finman's post used to be here --removed as spam.
Nice catch, Susyquk!--hauling
Or before you pay someone soliciting for business on the boards you could try contacting the Credit Card companies yourself and see if any of them will help you with negotiating on your rates, suspending interest if you pay off within a certain amount of time, paying your smallest balances down to zero first so that you can then take the minimum payments for those and apply to the next smallest balance. Sell anything you don't need/haven't used in the last 6 months (chances are you never will), apply for a part time job. Do anything and everything you can.
You also need to pull your full credit reports (you get one from each CRA per annum) and check there are no lates/collections/baddies on there you are not aware of.
The boards here have great advice (have helped me a ton) to help you although it may be slow and steady it took time to get to where you are now and you will get back up there through working hard at it and being aware. You can do it!
@Anonymous wrote:Hello. I decided to check out my credit today, for the first time in a while. I was a little surprised at how low my credit score was. Trans was 608 and Equifax was 618, it looks like what has my scores low is high balances on revolving credit. I have no late payments, no collections.. just high balances that total around $27K (result of a divorce a couple of years ago). I am limited as to how much I can pay on the cards each month, so it seems like I will never pay them off. I had someone call me from Wells Fargo a few weeks ago, and he asked if I was interested in a consolidation loan. What are the thoughts on that? Would I even qualify for a loan wit my score so low, even with otherwise perfect credit?
My main concern for getting my score up is that I am going to be moving in with my boyfriend in the next few months and he wants to re-fi his house and put me on the loan.
Any input/advice is very much appreciated!
Thanks,
Becky
Do you have any 0% or low rate transfer offers from any of your cc's? If you can restructure your debt into lower rates while you focus on debt reduction, this will assist you by allowing you to pay the savings in interest toward principle.
Also, here are a few other ways to get serious about this. They are not convenient, but they do the job and you would never regret the results.
1. Create a written budget. Identify all income and all expenses.
2. Kill all non-essential spending. No eating out, no movies, no impulse buys.
3. Buy generic and store brands for food and personal care. This will on average save you at least 20% on these type of expenses.
4. Adjust your AC thermostat up a few degrees (going to feel a bit warmer in the house) and the heating down a few degrees (may need a sweater at night). This will save at least 10% on your current utilities.
5. Sell stuff. The stuff you don't use, don't want, don't even rememeber stored in the garage, closet, under the bed or in paid storage. Sell stuff that you don't need or is a luxury you really can do without. Have a garage sale, ebay sale, craigslist sale.
6. Consider getting another part-time job. An extra $300 to $800 per month will let you get out of debt much faster.
7. Don't accumulate any new debt.
These are ideas that can help you maximize your "get out of debt" mode. Good luck and happy hunting (kill the debt hunt) 