1. Cut them up and stop using them.
2. List the balances, smallest to largest.
3. Pay off the smallest debt first, as fast as you can.
4. After paying the first one off, apply that payment to the second debt and pay it off as fast as you can.
5. Keep repeating this process until they are all paid off. It's called the debt snowball method.
Au contraire,
You should pay off the credit cards with the highest interest rates first. The high interest rate credit cards are the ones putting a hole in your pocket. Pay them off first and then take care of the ones that have a lower interest rate.
In short, quite spending more then what you bring in. I actually wrote a paper on this for one of my finance classes in college. First, sit down and add them up and find a total. If most or all of you cards have a higher intrest rate on them (anything above 14%) i would look into getting a personal loan from the bank for the amount owed, you will get a better intrest rate and it will be only one bill. WARNING: if you do this do not start spending more on your credit cards, cut them up except for one. On the other hand if most of your cards have lower interest rates, except for one or two. Pay off the highest intrest cards first, and then pay off each card in order of highest intrest to lowest, remember not to turn around and add more on to the cards. For more Financial Advice see source below.
1. Cut up the cards!
2. Develop a repayment plan using the concept of power payments (applying the most money to the creditor charging the highest effective interest rate). The total amount of money spent on debt repayment each month will remain the same until all debts are repaid.
Pay the minimum payment on each bill each month. When the first debt is paid, add the minimum payment on that debt to the minimum payment on the next highest interest rate debt. Pay that total each month on the second debt until it is paid. Continue to make the minimum payments on the rest of the debts.
When the second debt is paid, add the amount to the payment on the third highest interest rate debt. Pay minimum payments on the rest of the debts. Continue in this manner until the debt is eliminated.
Remember that this repayment method assumes that you have stopped making purchases on credit.
3. Find extra money to add to your monthly debt payment. Your repayment plan will be more effective because the time to repay all your debts will be decreased and you will save considerable money in interest.
IMPORTANT: Apply all extra funds to the account with the highest effective interest rate. Identify an amount of money, above the minimum payments due, that can be applied each month to debt repayment. This money might come from cutting back spending, an extra job, overtime pay or reduced spending. Add the power payment to the minimum payment on the first debt. For example, if the minimum payment is $10 and the additional power payment is $25, pay $35 each month until the first debt is eliminated. Meanwhile, continue to make minimum payments on all other debts.