Help trying to get out of this stump!

[RW771]

Good morning everyone,

So I've been anxiously trying to find a credit card in order to transfer some balances from other cards that have really high int. rates on them. I've only applied once so far (for the Citi Simplicity) and was denied due to high util and a serious delinquency on my CR (2 paid CO's from 2007).

I've come to the realization that I probably won't be able to get another card in order to transfer these balances in order to pay down some of this debt until I pay off some of my current cards, but it's so dang hard when the int. rates and minimum payments are so high!

I called my CU and talked to one of the LO's there about my situation and since I don't have any collateral or the title to anything I probably wouldn't be able to get any sort of unsecured loan either. My credit is in the 660's, 1 paid medical collection from 2007 I'm currently trying to HIPAA, 2 paid CO's from 2007 and the following CC's:

1. WTXFCU: $5842.08 / $6K  = 97%

2. HD:  $3,534.58 / $4.5K   =  78%

3. DB:  $370 / $2,250   =  16%

4. Kohls: $83 / $200   =  41%

5. Chase: $2,053.02 / $3K   =  68%

6. BM: $2226.09/ $3,400   =  72%

Overall util: 74%

The cards I'm trying to transfer are cards #2 & #5 for a total of $5,587.60. Even though the balance is high on card #1, the int. rate on that card is only 8%. I will be paying cards #3 & #4 off next payday to show these 2 at a $0 balance.

Any other ideas on how I can get myself out of this mess? I don't guess I really have many other options aside from either finding another card to BT or getting a loan of some type to pay these cards down. The int. rate on the 2 I'm needing to pay off are almost 30% and even the min. payments are killing me! Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[igids1]

Before applying for a new credit card to transfer the balance, I would call each of the cards you have and ask two things 1)Lower the interest rate. You can tell them that you would like to transfer the balance from another card to their company, otherwise you are going to transfer the balance OUT. 2) ask for a higher CL in order to do this. Each higher CL, will also have the effect of lowering your utilization, which would make it easier if you needed to get another card to transfer the balance.

WTFXCU might be a good place to start. Tell them you'd like to transfer some balances in, but you need a higher credit limit. They may bite they might not. 8% would certainly be better than 30%.

With scores in the 660s you should be able to get another card if it comes to that. The CC forums might be a better place to ask for the specific cards that would be best for low/no interest balance transfers as a promo.

[llecs]

If I had that (and I do ) I would focus on paying the debt off vs. transferring balances. If you transfer from one CC to another, you'd still have the same util and the same score. And lowering the min. payment shouldn't be your goal anyway. Paying the minimum would extend the payments out for decades. I'd take whatever steps are needed to decrease expenses and increase income and get on a written budget. Then I'd throw everything at my smallest balances first; that'll increase your scores much faster having those $0 balances and keep snowballing the debt until paid off.

I'd also skip the loan. I'd skip it because reshuffling debt won't mean that you are getting out of debt, which should be the goal. I'd also figure out why I got there in the first place, vs. PIF monthly, and take steps to correct that. IME, I lost over 50% of my income last year after a biz purchase. I should have cut up my CCs when I had the chance.