When you have accumulated more than $100,000 outstanding balances on your credit card statements, what MUST you do? It is nothing to be proud of! The debt seems overwhelming and it is indeed necessary for you to eliminate the debt as soon as possible. Some people swipe their credit cards just to collect reward points. They don’t think much about their ability to pay back their debts. They don’t even bother whether their credit score will be affected or not when they miss the payments.

For people whose debts have reached $100,000 and above, in the point of view of the financial experts, first thing first, you MUST stop using your cards and start raising funds to pay off your debt immediately. If not, you will definitely in big trouble. If you don’t handle this issue properly, you will need to face legal proceeding or you will be sued for bankruptcy.

Here are 4 useful strategies you should apply to get rid of your debts:

#1 Start evaluating a debt settlement program

When you have accumulated your outstanding so much, it is really hard to pay back the debt in full. In order to dig yourself out, you are advised to opt for debt reduction. Seriously speaking, you need to obtain “discount” from your creditors so that your debt can become more manageable. Write in your request to your creditors to propose for credit card debt settlement. Negotiate with them to waive the late charges and annual fees. If you can get the approval from your creditors to forgive 40% of your total debt, you can actually save around $40, 000.

Read more about 60-Second Guide to Credit Card Debt Settlement.

#2 Consider balance transfer

As everyone is aware, the interest rates for almost all credit cards are high. In order to save your cost on interest rate, you are advised to do balance transfer. Transfer all the outstanding balances on high interest credit cards to the lower interest ones. By doing so, you will be able to reduce your financial burden in the long term. If you do proper calculation, you can actually save a few thousands from it.

#3 Obtain debt consolidation loan

Getting financial assistance is one of the solutions to get rid of the existing debts. You are recommended to consolidate your multiple debts into one new loan with lower interest rate. This is best choice to avoid harassing phone calls from your creditors or debt collection agencies. By consolidating your debts, you will be able to reduce about 10% of your existing debt. Focus on the sole repayment of one loan every month.

#4 Look for extra income

In order to become debt free, we have to be realistic. You don’t expect to clear off your debt overnight by striking a lottery. However, there are still many opportunities to obtain extra income, other than your normal paycheck. Let’s see what funds are available. It could be your income from your second job, an income tax refund check, year end bonus on the job, stimulus package from government, check from your life insurance, etc. Don’t underestimate all these funds. You can actually utilize them to eliminate your credit card debt.

By applying the 4 strategies stated above, I strongly believe that you will be able to eliminate your credit card debt amounting $100,000 in 3 years time provided you are determined and patience. Having a proper budget plan makes your life easier.