Dec. 2, 2005
Digging Out Of Debt
Financial Planning Tips For Getting Out Of Credit Card Debt
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Play CBS Video Video Getting Out Of Debt We've shown you some of the risks and offered some suggestions on how to avoid getting into debt, but what about getting out once you're in the trap? Trish Regan reports.
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Video Debt Pitfalls CBS News correspondent Trish Regan talks with financial planner David Yeske about what people need to do to stay out of debt.
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Video Credit Card Debt Cycle What happens when someone has so much credit card dept that even monthly payments are overwhelming? Trish Regan looks at interest rates and penalties in part two of The Debt Trap series.
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Dabney Oliver, left, talks to Trish Regan. (CBS)
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Special Report Ray Martin's Money Tips The Early Show money maven offers advice to keep your financial house in order.
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Interactive $aving Money From your home to your car, find every day ways to save
In our series this week on credit card debt, we've shown you some of the risks and offered some suggestions on how to avoid getting into debt.
CBS News correspondent Trish Regan now reports on how to get out of debt once you're in the trap.
Dabney Oliver is 31 years old, single and carrying $13,000 in credit card debt.
"I look at my budget and it's really tight, you know. It's just like paycheck to paycheck," Oliver says.
Working for an advertising agency in San Francisco, her take-home pay is barely enough to cover expenses — which include $600 a month on her credit card debt.
The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most expensive places in the country. So keeping up with the Joneses here is even harder. It's one reason why so many are tempted to charge their credit cards to the max.
"I would just like to be out of debt, you know, more than anything because I think that would give me so much more freedom to do the things I want to do," Oliver says.
A good first step "out" of the debt trap: find a financial planner. Regan brought Dabney Oliver to David Yeske for some financial training.
"If you think you're the only one suffering, look around you. Probably a majority of the people walking by you when you walk down the street have more credit card debt than they can comfortably handle," Yeske says. "People talk about credit cards as being dangerous, and they are."
"These cards look well-behaved," says Yeske of Oliver's cards. "That could change."
In Oliver's case, she has become an expert at "flipping" – switching balances to cards with super low introductory rates.
"Because I've kept my credit so good, they give me lots of offers so I'm good at, like, doing the flip around," she says.
But if you miss a payment, interest rates can soar.
"To some degree, the rates are almost predicated upon human frailty," says Yeske. "On average, I'm sure they are collecting more than 3 percent or zero percent."
But since Oliver's rates are so low, Yeske told her to pay a little less on her cards because he wants her to do what everyone should do: save for retirement and save for an emergency fund.
"I think she's going to be able to do it. I would bet money on it," Yeske says.
Oliver says she is on plan now and believes she can follow it. "Oh, I know I can."
If she follows this plan, in three years, she'll be debt free.
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