged by the credit card issuer.

1. Late Payment Fee. You know late payment fee, but do you know how this fee is structured? For you knowledge, most late payment fees charged by major credit card companies are based on a tier-based structure.

As an example, you know there will be a $20 in late payment fee if your balance is less than $250 and there will be more fee if your balance is over $250. But how much you will be charged if your balance is more than $250? You have to read the terms and conditions thoroughly to for this information.

2. Cash Advance Fee. Do you always assume that there are no cash advance fees attached to your credit cards? You are wrong. As a matter of fact, most credit card companies charge a percentage fee, usually 3%, for cash advance fees. The percentage fee can be less than or more than 3%, depending on your credit card issuers.

3. Over-Limit Fee. Never ever go over your credit limit. Going over your credit limit brings you more fees at the end of the month. Usually the over-limit fees charged by credit card companies are based on a tiered structure and on your ending balance.

4. Returned Payment Fee. Do you know that if you don’t have enough funds in your bank account or you enter the wrong account information for online payment that causes your bank to return the payment to your credit card, you have to pay a cost for it? Your bank will charge a $20-50 fee on your credit card bill at the end of the month.

5. Balance Transfer Cancellation Fee. Credit card companies are trying their best to squeeze as much money as possible from you that they will penalize you if you think of canceling the balance transfer deal in the middle of the process. If you do cancel a balance transfer transaction in the middle of the process, you will surely be charged.

6. Foreign Transaction Fee. There is a 3-5% foreign transaction fee if you use your credit card to conduct a foreign transaction in a foreign country. You enjoy the convenience of using your credit card anywhere in the world, but there is a charge.

In brief, you have to read the terms and conditions of imposed by every credit card issuer before you submit any new credit card application thoroughly to find out about the hidden fees.

So, you have been practicing credit card debt free reduction tips available online persistently for some time and managed to pay down some of your credit card debt bit by bit. But would you like to get out of debt fast or settle the credit card debt at one shot?

If you have been paying off your credit card debt with discipline and carrying no plastic credit card with you anymore, you may want to consider one of the best debt help reduction options that many homeowners use to become credit card debt free.

Do you know that owning a home and having enough equity to borrow money from your home’s value put you at a huge advantage? Equity is the difference in what you owe the mortgage company and your home’s market value.

Many homeowners have become credit card debt free by using home equity loans or refinancing loans to eliminate high-interest credit card debt.

Hear me right. Using bank equity home loan to pay off high interest credit card debt is a good debt help reduction option PROVIDED you have stopped using your credit cards.

According to debt help personal advisors, a problem that most individuals find after refinancing their home is that they have zero balances on their credit cards, and instead of maintaining those balances, they proceed to run up their credit card bills once again.

Think of this – you have no more equity in your house to bail you out of financial trouble and if you cannot make the equity loan payments for whatever reason, you face the risk of losing your home!

A home equity loan provides cheaper financing because the equity interest loan rate charged is more than significantly lower. Therefore, you would be exchanging expensive debt for inexpensive debt thus reducing the amount of your monthly payments by up to 60% or even more.

Using a bank equity home loan to pay off your credit cards means that you don’t have to struggle to make several individual credit card payments every month.

Refinancing the credit card debt with a home equity loan can give you the opportunity to enjoy credit card-debt free live. But if you aren’t disciplined, you will end of having the home equity loan PLUS the additional high interest credit card debt!