Hamish Kyle can clearly remember the day he decided to get free of credit card debt and put his life on a solid financial footing. He was trying to buy a clock radio, but experienced the shame of having each of his four credit cards declined. Undeterred, he applied for store credit, and experienced his fifth decline of the day. He sat down that evening, and pulled out all his credit card statements, and worked out how out of control his spending had been. "I realised my income was about 70 per cent of my outgoings," he said. "That meant I was never going to catch up."It was an epiphany that was to change his life. He vowed to get debt free as soon as he could.A friend referred him to a budget adviser.It took four years to clear the debt, paying off the highest interest debt first. Killing debt: One man's climb out of a $41000 credit card hole thumbnail courtesy of stuff.co.nz Mr. Kyle has been able to repair his debt quickly because of his personal stren