Falling into credit card debt is dangerously easy. Especially when you don’t compare credit cards and check which have the lowest annual percentage rates (APR), cashback rates or even the best petrol-related promos.

Too often, the average credit card holder is seduced into thinking of the card as free money and forgets that it’s a loan. It’s also easy to overlook that a credit card is a service you have to pay for.

Credit card debt in Malaysia

On August 21 last year, the New Straits Times reported that Malaysians had an outstanding balance of RM36.9 billion on their credit cards.

While 43.6% of total cardholders settled their credit card debt completely from January to June 2017, another 43.6% only paid the minimum 5% of their outstanding balance in the same period.

The remaining 12.8% are cardholders who did not pay the minimum required of their outstanding balance, before or within the due date.

Defaulting on your credit card has its consequences. Banks will implement debt recovery services to recover the dues and your credit rating will be tarnished.

Before you wake up one day to find yourself buried under a mountain of credit card debt, or start feeling overwhelmed by growing debt, start an action plan to clear your debts and prioritise which debt to pay off first.

It may not be easy, but paying off debt is definitely doable.

Here’s how you can clear your credit card debt:

This article first appeared in comparehero.my