Part 2 Tips to Pay Off Credit Card Debt.

Your next step is to set a target amount of money that you can pay in addition to the minimum payments. Without getting all tangled up in a complicated math explanation just keep in mind that for every $100 over the monthly minimum payment, you'll be erasing $1200 a year of debt. It will still take about 10 years to pay off the $10,000. But $100 a month isn't that much money if you break it down. If you eat lunch out every day at work that's $100 right there if you switch to brown bagging your own lunch. And that's what you'll have to do next. Figure out where you can find some extra cash.

If you rent movies two or three times a week, get them from the library for free instead. Switch from department store clothing to big box stores. Use coupons to save on groceries. Have vegetarian meals like pasta twice a week instead of meat. Use chicken instead of beef. Once you get started on where you can cut your budget you'll come up with lots of ways. Some of them entirely painless.

Put any cash gifts toward your credit card debt. If you get an income tax refund pay down the debt. Use your raise to pay off even more debt.

Some people are so overwhelmed by their debt that even if they implement the above steps, getting all that debt paid off isn't really possible without some help. If that's you, you still have a couple of options.

Debt settlement is using some of your cash and getting your creditors to agree to take the lesser amount as payment in full. That will hurt your credit rating and there may be some income tax consequences but the debt and the monthly debt payment will be gone.

Credit counseling is a possibility. The counseling service will set up a reasonable, although tight, budget and use every extra dime to go towards debt payment. They'll negotiate with each creditor to adjust the interest rate, waive late fees, and sometimes decrease the amount owed.

Consolidation loans are another option. In most cases you'll use the equity in your home to secure the consolidation loan. Each of your creditors will be paid and you'll have a fresh start.

No matter what you do, at least do something. That credit card debt won't go away by itself.

Credit Card Debt: Several Tips to Help You Pay Down Your Credit Card Debt

This is the first part of the article.

Summer vacation is just around the corner and you're still trying to pay off that holiday buying spree. Your credit cards are just about maxed out. Is there anything you can do? Yes. Here are tips for help pay off credit card debt.

It may seem extreme but the first thing you need to do is to put those credit cards away where you can't get at them easily. Only carry one card with you and use it only for emergencies. A café latte isn't an emergency even if you're tired and are having a caffeine attack. Either is being low on gas. An emergency means that you've had an accident and need medical care. Or your roof caved in.

Now drag out the most recent credit card statement for each account you have. If you have a student loan, store credit, bought furniture on time, or other unsecured loans get those statements out as well.

Make a chart listing the name of the account, interest rate, minimum payment, outstanding balances, and payment due date. Add all the minimum payments together to see what your total debt payment is each month. And add all the outstanding balances together as well. You might be shocked to see just how much money you owe and how much you have to pay each month.

Let's say for example that you're like the average family with $10,000 of credit card debt. If you only make the minimum payments it could take you up to 20 years to pay off that $10,000 because of the very high interest rates credit cards carry. If you have 5 cards each with a minimum payment of $50, you'll be paying $250.00 every month and not making much progress towards whittling down your balances.

Should You Sell Equity to Raise Cash for Your Company

Equity capital is money given for a share of ownership of the company. Equity can be provided by individual investors, sometimes known as "angels", venture capital companies, joint venture partners, and the sweat equity and capital contribution of the founders of the company. Equity providers are more interested in the growth potential of the company. Their objective is to invest an amount now and reap the rewards of a 5 to 1, or even 10 to 1, payoff in three to five years. In other words $100,000 now will be worth $1,000,000 in three years if invested in the right company.

Since the objectives of investors are different from lenders, the factors they evaluate in determining whether to invest are different from lending sources. Investors like to put money in companies that have the potential for rapid growth. Growth potential is based on the quality of management of the company, product brand strength, barriers of entry to competitors and size of the market for the product.

So Debt Or Equity Capital?
The answer is dependent on the answers to several questions: Why does the company require additional capital? What stage is the company at? What is the financial condition of the company? How much capital is required? What constraints will the financing source put on the day-to-day operations of the company? And finally, what impact will the financing source have on the ownership of the company?

What Kind Of Capital Is Right For Your Business?

There are two kinds of capital: debt and equity. Both kinds are typically used by a company during its lifetime. Lenders have different objectives than investors and therefore look at different factors about a company when deciding whether or not to invest or make a loan. Keep in mind that while there are two kinds of capital, there are many ways to find money for your company.

Debt
Debt is money borrowed, which must be repaid at a set time period and generates income for the lender over that time period. Lending sources include not only banks, but also leasing companies, factoring companies and even individuals.

Lending sources look primarily at two factors: how risky the loan is; and whether the company can generate sufficient cash to pay the interest and repay the principal. The growth potential of the company is secondary; the primary considerations are the track record and asset base of the company. Usually the debt must be secured against the assets of the company and very commonly must also be secured against the assets of the owner of the company, also called a personal guarantee.

Assets of the company are not usually given full book value in securing a loan. In other words, if your inventory has a book value of $50,000 (or it cost you $50,000 to produce that inventory) a lending source will only give you 50% to 75% of that value. The reason being is that the lending source is not in your business and would have to quickly liquidate the inventory, rather than selling it at market prices.

Accounts receivable, or money that is owed to you from customers who have previously purchased your product but not paid for it yet, are also discounted. Using the same example, $50,000 worth of accounts receivable may only be worth 60% to 70% of that value to the lending source. Customers may not pay the full amount owed, or feel they have to pay for the product at all, if an outside lending source is demanding payment. And so on.…with equipment, land, buildings, furniture, fixtures and what ever other assets the company has, the same general rule applies.

The lender often requests that the personal assets of the owner of the company are pledged as a contingency and as a gesture of faith by the owner. Obviously, if the owner of the company does not believe in his/her own company's ability to repay the loan, why should the lending source?