If you are on a fixed income you may be considering that bankruptcy is your only way out of debt. There is a way to eliminate your credit card debt without having to resort to bankruptcy. In this short article, get the information you need to know before you make a 7 to 10 year financial mistake. You don’t want to have to ruin your credit for 10 years or more and still be in debt.

This is not about consolidating your debts or using credit counseling. You do not eliminate your debt with credit counseling, you pay back the whole balance. They only spread out your payments over time and reduce your interest rates and maybe your payment amounts. So these methods are thrown out. Even though they are touted as some of the best debt cures you can find.

But look at who is promoting these methods. The banks and credit card companies helped start the credit counseling business. So they have a big interest in steering you to credit counseling.

This leaves debt settlement as the best way to wipe out your debts without using bankruptcy. Using debt negotiation you reach an agreement to pay about half of what you owe for the whole balance. In many cases if you are 3 to 6 months behind on your payments, they will be willing to settle with you.

With debt settlement, you can wipe out half your credit card debt in 18 months or less. You could possibly get a 30% settlement on a $100,000 balance and save $70,000 for example. Your mileage may vary. But with so many people struggling to keep up with all their bills, the credit card companies are seeing more and more of this everyday. People are drowning in debt and unable to keep up with their payments let alone get the balances reduced.

The creditors lose money when they have to write off or charge off what you owe so they would rather get 50% of the balance instead of recording the full 100% as a loss. They still have shareholders to please.

Best of all you can do it yourself. You can settle all your credit card debts on your own and save an extra 15% off your debt. So read a book, or buy a home study course on how to do it yourself debt elimination. This is the best way I’ve read about that can help you eliminate credit card debt without bankruptcy.