As of 2015, the average household in the U.S. owed $7,281 in credit card debt. When you count the amount excluding debt-free people, it rises to $15, 609. This is not forgetting on average students leaving college left at least $35,000 in loans, which just shows how many people are swimming in debt and why they choose to hide their problems. If you are among those in the above list, you need to think about repaying your debts so you can pursue your life without the impediment that comes with debts hanging around you all the time.

The most important thing you need to settle your debts is a repayment plan and strategies that can allow you to clear everything within a shorter duration. If you are looking for a method that is less painful and proven to work, you could try the ideas below to help clear your debts.

Give more than the minimum payment

You are not restricted from paying more than the minimum payment attached to credit. For example, if you have a balance of $15,609 with the APR fixed at 15% and minimum payments at $625, you will need 13.5 years to clear the debt. Since your focus is on repaying the debt sooner, you need to choose a new strategy that is different from the terms issued by the creditor. One of the most effective ways you could settle your debt within a shorter period of time is paying more than the minimum payment recommended, which allows you to clear the debt in a shorter period of time.

Apply the debt snowball method

If your idea is to pay more than the minimum repayment amount, you could try the debt snowball strategy to further push the repayment time down. In this method, you list all your debts from the one with the largest interest rate to the one with the smallest then from the list you can know which debts require a lot of repayment time and funds. You can then commit more money into the ones that require a lot of money to settle so you can eliminate their burden within a shorter period of time. This then means you are left with debts that don’t require a lot of repayment cost. It is the best way of settling debts than consolidation would do.

Try debt settlement companies

With a debt settlement company like Nationwide Debt Direct, you can easily plan your repayment schedule and they will also help you negotiate interest rate to a level you can comfortably repay. Most creditors offer high interest rates and if you are not careful you may end up paying a lot of money and taking too long to clear a debt. It is, therefore, advisable to work with experts who can reach out to these creditors to negotiate for better terms that can allow you to repay the debt faster. This is a cheaper method that prevents you from falling into the temptation of filing for bankruptcy.