How do I reduce my short term debt?

2 million Australians have credit card and personal loan debt — here are a couple strategies to demolish short term debt

Rules:

1. Cut out unnecessary spending and avoid any new borrowing
2.  Make a list of all credit cards and borrowing that you have as well as the current fees and interest rates
3. Consider consolidating borrowing to pay a lower interest rate (if you have high interest rate borrowing). This can be doing using a personal loan or a low rate credit card
4. Pay off the highest interest rate debt first (this is theoretically the best, though paying off the smaller balances can provide motivation as it provides small wins)
5. Close borrowing accounts/credit cards as you pay them off. You can keep one credit card for emergencies

References:

Great article by Moneysmart – https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/media/283411/cant-pay-your-debts.pdf – Provides details on financial counselling and other types of advisory options