There are several free debt calculators you can use to figure out what your credit card debt is costing you monthly. I was not too happy to see that my $62,000 worth of credit card debt was costing me over $500 a month in interest alone.That works out to $6,000 a year in credit card debt interest.

And the banks are the ones who need a bailout?!?!

Seeing numbers like that makes it hard to imagine how you would ever become debt free. But you cannot start paying off your credit card debt until you know how big the problem is. Check out this free debt calculator that you add to Excel and OpenOffice:

http://www.vertex42.com/Calculators/debt-reduction-calculator.html

You don't have to run an installation or run a Macro, it's just a simple spreadsheet that can show you the best ways to eliminate your credit cards, auto loans, student loans, and other debts.

You can print out the results and recalculate your new numbers each month to see the snowball effect on your debts. This can provide you with a big boost each month as you may get discouraged that your debts are not going down as fast as you would like. 

This may be the case for you as you struggle just to get by let alone try and add extra to your monthly minimum payments.

This is where a different option may be needed. Another way people are finding much needed debt relief is through debt settlement. With debt settlement, you can effectively reduce your credit card payments in half. Average savings is 30 to 50%.  How much easier would it be to manage the finances if your credit card payments were cut in half?

Click Here To See How Much You Can Save With Debt Settlement Free

You can run through a free debt settlement calculator and see what is possible using this method. It is a much better option than bankruptcy because the effects on your credit do not last as long.

You will not be in the financial shape you are in all the time. Once the economy recovers and prospects improve, your financial life will improve and you'll regret filing bankruptcy.

Even if you file, you have to pay back most of what you owe and your credit still gets ruined for 7 to 10 years.

With debt settlement, you can pay off all your debts in 12 to 36 months and then start working on rebuilding your credit.

So check out the free debt calculator above and see when you will be debt free on a normal schedule and then see what debt settlement can do for you. You owe it to yourself to at least get a free consultation and then decide if it is right for you.