Have you ever seen the movie Zoolander? There is a pretty funny scene in which Ben Stiller makes a fool of himself when talking about education.
His enemy is trying to defeat Stiller, but he tries to distract him from what's really going on by talking about charity.
The bad guy shows Ben stiller a small model of a school which will soon be built for underprivileged children.
The model is made of plastic (or something similar) and is the size of a dollhouse.
Apparently Ben Stiller's character is not too bright, because he believes that the model represents the actual size of the school.
Ben shouts in dismay, "How can you expect the kids to learn when they can't even fit inside the building?" OK, that may not have much to do with your credit card debt, but I thought you would enjoy a good laugh.
You probably need it if you've been stressed out because you're having trouble paying your bills.
Well, the first step to winning the war against credit card debt is to ask yourself this question.
(If you've seen the movie and recognize Ben Stiller's voice, try to imagine him telling you this in a dramatic way.
) How can you expect to beat your credit card debt, if you don't even know your enemy? The first step to winning any battle is to study your opponent.
Therefore, you must know exactly where you stand in regards to your credit card debt.
As much as you may not want to, you need to take out each of your credit card statements and organize some simple information.
Write down the total balance for each credit card.
Also note the interest rates and what your monthly payment has been in the past.
If you're like many Americans, the finance charges are eating up a sizable portion of your monthly payments.
Facing your reality is a first step in your plan of attack to reduce (and eventually eliminate) your credit card debt.
There is much more to defeating the credit card giants, but you can't get anywhere if you skip this step.