Now not everyone recommends this strategy, because  you will end up paying slightly more in interest chargers. Although it does have its own benefits. How the snowball effect works is really quite simple. You start from your lowest balance and work your way up on your debt. When your starting out, you pay the minimum payment on all other cards and make as large of payments on the lowest balance first. Once you pay that first card off you take that payment and apply it to the next credit card and so on. 

Here is what you should do to get your snowball rolling.

1. List all your current debts, smallest to largest; Not including a mortgage
2. Make minimum payments on everything, except for your smallest debt
3. Once you pay off that first debt, take that payment and apply it to the next debt

Doing it this way you completely ignore what the interest rates are. You are probably asking why would I do it this way instead of paying off the higher interest rate cards first? Instant gratification, that’s why. Instant gratification is probably a reason why you have racked up such a large credit card debt, at least I know that is my reason. I would be in a store and see something that I just thought I had to have and would buy it by putting it on my credit card. Of course when the bill came due I never paid it in full. I chose the snowball effect so I can get that gratification more quickly. You see results in terms of debts paid off more quickly and this can be a large mental boost. That is the key is keeping with your debt reduction plans. If you could pay off 3 credit cards in the time it would take you to pay off 1 which would you choose? I would choose paying off 3. It’s plain and simple for me.