What if your partner is racking up a huge amount of credit card debt, and has a hard time putting a halt to their unnecessary spending? This situation can get quite dangerous. Is your spousal debt starting to look unmanageable due to a spending addiction? Start investigating payment solution and embrace the ideas listed below that you may try out to get their finances back on track.
1. Be Careful with Debt Solutions
There is a saying that “you know yourself best”, so when you are solving your own debt problems, you have only yourself to worry about. Dealing with someone else’s issues on the other hand, may pose some uncertainties, and there are more factors to consider. For example, be especially careful about converting credit card debt into home equity debt. This will just free up your cards enough so that you or your partner can inadvertently do more damage. Unless you are committed and completely stop using those cards and commit to paying down debt, any loan modification efforts will only lead to increased spending temptations and additional debt.
2. Seek Counselling
While you may be open to taking action for yourself, it may be a lot tougher trying to encourage your spouse to go this route. Have you ever seen the TV show “Intervention”? You can only instigate change once you have seen the light. Unfortunately, many people with this problem do not see their debt as a problem and continue to be in denial.
3. Do Not Bail Your Spouse Out
Discuss the option of separating your finances with your partner who cannot manage their spending. See if you can work out an agreement where you keep separate financial accounts.
4. Approach the Issue with Sensitivity
Be understanding and supportive provide a positive attitude and loving approach to your spouse’s problems. Dealing with change can sometimes be tough and it’s easy to fall off the wagon, so making this a team effort would be much more manageable. Of course, your family’s dynamics will determine whether you can realistically make this a successful joint effort, but this has to be done.
5. Manage Household Finance
In effect, this would mean relinquishing financial control and assigning the financial responsibilities to someone in the family who can handle their finances. Would you be able to make your spouse cooperate and agree to a financial plan? In fact, you are both basically imposing strict limits on your household spending, and though it may be an uncomfortable arrangement, it may be worth doing for at least, for the short term.
6. Use the Right Tool
As it is mandatory to cut all your spouse’s credit cards at this stage, you will need to provide another payment method for her because you simply cannot expect her to pay for everything in cash. This is where the Visa prepaid card comes in handy. Prepaid Visa cards functions just like a traditional credit or debit card would. This will allow your spouse to make purchases in-store, online or at ATM machines. However, the prepaid Visa card is not linked with any credit facilities or bank account. This means that she can only spend what was preloaded on the prepaid card account. Since a prepaid credit card does not facilitate credit services or cash advances, your spouse will not be able to spend any money that they don’t have. This is a perfect tool to restrict expenses as well as to help her nurture a sense of responsible spending.
What’s Next?
Now that you have realized that the only way you can break this bad habit is to help your spouse to make a commitment to deal with it head on. You will have to help your spouse dig deep to find the discipline to make those changes. With the assistance of prepaid Visa cards and full dedication, it gets easier as your spouse develops healthier financial habits over time.
Visit www.transact24.com and get your spouse a prepaid Visa card today, do not allow her debt to add up and control her life.
