Credit card debt can be problematic if you let it spiral out of control, experts warn. Picture: Supplied

1. STOP SPENDING

Regardless of how much debt you have accrued the first thing to do is to stop spending on your credit card immediately.

Remove any temptation to do so — even take your cards out of your wallet and put them in a safe place so you don’t use them.

2. PLAN OF ATTACK

Pen out the details of all the cards you have — include the card limits, interest rates and fees that apply and the debt owed on each card. Then work out a strategy to pay each card back.

3. BALANCE-TRANSFER DEALS

This can be a great way to pay the debt back at a rapid race by rolling card debt onto another card that has a honeymoon interest-free period.

Some of these cards offer interest-free periods of up to 24 months but there can be other costs associated with signing up to these deals so it pays to check.

4. MORE THAN MINIMUM REPAYMENTS

Be sure to pay back more than the minimum amount required as this will allow you to pay it the debt off much more quickly and lessen the interest charges that apply.

5. SHIFT AWAY FROM CREDIT

Once you have paid back all your card debts to avoid getting yourself into a credit card blackhole again stop using credit and move to only using a debit card to pay.

This means you are only spending money that you already have and not spending money you don’t have.