Debt is a dirty word for many people. It is something that they are sinking into without being able to find their way back to the surface. It isn’t the car payment or the mortgage that is the lion waiting behind the door. It is their unsecured credit card and payday loan debt.

The fact that a person has a payday loan is almost always a sign of financial problems. These are usually lenders of last resort. The interest is high, and the length of the payback is excruciatingly long if you can’t repay it all at once. People who get payday loans rarely ever get finished with them. Even if they are repaid at payday with interest, it is not uncommon for a new one to be taken before the next payday. Eventually, it will not be fully repaid but rolled over.

High credit card balances are the next warning sign. These high balances even if well below the credit limit will eventually catch up. The companies will lower your available credit. This will put your credit score in the basement which will cause them to raise your interest and payments. If you have more than 2 or 3 open cards, this can be devastating to your financial future.

If you use checks from one card to pay another, you are already in deep trouble. You will never owe less, and the debt will grow quicker because you send $100 to pay on a card where $80 or more is interest while adding $100 to the balance of the first card. The outcome is not a reduction but an $80 increase in your outstanding debt.

The collection calls and court dates are not far behind. You need to seek some sort of relief from this debt as soon as possible.