Well organized, that is half the battle! Good luck with paying them all down.
Starting Score: 744
@tcbofade wrote:yeah, yeah, I know...
Between my wife and I, we've got 30 active credit card / store card accounts.
As of the first of the year, all 30 of them had balances on them.
Today is the fifth of January, and I paid ONE off.
...it's a start...
tcbofade,
This question may sound stupid, but do you need that many cards? I have a total of 10 and, frankly, I only used two or three every three months for the rewards and sometimes, due to my profession and the fact that I'm currently deploy to Afghanistan, I have a hard time login into my accounts to check balances and so for. You may need to hire an accountant my friend 
More great feedback, thank you boys and girls.
While some of the details vary greatly, I think most of you have the same idea that I started with...pay them off, one by one.
With both of our full time incomes, we CAN dig out of the hole that we've created.
One down, 29 to go. 
@drkaje wrote:Even if the rewards were 10%, OP would still likely be losing money. Store cards can be pretty brutal with interest rates.
...but they can be pretty generous too.
Five of the "store cards" are 0 percent.
My Household card is my personal favorite...it has a 9.9% interest rate, but I never pay ANY interest...I pay $200 every Friday, and before a new bill rolls around, I've completely paid off (and reloaded...) the card. Effective interest rate = 0.
@tcbofade wrote:
@drkaje wrote:Even if the rewards were 10%, OP would still likely be losing money. Store cards can be pretty brutal with interest rates.
...but they can be pretty generous too.
Five of the "store cards" are 0 percent.
My Household card is my personal favorite...it has a 9.9% interest rate, but I never pay ANY interest...I pay $200 every Friday, and before a new bill rolls around, I've completely paid off (and reloaded...) the card. Effective interest rate = 0.
Technically, any card paid in full is 0%.
Carrying balances on cards with any APR over 0% means it only feels like you're saving money. Also, nearly maxed-out cards hurt FICO scores.
If it's not an issue of overspending or relying too heavily on CCs for daily living, Perhaps changing payment timing will make some better cards or higher limits available over time. I'm far from expert on FICO scoring but 30 cards reporting balances doesn't seem like a scenario that would give their software warm, fuzzy feelings.
Regarding 0%. A buddy of mine always says "It's easier to cook a frog in cold water".
@drkaje wrote:
@tcbofade wrote:
@drkaje wrote:Even if the rewards were 10%, OP would still likely be losing money. Store cards can be pretty brutal with interest rates.
...but they can be pretty generous too.
Five of the "store cards" are 0 percent.
My Household card is my personal favorite...it has a 9.9% interest rate, but I never pay ANY interest...I pay $200 every Friday, and before a new bill rolls around, I've completely paid off (and reloaded...) the card. Effective interest rate = 0.
Technically, any card paid in full is 0%.
Carrying balances on cards with any APR over 0% means it only feels like you're saving money. Also, nearly maxed-out cards hurt FICO scores.
If it's not an issue of overspending or relying too heavily on CCs for daily living, Perhaps changing payment timing will make some better cards or higher limits available over time. I'm far from expert on FICO scoring but 30 cards reporting balances doesn't seem like a scenario that would give their software warm, fuzzy feelings.
Regarding 0%. A buddy of mine always says "It's easier to cook a frog in cold water".
Not an issue of overspending...anymore. As I mentioned earlier, Mrs. was out of work for most of last year, and we're just starting to dig out from the pile of plastic.
I've never heard the expression "It's easier to cook a frog in cold water" before...that's funny as heck.
I've been exactly where you are, tcbofade. My husband and I, actually, with a list that looks a lot like yours: A list of mine, his, and few of ours.
If you can get together enough money to throw at this, you'll get out of it. In our case we had to take a big loan from a family member. But now we're paying close to no interest. We pay less than $100 a month interest right now and paid over $800 a month a year ago. It was a hopeless situation until we got some help. We just don't have the income to pay all this down, or we didn't.
Now we've got it halfway paid down and our scores are way higher and the sweet deals keep coming around. When you're in a corner (with that many balances reporting you give the appearance of being in a corner) no one wants to help you. When you get on the other side, it's really the sunnier side of the street, let me just say that. I recommend exactly what (user with Banjo in the name, I forgot the name, sorry) said. Get rid of the smaller ones and the high interest ones and whittle that list down. A few big balances and lots of wide-open credit lines will look a lot better than owing every shop and bank all over town. It makes you look a little nutty (and I'm only saying that as a fellow nut, partway reformed.)
ChesterPDexter wrote.... Get rid of the smaller ones and the high interest ones and whittle that list down. A few big balances and lots of wide-open credit lines will look a lot better than owing every shop and bank all over town. It makes you look a little nutty (and I'm only saying that as a fellow nut, partway reformed.)
I'll confess that the above is part of my current frustration.
We DID some whittling down last year, and instead of getting declined for our "utilization", the denial reason changed to "bankcard utilization".
(As I paid off the store cards and had LARGE amounts of credit available on those, CC providers started to deny based on credit card vs. store card utilization.)
Which, I'll confess, led to a whole lot of, "I don't care" Christmas shopping. Guilty.
Oh well.
One down, 29 to go.
@tcbofade wrote:
ChesterPDexter wrote.... Get rid of the smaller ones and the high interest ones and whittle that list down. A few big balances and lots of wide-open credit lines will look a lot better than owing every shop and bank all over town. It makes you look a little nutty (and I'm only saying that as a fellow nut, partway reformed.)
I'll confess that the above is part of my current frustration.
We DID some whittling down last year, and instead of getting declined for our "utilization", the denial reason changed to "bankcard utilization".
(As I paid off the store cards and had LARGE amounts of credit available on those, CC providers started to deny based on credit card vs. store card utilization.)
Which, I'll confess, led to a whole lot of, "I don't care" Christmas shopping. Guilty.
Oh well.
One down, 29 to go.
I'm sorry but I have to disagree, util is util and a denial is a denial... Denial "reasons" are kind of like automatic feedback on Ebay... The computer has 10 to choose from what sounds the closest to our reason. You are hurting yourself further by thinking I paid this card in full this month and earned $10 off the rewards program, that was a good move... That may be true for that 1 card but over on this side you had 29 cards that you paid interest on.