Today it's important more than ever for Americans to have a crystal clear picture of their financial situation and debts. Debt management helps you in managing your debts. There is no doubt that the best debt management tip is not to acquire any debt. However, taking into account the present financial scenario, one cannot deny that there are very few people who have ready available cash. You need to buy a house, household appliances, a car, personal computers or any commodity that is essential in our day to day life by taking a loan when you don't have sufficient cash for the purchase. As a result of this, you become a "borrower" by means of personal loans, bank loans, as well as credit cards. When your debts run up to a substantial amount, you face the dilemma of paying for and managing your debts responsibly. Debt management tips come into play in this type of situations.

Ten effective debt management tips that can help you today!

1) Keep a track of your funds. Determine how much money you have and how much earnings you can expect in the near future. Determine your monthly expenditures and your unexpended money to repay your creditors.

2) Try to buy in cash. Sometimes the best policy is if you can't buy it in cash - then don't buy it at all.

3) Prioritize your debts. In other words, try to pay off as much as you can as fast as you can by eliminating the smaller payments and balances then moving onto the larger balances.

4) Perform a due diligence before borrowing money. You should look at borrowing as if you are "purchasing money". Do a comparison for locating the best deal whether you are searching for loans from your bank, a finance company or making an application for a new credit card. Make sure you know what the repayment terms and finance charge (interest rate) are before singing for the credit card or loan.

5) Get a personal debt management strategy ready to repay ahead of further borrowing. The easiest way is to have a spreadsheet of all your current debts. If you don't know what you're spending, simply look at your receipts or bank statements. If this doesn't work, then take a small notepad with you everywhere and write down every penny you spend and you'll quickly see where your money is going.

5) Maintain documents of credit card buys, the date of buying, commodities purchased and a repayment plan for the goods purchased.

6) You should not have numerous bank accounts for your daily expenditures. This will create a problem for you to track your money and moreover, you also have to pay recurring fees for these accounts. Of course, try to have a separate savings that you regularly deposit into, especially for emergencies.

7) While it is necessary for you to make a minimum monthly payment, determine a monthly payment you can afford for repaying principal credit card debts within a particular time period, such as 6 to 12 months. Making the minimum payments, you could spend 3, 4, 5+ times the amount your originally borrowed!

7) Pay off your nominal credit card purchases on a monthly basis. This will be great for your credit! Goods for sale are not considered as bargains once interest gets added to the selling price. Append your credit card fees and interest charges over and above your principal payment. In this way, you don't have to pay interest for accrued interest.

8) Get an idea about your rights as a borrower or debtor. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an outstanding resource for gathering knowledge and managing your debt. There's also plenty of information on the web.

9) Don't get tempted by seemingly attractive loan offers - make sure you get the whole story, what's the interest rate, the terms, etc.. Buyers beware of offers that are "teaser" rates. These are low rates for a short period of time, usually 1-3 months and then the rate goes up substantially.

10) Be sure to periodically stay on top of your spending habits and your payments. Always pay on time and keep your balances low- this will ultimately raise your credit scores thus reducing your payments when you borrow money for items that you would need to finance such as a home or car.

Gerard Ladalardo, CMPS
www.caloanpros.com