There are many reasons to want to pay off your debt, many of which are completely separate from the most important purpose to save money! Especially with credit cards and personal loans, the interest, finance charges, and payments can be particularly outrageous. At the time of this writing, the average APR on credit cards is up to 14.41 percent.

Despite any claims you may hear from debt elimination companies otherwise, wiping out credit card debt from your credit report is generally not possible unless the date of the last activity on the account was over seven years ago (unless it was in a bankruptcy discharge, which means it can stay on your credit for 10 years) or you don’t actually owe the debt.

America’s obsession with debt plans and strategies took off in 2006 when Oprah Winfrey, along with financial experts David Bach, Jean Chatzky, and Glinda Blidgforth, launched an action plan for people overwhelmed with debt. Since then, countless books, dvds, and websites have been promoted as the official “debt free diets” for Americans.