Managing debt can sometimes be exhausting, especially if the actual levels of debt are greater than you can afford. These simple tips can help you manage your debt and make life a little easier.

1. Do not get a credit card if you are already struggling with your current liabilities. Getting more debt is not the answer, this will only give you relief in the short term. If you have a mortgage, refinancing with an increase of what you can afford is far more effective, especially if the credit card is not cleared at the end of each month.
2. If you do need a credit card, shop around for the best deal. Look for low interest rates and interest free periods. Taking advantage of interest free periods can save substantial amounts in interest repayments if cleared before the end of the period.
3. DO NOT get a store card or free period repayment loan if you already have a credit card that does not get cleared each month. The chances are if you don’t clear your credit card monthly, you will not repay the loan before the interest free period expires. The interest rates on these products are between 27%- 32%.
4. Resist on taking cash from your credit card, most cards will trigger a mechanism the sees the interest free period revoked. The computer systems are not designed to allocate an interest free period to each transaction, they are com bined in a monthly total. When the cash transactions are added into the total, the computer recognises the cash transaction but does not separate that transact ion from the rest.
5. Make extra repayments whenever you can, no matter how small. Every little bit counts, you only have to look at the effect of compounding. If you had put $1 in the bank each week for 30 years at in interest rate of 5% you would end up with $3,621. All for $1 per week.
6. Have your credit card limit reduced to your maximum disposable income. This will stop you from over spending for the month.