This is a much less powerful tactic but hey, snowflakes are much smaller than snowballs. The allegory here is that even though snowflakes themselves are extremely tiny, get enough of them together and you’ve got entire mountains covered with snow.  

The trick here is simply that you provide small payments whenever you can on a constant basis. I’m not taking about $50 or $60 payments either; I mean pocket change. All throughout the week you can either collect or immediately send off your spare change and any money that you find lying around or happen to have on you that you don’t explicitly need.  

Let’s say your credit card payment is $100 a month. That amounts to about $3.33 every single day. If you spend that much on coffee or regularly get small amounts like that in change then you can save all that money and send it in for your monthly payment. We usually neglect how much money we have just lying around or that comes to us through consequence (change, found, etc.). Even if you don’t make enough to actually pay off your debt it will help you in the long run if you just give whatever you can whenever you can.  

This has a secondary purpose. Even when you can’t afford the minimum payment on your loan or credit card balance you should pay something. It’s true that paying the minimum is essentially wasted money because it only goes towards interest BUT it’s better than paying nothing. Paying the minimum is really one of the worst things you can possibly do for your debt. 

When it comes it credit cards, the minimum payment is usually 98% interest and 2% principle, if you’re lucky. Often times the minimum payment is interest-only meaning that you are literally not doing anything but throwing money at your creditors for the sole purpose of getting them off your back for another month. You prolong your debt and you make absolutely no progress towards settling it. Unless you have a flawless credit score and are so hard for money you honestly cannot afford even $5 above the minimum payment then it is a terrible idea. 

By paying whatever you can afford you prove that you’re trying to settle your debt by all means possible. If the creditor stops working with you or becomes unreasonable and a credit counsellor or debt settlement company cannot help you then you may need to file bankruptcy. Showing that you tried your best to make payments and settle the debt is a key way to be allowed to get Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and settle your debt for good. If you don’t even attempt to make payments you will most likely be denied.