Always pay more than the minimum payment toward your debt

Always pay more than the minimum payment toward your debt. If you only pay minimum payments, you will be old and gray before you pay off a the debt. Here is a calculator that shows the true cost of paying minimum. For example, if you only pay the minimum payment on a credit card loan of just $1000, at an APR of 18%, then it will take you around 13 years to pay off that debt. In that time you would have paid $1,115.41 in interest. That is more than the principal borrowed! Imagine how much worse it is with larger loans. So always try to make more than the minimum payments if you are serious about getting rid of debt.