Americans collectively owed a shocking $1.14 trillion in credit card debt. 

Unfortunately, despite rising delinquency rates — and the fact that credit card interest is very expensive with average rates of 23.37% — many people are at risk of adding to their debt burden as they enter an expensive time of the year. 

“It’s important to get a handle on your credit card debt before the holidays,” advises David Peters, a CPA and the founder and owner of Peters Tax Preparation & Consulting. “If you are already carrying a balance, try to pay it down before we get into the busy shopping season.”

With limited time left before holiday spending surges, it’s important to explore debt relief options now if you don’t want to go into the new year burdened with a large loan balance. Fortunately, there are solutions to help you get a handle on your debt before the festive season arrives. 

Start exploring your credit card debt relief options online today.

How to cut your credit card debt before the holidays

Every credit card user’s financial situation is different and, therefore, their potential relief options are likely to vary as well. That noted, here are three potential ways users can start cutting their credit card debt now:

Credit card debt forgiveness

Credit card debt forgiveness is one possible solution if you’re in over your head. The best debt relief companies can help you negotiate with credit card companies to pay less than you owe on your balance and have some debt wiped away. 

Card companies are most likely to offer forgiveness options if you have a large amount of debt and they’re worried about you being unable to pay at all. This process may hurt your credit score but can be a good solution if your balance is so large that paying it would be a serious hardship.

When you’re pursuing debt forgiveness, you’ll typically stop making credit card payments and redirect that money to the debt relief company. The company will negotiate with your creditors to convince them to allow you to make a lump sum payment for less than the total you owe. The debt relief company will then use the money you’ve sent them to make that lump sum payment.

Check your credit card debt forgiveness eligibility here.

Debt management programs

Debt management programs are another option, and they may have less of an adverse impact on your credit score than credit card debt forgiveness.

Typically, these programs involve getting personalized counseling to help you determine how much you can afford to pay your creditors each month. The debt management company will negotiate with your creditors to reduce your interest rate or take other steps to make monthly payments affordable. Your debt won’t be wiped away, but it will become easier to pay back. 

Once you have a deal with your card issuer, you’ll make your payments to your debt management company, which will pay your cards according to the agreement you’ve negotiated.

Debt consolidation loans

Finally, debt consolidation is another solution that has the least negative impact on your credit. There are several ways to do it. 

“Consolidating several credit cards into one lower-interest card via a balance transfer can help,” advises Rick Miller, financial planner and investment advisor at Miller Investment Management. Balance transfers involve paying off existing debt with a new card at a lower rate. 

“Use zero or low percentage interest offers to pay down other cards,” advises Jeffrey Wood, CPA, CFP, and partner at Elysium Financial in South Jordan, Utah. “You can transfer debts from one higher interest card to another lower interest card, often with a zero-percentage introductory period so you can really focus on reducing or eliminating that debt.”

Peters agreed this could be a good option, although he warns it can come at a cost. “Balance transfers can help save you some money on interest. However, be careful to pay attention to balance transfer fees,” he advises.

It’s also worth noting that this option requires you to qualify for a balance transfer offer, which isn’t always possible if you’ve missed payments. 

Debt consolidation loans that are offered as part of debt consolidation programs may be easier to obtain and can sometimes offer you a longer payback period so they’re more affordable. If you’re participating in a debt consolidation program, you’ll also get added support in getting a handle on your debt.

The bottom line

Ultimately, the right option will depend on the specifics of your situation. The key, though, is to explore all your options to find the right approach given your goals and ability to pay. 

Of course, you’ll also want to avoid digging into a deeper hole. As Elizabeth Pennington, CFP and financial planner at Fearless Finance advises, “if you haven’t been saving up cash for holiday purchases, scale back your gift-giving plans.” 

A transgender woman in China who recently won 60,000 yuan (roughly $8,300) in compensation from a hospital that forced her to undergo several rounds of electroshock “conversion therapy” has told CBS News that she hopes her experience will herald change for the LGBTQ+ community in her country. 

“I hope that the transgender community will soon have safeguard measures and basic human rights, and will no longer be victimized by medical treatment,” said the 28-year-old performance artist who goes by the pseudonym Ling’er.

Ling’er was admitted to a hospital about a year after coming out to her parents as transgender, she previously told the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper. She said in that interview that her parents were “very opposed” to her gender identity and “felt that I wasn’t mentally stable. So they sent me to a mental hospital.”

In the hospital, Ling’er was diagnosed with an “anxiety disorder and discordant sexual orientation,” she told the Guardian. She said she was held for 97 days and subjected to seven sessions of electroshock treatment.

“It caused serious damage to my body,” Ling’er said. “Every time I underwent the treatment, I would faint… I didn’t agree to it, but I had no choice.”

Ling’er said  the electric shocks caused her to develop heart problems, which she now requires medication to treat.

The hospital “tried to ‘correct me’, to make me conform to society’s expectations,” Ling’er told the Guardian.

The hospital declined to comment when approached by the Guardian.

There is a legal ambiguity surrounding so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ people in China. The government removed homosexuality from an official list of psychiatric disorders in 2001, but a diagnosis for distress about sexual orientation remained on the books until recently.

A 2017 Human Rights Watch report urged the Chinese government to prevent hospitals and other medical facilities from subjecting LGBTQ people to conversion therapies. HRW said many victims of these therapies in China were forcibly brought to hospitals by their families.

“I feel good, I won my case,” Ling’er told CBS News. “I hope that my case will be useful for transgender cases in China.”