Mission: Impossible? CC Consolidation

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

This is my first time posting and a few weeks ago, after seeing the ridiculous rates my girlfriend was paying on her credit cards, I decided to take charge and help her out. I'm glad I found this oasis of knowledge on the matter and am going to run my plan by everybody to see if it works. My girlfriend has three credit cards all which have a credit limit of around $3500. Sadly, they are all practically maxed out (one is about $1000 paid off). Her combined balance on all three cards is about $12000.

What I want to do is have both of us get new credit cards with no annual fee and a 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months. Obviously, I want the CL on these new cards to be as high as possible. Whatever balance we can't transfer to the cards she's going to pay off with a loan from prosper.com (where the average APR of about 15% is a lot less than the APR she is paying on her cards now).

/takes a breath

Now, after reading these forums and doing some other research I've decided to take out a mini loan and pay off about half of all the cards, apply for the new cards in hopes of both of us getting high CL and then, after transferring balances, paying off the rest with another mini loan. You all seem like geniuses hear but this seems to make at least a little bit of sense to me. What do you all think? Is it possible? Feel free to ask me any questions and thanks a lot.

--Jaime

EDIT: Made the post more pleasing to the eyes. Yay paragraphs!

Message Edited by RoburLimax on 12-11-2007 10:42 PM

Message Edited by RoburLimax on 12-11-2007 10:45 PM

[ksiss]

I don't think she'll qualify for any 0% intro APR cards with maxed out credit cards.  You have to have pretty good scores to qualify for those deals, and I'm certain her over 95% utilization is sinking her FICO scores.

Hopefully you have good enough scores to qualify, but I wouldn't get this new card and max it out with her debt, as you'll only hurt yourself.

[dizzier]

how long do you plan on being with this girlfriend and how long does she plan in being with you?

I hate to be blunt but if you take out a loan to pay off her debt she can walk away from the relationship and leave you stuck with the loan. just something to consider.

[Anonymous]

Or another way to consider this...how much are you willing to "give" for your girlfriend's debt? Whatever amount that may be, don't expect it to be repaid (you can however, choose not to tell her this) so if you are fully repaid, you're pleasantly surprised.

If you really want to give, then only give what you can afford to lose.

And yes, it is not likely that she will be able to get a decent BT offer with her current util.

[Anonymous]

Do not commingle your debt-

She needs to fix the issue that caused the CC's to be maxed out before an effective change can be made.

She needs to budget and reduce the discretionary expenses- Then a truly effective plan can be made.

You have nice scores- multiple CFL's will hurt that

[Anonymous]

I agree with Timothy.  Kinda like bailing kids out.  If you tke responsibility for this debt, what will prevent her from running th same debt up again on the sam cards?  This is a girlfriend, not a wife.  Without a longstanding marriage I don't even believe in spouses co-mingling debts as divorces do happen. that plus the fact that as long as debt is kept separately, you have more protection in the WCS of bankruptcy where one spouse can file and maintain the good credit of the other.

Message Edited by Brammy on 12-12-2007 08:38 AM

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Maybe I jumped into the deep end and worded my question a little loosely. My girlfriend and I have been together for over four years and have a very strong relationship. Sorry for using that word which I know brings up pimple faced middle schoolers holding hands and writing notes to each other in class. Sadly, the next step up is fiance and that is neither here nor there.

I've spoken with my girlfriend about her debt. She used the cards to pay through college and we both have agreed to try to solve her high interest rate problems. What advice would you all give to her? Up until this board I had only been brainstorming without feedback so I'm glad I found you all.

--Jaime

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hi all,

Maybe I jumped into the deep end and worded my question a little loosely. My girlfriend and I have been together for over four years and have a very strong relationship. Sorry for using that word which I know brings up pimple faced middle schoolers holding hands and writing notes to each other in class. Sadly, the next step up is fiance and that is neither here nor there.

I've spoken with my girlfriend about her debt. She used the cards to pay through college and we both have agreed to try to solve her high interest rate problems. What advice would you all give to her? Up until this board I had only been brainstorming without feedback so I'm glad I found you all.

--Jaime

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I like your loan idea. The balance will go down a lot faster with the lower interest. Can she get a loan in her name? If she doesn't have any current or closed loans on her history, this would actually help her credit profile. There is a type of loan called a consumer finance loan, and it is counted against you for scoring purposes. These generally come from companies with "Finance" in their names, like CitiFinance and Wells Fargo Finance. A CU might be a great option for her --they are usually much more flexible and human than the big banks.

You'll find after you've been here a while that there is a lot of debate on mingling credit, even for married couples. As one poster pointed out, if all credit is separate, and some sort of disaster results in one of you declaring bankruptcy, the other's credit remains untouched, so that the couple still has access to decent credit.

[Anonymous]

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RoburLimax wrote:
Hi all,

Maybe I jumped into the deep end and worded my question a little loosely. My girlfriend and I have been together for over four years and have a very strong relationship. Sorry for using that word which I know brings up pimple faced middle schoolers holding hands and writing notes to each other in class. Sadly, the next step up is fiance and that is neither here nor there.

I've spoken with my girlfriend about her debt. She used the cards to pay through college and we both have agreed to try to solve her high interest rate problems. What advice would you all give to her? Up until this board I had only been brainstorming without feedback so I'm glad I found you all.

--Jaime

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I apologize if you were offended, however, as you can see from my posts, I'm not big on sharing debt, girlfriend wife or mother.  Never assumed you were pimply faced kids, heck I assume everyone is just like me....older than dirt.  But anyhooo....It seems that you are set on this venture.

I never recommend borrowing from friends or relatives, can make a sticky situation.  And as mom said, never gamble more than you can afford to lose.  Give gifts freely but make loans sparingly.

Message Edited by Brammy on 12-12-2007 02:41 PM

[dangphuocloc72]

don't do it . you can give her some cash but don't loan money from cc , it hurt you later . trust me .