Research your options Being in debt doesn’t mean you’re limited to one option for paying it off. Depending on your situation, you can change your payment plan, interest rate or balance.

“I don’t know if I ever considered myself financially off track until I thought about what being debt-free could mean for me,” Richi said. “I was in debt, but I was paying my bills every ...

4. Stay focused for the long haul Finally, don’t give up. Depending on your level of debt, you may be living on a strict budget and paying off debt for a year or more. Trust me — it’s worth it.

Here's why: being indebted is not a crime in this country, period. And it is illegal for debt collectors to say you've committed a crime in order to wrest your money from you.