The website Newsvine.com had an article recently about Americans stepping up their use of credit cards in May. The site reported “Americans put more on their credit cards in May than in any single month since November 2007, one month before the Great Recession began.” The article went on to say that “Consumers cut back sharply on credit card debt during the recession and immediately after. Only in the past year have they started to put more on their credit cards and the gains have mostly been modest … That changed in May when the measure of credit card debt jumped by $8 billion.”
Why has credit card debt grown so sharply?
While it’s not possible to say precisely why credit card debt has gone up so much, it is thought that many more households are paying for everyday expenses with their credit cards. In addition, there were just an average of 75,000 jobs created a month from April through June. This was down from an average of 225,000 jobs a month in the first three months of the year, meaning that job and income growth are both weak.
How’s your credit card debt?
There was a report recently that the average American has nearly $16,000 in credit card debt. If you have this much debt or more and are struggling to make your payments, you’re not alone. Thousands of American families are in the same fix as they struggle with unemployment or what’s now called under-employment.
Credit card debt relief
There is a program called debt settlement that can help you get relief from that credit card debt. The way it works is that you end up falling behind on your payments for five to six months, then contact the credit card companies and offer to settle your debt for a fraction of what you owe. As you might guess, it takes something of an iron will to stop making payments on your credit cards for that long and then call and offer to settle for half of what you actually owe. This is why many families have elected to hire a company such as National Debt Relief to handle the debt settlement for them. These debt counselors have years of experience dealing with the credit card companies and personal contacts within the companies. This gives them a unique ability to negotiate favorable settlements.
A payment plan you can live with
A second good reason to let National Debt Relief handle your debt settlement is because its counselors are also able to negotiate lower interest rates and a payment plan that you can afford and that won’t strangle your finances.
Unlike credit card debt, it costs you nothing to get started
When you put National Debt Relief to work, it costs you nothing up front. Your debt counselor will negotiate the payment plan and then present it to you for your approval. You pay nothing until you approve it. If, for some reason you’re not satisfied with the repayment plan, you can just walk away and NationalDebtRelief.com’s services will cost you nothing.
If your credit card usage has been up sharply
If you’re one of the many Americans who have been forced by necessity to put more debt on your credit cards as reported by Newsvine.com, and you just can’t see any way to pay it all back, take heart. Debt settlement and National Debt Relief can help.