Debt Snowball: A Simple Method Of Getting Out Of Debt

More and more people are unfortunately finding themselves sinking deeper into the debt mire. Many people look for outside help to tackle their debt problem, perhaps through the Citizens Advice Bureau, or a firm specialising in negotiating with creditors to lower the monthly payments. Others might take out an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) or in extreme cases might even consider declaring themselves bankrupt. However, all these solutions will have a major, negative effect on your credit rating.

However, by using a recently introduced system of managing debt repayments, people can actually help themselves to tackle their debt problems without damaging their credit rating. The system, called the Debt Snowball, has been devised by Dave Ramsay and goes against the grain of most of the advice given by self-help books and even some financial advisors.

Many debt counsellors advise paying more money towards the debts carrying the highest interest rates first, with the lower rate debts receiving the minimum payments. However, in many cases the debt that has the highest interest rate also has the highest amount outstanding and it can feel that no matter how much money you plough into clearing the debt, it never seems to get lower. And by paying the minimum amounts to your other debts, you’d be hard pushed to make a dent in them too!

However, according to Dave Ramsay the best method is to create a debt snowball by actually paying off the smallest debt first! The method works by setting aside a fixed amount of money that will allow you to cover all your debts with a little extra left over. Ramsay advises that you pay the minimum payment to everything other than the smallest balance, where you devote whatever cash you have set aside towards the debt. Once that debt is clear, add the payment onto the minimum payment for the next debt and continue the minimum payments for the others. As each debt becomes cleared, the snowball of cash you can pay towards your debts get bigger; and as you get towards the bigger debts, the snowball will allow you to pay more off the debt and clear it off quicker.

The system works, regardless of who you have debt with: banks, building societies, credit card issuers or even debt collection agencies, such as Capquest, and before long you’ll see debt being reduced far more than you would if you tackled your bigger balances.

So, if you’re struggling with debt, but don’t want to go down the debt consolidation or IVA route, a debt snowball might be the answer; and there are many websites available which can provide calculators to help you work out the size of the snowball you’ll need to help you get out of debt.

Capquest Debt Recovery is a UK-based company, specialising in the management and recovery of overdue and delinquent consumer and corporate debt.