Here are RateSupermarket.ca’s Top Tips for Dealing With Debt:

1 .Set a budget

The first step is to get a handle on how much debt you have.  Find those credit card and loan statements to get an idea of the outstanding balances and the interest rates each of them are charging.  This will help you get an understanding of how much you owe and will make it much easier to set a budget.

A few tips to set a budget include:

• Review your total after tax income
• Breakdown and analyze what your spending your money on each month
• Try and cut out any unnecessary costs and stop impulse purchases when you’re out grocery shopping or at the mall
• This will give you a good idea how much you have left over at the end of the month to put towards paying off your debt
• Or the monthly shortfall, where it’s back to the drawing board and trying to reduce costs even more
• There are fantastic free budgeting tools out there to help you like Mint.com

Once you have a budget you’re in a great position to put a plan in place to begin reducing your debt.

2. Tackle highest interest debt first

A great place to start tackling your debt is to begin with those charging you the highest interest, which is typically your credit cards.  They charge huge amounts of interest, up to 29%, and can take years to pay off if you only pay the minimum amount.

Did you know that if you have a $1,000 credit card balance and only made the minimum payment each month, it would take you almost 10 years to pay it off! You’d also end up paying over $1,000 interest!  So try and avoid paying only the minimum amounts each month if you can.

3. Review biggest debt

The next step would be to review your biggest debt which for many Canadians is your mortgage.  With all the excitement that comes with buying a property and turning it into your dream home, many people are happy to not think about their mortgage again. It’s easy to view it as a monthly expense, rather than a large debt that should be actively managed to try and pay down as quickly as possible.

A few quick wins to reduce your mortgage debt include making sure you compare mortgage rates before you purchase or refinance, move to accelerated payments and take advantage of your mortgage lenders prepayment options.   These steps can reduce the number of years and interest you’ll pay over the life of your mortgage.  Visit our Learn section to find out more details on how to pay off your mortgage faster.

4. Be a smart shopper

It’s a very competitive market and there are many companies competing for your business other than your current bank or credit union.  If you’re looking to renew or refinance your mortgage, or shopping for a new credit card, be sure to compare the market and find the best offers.

Take advantage of some of the great offers to save money.  For example, if you have credit card debt, why not take advantage of a low balance transfer credit card? We’ve found a 0% balance transfer credit card from MBNA that enables you to move an outstanding balance from another card and pay 0% interest for 10 months.  During this initial period all payments go towards the balance rather than interest.  Please note that the interest rate jumps to 19.99% after the 10 month period, so it’s important to take advantage of the low rate right from the start.

5. Get expert advice

If you’d like help managing your debt, you can always consult a financial planner or adviser.  There are also credit counseling agencies you can speak to, and many are not for profit organizations, that specialize in helping people manage their debt.  A quick online search can help find a local credit councilor near you.

These tips can help you start dealing with your debt in 2012 and begin building your savings for the future.

The Globe and Mail launched a new video series today in the Globe Investor section of their site called “Financial Road Map“.  One of the first topics was about reducing personal debt, which can be a concern as we start off 2012, especially if you we very busy during the holiday shopping season!

You can see my tips in the video “How to tackle your long-term debt” below.  Please note the link will take you to the Globe and Mail website.

It’s a well-known fact that the Canadian economy is closely tied to that of the US. Plus we’re already starting to feel the pinch here – higher gas prices, and growing reports around pending economic uncertainty certainly does not paint a happy picture.

However, the economic uncertainty of other countries, particularly the US, has led to periods of record low interest rates for Canadians. The Bank of Canada wishes to increase mortgage rates, however, their hands are tied due to this global financial instability.

VIDEO – Watch CBC The National: The Debt Crisis  >
Compare the current best mortgage rates >

What are your thoughts – glass half empty, or glass half full?

~ Kelvin

You can find detailed commentary from the top-notch panel of industry experts in our Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel section.

The Panel consists of financial gurus providing their opinions on the short term direction for Canadian mortgage rates, and this month’s members include:

RateSupermarket.ca’s founder, Kelvin Mangaroo, appeared on CTV’s Canada AM this morning to discuss the Finance Minister’s latest comments that the government would look at changing mortgage regulations in order to slow down the housing market if it appeared to be heading towards a bubble. You can view our in-depth explanation in yesterday’s blog entry Flaherty Looking at Changing Mortgage Regulations.

You can view the full video below:

TORONTO, December 02, 2009… RateSupermarket.ca, Canadian consumers’ one-stop-site to quickly and easily compare over 500 mortgage rates from the country’s top providers, today announced the formation of their Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel. The panel will help Canadian consumers make informed mortgage purchase decisions by offering a short-term mortgage rate outlook on variable and fixed rate mortgages once a month.

Joining the diverse panel of financial experts are:

“In these times of economic uncertainty, we are pleased to offer a stress-saving resource like the Mortgage Rate Outlook Panel,” said Kelvin Mangaroo, Founder of RateSupermarket.ca. “Having access to the perspective of our financial guru’s will help Canadian consumers make the best financial choices for their fixed or variable mortgage arrangements in 2010.”

The panel’s first mortgage rate outlook (For the next 30-45 days) takes the likely result of the upcoming Bank of Canada announcement (December 8th) into account and expects that mortgage rates will remain low heading into 2010.

Official RateSupermarket.ca Mortgage Rate Panel Outlook the next 35-40 days : UNCHANGED

Fixed rates: Unchanged

80% of panel members agree that fixed mortgage rates will remain unchanged as we move into 2010. However, there is downward pressure on fixed mortgage rates driven by strong lender demand for residential mortgages and an expected slowdown in the second half of 2010. Other highlighted factors include the recent events in Dubai, low long term bond yields and a Canadian economy struggling with minimal growth and a weak US economy.

Variable rates: Unchanged

60% of our panel members believe that variable mortgage rates will remain unchanged following the Bank of Canada announcement on December 8th and over the next 30-45 days. However, increased competition and a push for market share by the big lenders may cause mortgage providers to offer further discounts to prime.

A recent poll conducted on the RateSupermarket.ca site showed that Canadian consumers agree that rates will remain low. Asked what Canadians believe the lowest five year fixed rate mortgage will be in October 2010; thirty four percent said 3.51%-4.50% while twenty seven percent believed that it would be below 3.5%.