HELP - Lost my job, and can't pay my credit cards

[Anonymous]

Well, those add up to circa $12,000. So, they're probably his outsanding balances.

Not sure why so many folks jump to the conclusion that high credit card debt = poor spending habits. How quickly we forget Springtime of 2009 when banks "slashed and burned" their customers' credit and scores by slashing credit limits that didn't need to be slashed. Now, the industry reports, 70+ percent of those with credit card debt have bad credit where before it was around 47%. The banks complain that consumers aren't borrowing, but they did it to themselves and to us by ruining our credit. Not sure what they've been teaching in the business schools, but someone should send them back to classes to study basic economics.

I've managed to keep up payments and maintain a decent FICO score even though my utilization went from 37% to 87% "overnight" back in April of 2009, and all I did was go to bed and get up the next morning to discover that I'd lost $50K of open credit and my credit score was in the tank.

Can I invest in a business or opportunity to increase my income and pay it all off sooner? Absolutely! ...but first, I need my credit lines back so I can leverage new investments and maximize my ROI.

Myopia on the banksters' part.

[Consumerman]

Even CCCS or Consumer Credit Counseling Service cannot help if you do not have payment money. What they do is arrange a payment plan, perhaps with reduced interest and payment but you have to make payment. Sometimes you have to take a hit and work to rebuild, assuming this is your only option. You can do what is called a consumer statement, explaining within a specific number of words, 100 I believe or 500 character and or character spaces what has happened. You can always contact the creditor and ask for hardship payment. They will explain but again you need money. All things considered, you best bet might be to take the hit, not letting the account go to charged off status, two to five months in arrears will show on your report as late, but with consumer statement and now back with job making payments, you make payments on time and eventually put time between when you were last late.