Hi to all fellow ficoers!!
Im dealing with a dilemma that I need some help with. Let me give you some info. I have $25k in new CC'd debt. I have 13 CC's, 5 with high balances, they were all at 0% and used them aggressively while my husband changing career and I used these to stay on our feet. 2 cards are over 80% uti and the other 3 50-60%. I have 0 Bal on all other cards. I'm now starting to pay interest and don't have any leeway on paying them down.
I have requested lower interest rates on 2 of the cards and got my Amex BCP down to 18.99 from 20.99, better than nothing.
Requested a cli (early) on CITI Simplicity, it has 0% for 9 more months but the limit is very low 😕 $1800, requested 5k got the 24 hour message. Not to confident as I opened the card in July and not sure if this will fly considering I didn't recon sooner.
i also have my Cap1 with 7k balance about to get hit with a whopping 24.99% (this month Sept 15)
my CITI preferred has the 50% uti and about to lift the 0% returning to a 12.99% and I can do a balance transfer from my Discover but the balance is higher than the available credit. So....
...do I ask CITI to increase my Preferred from 10kish to 15k so I can move the 7k off the Discover? This will help some if possible but I'll be in the same boat soon with the other half of the balance when it goes to 12,99 in a month or two and I doubt they'll give it to me.
... Apply for a good BT card and ask for a high limit and hope for the best? It would knocking my Aaoa way down. Is 1.5yrs now with the the new app from July.
...Apply for and get a personal loan?... Prosper has offered 10-15k at a 9.99% still not ideal and would prefer not to pay interest until I absolutely have too. Still taking a hit on my Aaoa.
my Uti is just under 30%
I don't think I left too much out. I really need an idea the best direction to go befor it really hits the fan. I have absolutely no graces as money is really tight now paying a mortgage and debt on my own. I've even tried to defer the mortgage for a few months to throw at the cards but I can't do that either.
im forest for the trees right now and I may not be in dire straights yet, I'd like to nip it in the bud before there is no return...
looking forward to to all the great knowledge my fico friends.
Starting Score: 0 No score until August 2011
Sorry to hear about the challenges, getting a bunch of CC debt is no fun.
I had $116k in balances in January 2009, then started paying them down.Most were on fairly favorable interest rate terms, so that makes it easier, but it was still a huge lump to get through. Now it is down to "only" $29k 
Can you list out your cards, which card name, CL, current balance, APR, whether the 0% expires soon, if there are new 0% offers for any of the cards, and minimum payment amount. The 4 cards listed in your siggy seem out of date. Your scores seem reasonable, so utilization is probably the only issue.
While waiting for more details, I would say, if you already have cards at over 50% utilization, then putting $9k on the Citi card, if there is a 0% offer, even at the $10k CL, is a good idea. When you are trying to save interest cost to get ahead of these high rates, you are trying to save cash. Your FICO score will go down a bit, but that is only a pretend number, and since you already have high utilization cards, your score may not budge at all. You want your main focus to be keeping APR low, to direct as much cash as possible to the principal balance on the cards.
The main thing is, as long as you keep up the payments on all the cards, you can get through this. Even with high interest rates, eventually with strict budgeting and attention to reducing costs, it can be done.
Thanks for the response.
Ok...
BCP $17'500 bal 2200. 20.99% but just lowered it to 18.99% starting next billing cycle
CAP1 world $ 8,000 bal 5640. 24.99% will start accruing sept 15 ALL of this balance is from a 0% cash advance
Discover. $10,800 bal 7270. 10.99%
CITI. $ 9,400 bal 4541 12.99%. I have an offer to use the difference of this card for a 0% offer
Cap1 $. 5,000 bal 4311 7.9%
citi simpl. $ 1,800 bal 1290. 9 mths 0% remaining
Penfed. $. 500 bal 414 overdraft protect credit
i have 13 credit cards total but the rest are all at 0 balance. I should also mention that I've dropped all my utilities to the lowest I can pay except one (paying for a 1k phone for my to be x-DH on my cell plan and can't change it till I pay the remaining $800.
My stick is 80/20 extremely high and my mortgage is 1400 a mth. I'd like to keep the house but I can't refi to cash out or get a new mortgage for a lesser value home with high dti, but that's for a different topic.
ok... There it all is on the table.. 😒 I've been really good with my credit and it isn't as daunting as a lot of people's credit debt, but I'm out of a bad situation now and trying to get my head back above water.
again... Help is much appreciated
Ok, good starting info. Can you list out the names and CL on the $0 balance cards? They are part of this analysis and will potentially be used in any recommendations.
@NRB525 wrote:Sorry to hear about the challenges, getting a bunch of CC debt is no fun.
I had $116k in balances in January 2009, then started paying them down.Most were on fairly favorable interest rate terms, so that makes it easier, but it was still a huge lump to get through. Now it is down to "only" $29k
Can you list out your cards, which card name, CL, current balance, APR, whether the 0% expires soon, if there are new 0% offers for any of the cards, and minimum payment amount. The 4 cards listed in your siggy seem out of date. Your scores seem reasonable, so utilization is probably the only issue.
While waiting for more details, I would say, if you already have cards at over 50% utilization, then putting $9k on the Citi card, if there is a 0% offer, even at the $10k CL, is a good idea. When you are trying to save interest cost to get ahead of these high rates, you are trying to save cash. Your FICO score will go down a bit, but that is only a pretend number, and since you already have high utilization cards, your score may not budge at all. You want your main focus to be keeping APR low, to direct as much cash as possible to the principal balance on the cards.
The main thing is, as long as you keep up the payments on all the cards, you can get through this. Even with high interest rates, eventually with strict budgeting and attention to reducing costs, it can be done.
Quick note: I've held off on the BT to the citi card from the discover because the Cap1 is about to hit the 24.99% interest compared to the 12.99. Though the payments on the discover are at 140, I fear the payments on the cap1 more...
@NRB525 wrote:Ok, good starting info. Can you list out the names and CL on the $0 balance cards? They are part of this analysis and will potentially be used in any recommendations.
That's just the CITI simplicity which only has a few hundred left on it and the CITI preferred has about 4700 for a bal transfer, just got the checks and expire early 2016
hope this helps...
@Teasha wrote:Thanks for the response.
Ok...
BCP $17'500 bal 2200. 20.99% but just lowered it to 18.99% starting next billing cycle
CAP1 world $ 8,000 bal 5640. 24.99% will start accruing sept 15 ALL of this balance is from a 0% cash advance
Discover. $10,800 bal 7270. 10.99%
CITI. $ 9,400 bal 4541 12.99%. I have an offer to use the difference of this card for a 0% offer
Cap1 $. 5,000 bal 4311 7.9%
citi simpl. $ 1,800 bal 1290. 9 mths 0% remaining
Penfed. $. 500 bal 414 overdraft protect credit
i have 13 credit cards total but the rest are all at 0 balance. I should also mention that I've dropped all my utilities to the lowest I can pay except one (paying for a 1k phone for my to be x-DH on my cell plan and can't change it till I pay the remaining $800.
My stick is 80/20 extremely high and my mortgage is 1400 a mth. I'd like to keep the house but I can't refi to cash out or get a new mortgage for a lesser value home with high dti, but that's for a different topic.
ok... There it all is on the table.. 😒 I've been really good with my credit and it isn't as daunting as a lot of people's credit debt, but I'm out of a bad situation now and trying to get my head back above water.
again... Help is much appreciated
I'm sorry if I ditz'd out but did you say how much you can afford to pay monthly on these cards? I would attack the Cap1 World card and Amex first (highest APR on Cap1 and highest balance on Amex).
You can *try* for a BT card (do you have Chase Slate already?) but even with overall util lower than 30%, $25k in revolving debt is a lot and you might not get a high enough limit anyway. The loan doesn't sound like a bad option if you can afford the monthly payments and it's lower than a lot of your CCs anyway. I wouldn't worry too much about your score now; worry about the debt and once you get out of debt, you can worry about maxing out your score.
Quicksilver $10,000 | Better Balance Rewards $2000 | Sallie Mae $3500 | Freedom $3500
@Teasha wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:Ok, good starting info. Can you list out the names and CL on the $0 balance cards? They are part of this analysis and will potentially be used in any recommendations.
That's just the CITI simplicity which only has a few hundred left on it and the CITI preferred has about 4700 for a bal transfer, just got the checks and expire early 2016
hope this helps...
I did just ask them for a cli to $5k but I only opened the account in July.... The CITI Simplicity. If I was so luck, that would relieve a good chunk and do the BT on the other
@Callandra wrote:
@Teasha wrote:Thanks for the response.
Ok...
BCP $17'500 bal 2200. 20.99% but just lowered it to 18.99% starting next billing cycle
CAP1 world $ 8,000 bal 5640. 24.99% will start accruing sept 15 ALL of this balance is from a 0% cash advance
Discov
yeah unfortunately I can only put about 600 on ter. $10,800 bal 7270. 10.99%
CITI. $ 9,400 bal 4541 12.99%. I have an offer to use the difference of this card for a 0% offer
Cap1 $. 5,000 bal 4311 7.9%
citi simpl. $ 1,800 bal 1290. 9 mths 0% remaining
Penfed. $. 500 bal 414 overdraft protect credit
i have 13 credit cards total but the rest are all at 0 balance. I should also mention that I've dropped all my utilities to the lowest I can pay except one (paying for a 1k phone for my to be x-DH on my cell plan and can't change it till I pay the remaining $800.
My stick is 80/20 extremely high and my mortgage is 1400 a mth. I'd like to keep the house but I can't refi to cash out or get a new mortgage for a lesser value home with high dti, but that's for a different topic.
ok... There it all is on the table.. 😒 I've been really good with my credit and it isn't as daunting as a lot of people's credit debt, but I'm out of a bad situation now and trying to get my head back above water.
again... Help is much appreciated
I'm sorry if I ditz'd out but did you say how much you can afford to pay monthly on these cards? I would attack the Cap1 World card and Amex first (highest APR on Cap1 and highest balance on Amex).
You can *try* for a BT card (do you have Chase Slate already?) but even with overall util lower than 30%, $25k in revolving debt is a lot and you might not get a high enough limit anyway. The loan doesn't sound like a bad option if you can afford the monthly payments and it's lower than a lot of your CCs anyway. I wouldn't worry too much about your score now; worry about the debt and once you get out of debt, you can worry about maxing out your score.
Hey callandra! Unfortunately I can only put 4-500 out a month. So with the soon to be interest on the Cap1 I'll be going backwards.... So you think my odds are better consolidating to the loan? I could get $15k last month but I think it dropped to 10, which is why I need to move quickly before it gets too far.
