There are a number of reasons why you would want to pay down your credit card debt quickly.
One of the main reasons is that credit cards generally have a high interest rate. There's a reason why banks like Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) want to push them so much. It's great earning an interest rate of around 20% when wholesale interest rate funding costs are so low.
Unless you pay off a credit card in full every month you can get into a negative spiral where you're just paying off the interest and never managing to chip away at the balance.
That's why it could be useful to do one or more of these things to pay down your credit card balance:
Sell items
The sad reality is that after a while the shininess of many objects wear off and they're no longer worth having. But the credit card debt from buying them can last much longer.
There are many items that other people may be willing to pay a bit of money for, or perhaps some of the items could be sold to a place like Cash Converters International Ltd (ASX: CCV).
Quality clothes, phones in good condition, games consoles, TVs, musical instruments, furniture and so on could all be worth something.
Work overtime
If it's possible to work overtime at your job then it may be a good idea to do so because compound interest working against you is a terrible thing. That's why the credit card statements say it takes something silly like 15 years to pay off a reasonably small debt if all you do is pay the minimum required.
Get a side hustle
If your budget is already stretched and you can't work overtime then you may have to get a side hustle, at least until the debt is paid off.
There are many different options. You could spending some of your evenings doing paid online surveys from somewhere like Pureprofile Ltd (ASX: PPL). If you want to make more money then a part time weekend job at a Coles Group Limited (ASX: COL), Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) or Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) business could be the answer.
Foolish takeaway
Getting out of debt is not easy, but it's definitely worthwhile doing for your long-term wealth. Once you've paid off all of your credit card debt, some experts recommend cutting up your credit card and never using it again. Then you'll have more money to put towards building your net worth.
