Do you have any credit card debt tying you down? If so, you may find yourself asking this question time and time again: how bad is it to have credit card debt? Although the answer may be hard to come by for some, you should be able to look at your situation and determine exactly where you stand.

If you carry a balance on your credit card from one month to the next it is something you should be concerned with. No, it is not the end of the world but you definitely have to realize that it can begin to harm you over the long haul. Not only will you be paying money in interest, but your way of thinking may change. You may begin to believe that this is okay.

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Lesbian sex, abortion, gay marriage and … credit card debt.

That mixed bag of hot-button topics is just a small sampling of what’s in Esquire’s “Survey of American Women,” released in the May 2010 issue. The just-for-fun study complied the results of about 10,000 women who took the men’s magazine survey online between Feb. 4 and March 3, 2010.

Most of the questions centered around relationships (If you knew you wouldn’t be caught, would you cheat?), sex (If you were or are a lesbian, what celebrity would you sleep with?) and plain old hawtness (Who’s the best looking man in America? Hint: See picture above.) But readers also got a small peek at the financial habits of today’s Esquire-reading women.

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If you have credit card debt there is a good chance that you are interested in getting rid of it as soon as possible. No matter who you are, this type of debt can bog you down and make your financial life more difficult to control. Although you make look at your situation and wonder how you will ever make progress, there are things you can do to get moving in the right direction.

The best way to quickly get rid of credit card debt is to pay it in full. If you send one lump sum for your entire balance, your debt will be gone in a snap of the fingers. While this sounds good on the surface, you know it can be difficult to do – especially if you have a large amount of debt.

If paying in full does not suit you, it is time to devise a plan for paying off your credit card debt. This may mean a longer period until you are free, but at least you will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. For example, if you owe $10k you can break this down into five $2k payments. With this plan, you know at the end of five months or so (due to finance charges) that you will be free from your debt.

To get started, know how much money you can throw towards your credit card debt right now. If you do not have enough to pay your entire debt in full, now is the time to think about devising a plan. No matter which option you consider, getting rid of credit card debt in a quick and efficient manner is more than possible.

Do you know how much credit card debt you have? If so, you are already on the right track to paying it off. Of course, the real work does not start until you actually begin to make payments. Those who find it difficult to eliminate credit card debt should begin to think about the types of goals they can make for themselves.

It goes without saying that you want to pay off your credit card debt as soon as possible. But in terms of a goal this is entirely too broad. You need to focus on smaller details so you can take the right steps towards reaching the ultimate goal – which is having no credit card debt.

The smaller goals that you set along the way will have a lot to do with how quickly you move forward, and whether or not you get what you want in the end. F

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With the economy in a slump, there never has been a better time to take a close look at your credit card debt. Credit card debt is generally the most expensive type of debt to carry and, it’s the most risky. Being highly leveraged with credit card debt amounts to flirting with financial disaster. As far too many consumers have discovered, all it takes to push you over the edge is for a card issuer to increase the interest rate and/or monthly minimum payment due, and you might no longer be able pay your monthly credit card bills.

How do you get the extra money to pay down your credit card debt? The most effective way is to look for ways to reduce your recurring expenditures, or preferably, eliminate them completely. T

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