(This is kind of long and I apologize)
I haven't been on these forums in a while, but I would greatly greatly appreciate and I desperately need some advice. I recently finished college 6 months ago and started building my credit portfolio about 2 years ago. I had/have about $12000 in credit lines, and I was able to make payments and things were totally fine. However late last year, I got into a car accident (I wasn't at fault) and my car that was fully paid off was totalled. Considering the large number of miles I drive daily for work, I couldn't really buy a beater, and ended up with a vehicle that will cost me $300/month for the next couple of years (nothing fancy, my interest is ASTRONOMICAL since I was buliding towards financing this year and my credit wasn't quite ready yet when I had to finance). I couldn't be happier with that purchase but the accident set off a string of financial problems that I'm insanely stressed and worried about. After the accident, I had to start focusing on my car payments and making sure that those were on time, and as a consequence my credit cards bill kind of fell by the wayside. Now I'm looking down the barrel at a situation where every credit card bill is 60+ days past due, and I really don't know what to do. I've arranged some small payments for 2 cards, but that doesn't put a dent in the amount that I owe. I owe about $7500 in credit cards if we include the late fees. Furthermore, my student loan payments will start this month, and even though my parents are helping me with those, that means that they won't be in a financial position to help me with any of my credit card debt. I realize now that I wasn't being conservative enough with my finances, considering that a car accident could turn my credit profile from one that I was immensely proud of (and almost smug about) to one that I am horrendously stressed about and ashamed of. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone could offer any advice as to what I should do and how I should approach this situation to get back on steady ground. The main creditors are Wells (my main bank and about $1000), BofA ($500), Citi (around $2300 spread over 3 cards), and GE (by far the largest at around $3600 over 4 cards). I make about $1400 net per month, with about $750 going purely towards vehicle expenses and about another $300 going to food and other miscellaneous expenses. Is there any hope for me salvaging my credit or these accounts? Any advice as to how I can move back towards having credit that I can be proud of and where I won't feel like a complete slacker and a failure. Any advice is greatly greatly appreciated.
Starting Score: TU: 633 EQ: 583 EX: 600
@cowphin wrote:(This is kind of long and I apologize)
I haven't been on these forums in a while, but I would greatly greatly appreciate and I desperately need some advice. I recently finished college 6 months ago and started building my credit portfolio about 2 years ago. I had/have about $12000 in credit lines, and I was able to make payments and things were totally fine. However late last year, I got into a car accident (I wasn't at fault) and my car that was fully paid off was totalled. Considering the large number of miles I drive daily for work, I couldn't really buy a beater, and ended up with a vehicle that will cost me $300/month for the next couple of years (nothing fancy, my interest is ASTRONOMICAL since I was buliding towards financing this year and my credit wasn't quite ready yet when I had to finance). I couldn't be happier with that purchase but the accident set off a string of financial problems that I'm insanely stressed and worried about. After the accident, I had to start focusing on my car payments and making sure that those were on time, and as a consequence my credit cards bill kind of fell by the wayside. Now I'm looking down the barrel at a situation where every credit card bill is 60+ days past due, and I really don't know what to do. I've arranged some small payments for 2 cards, but that doesn't put a dent in the amount that I owe. I owe about $7500 in credit cards if we include the late fees. Furthermore, my student loan payments will start this month, and even though my parents are helping me with those, that means that they won't be in a financial position to help me with any of my credit card debt. I realize now that I wasn't being conservative enough with my finances, considering that a car accident could turn my credit profile from one that I was immensely proud of (and almost smug about) to one that I am horrendously stressed about and ashamed of. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone could offer any advice as to what I should do and how I should approach this situation to get back on steady ground. The main creditors are Wells (my main bank and about $1000), BofA ($500), Citi (around $2300 spread over 3 cards), and GE (by far the largest at around $3600 over 4 cards). I make about $1400 net per month, with about $750 going purely towards vehicle expenses and about another $300 going to food and other miscellaneous expenses. Is there any hope for me salvaging my credit or these accounts? Any advice as to how I can move back towards having credit that I can be proud of and where I won't feel like a complete slacker and a failure. Any advice is greatly greatly appreciated.
Sorry to hear all this, to be honest you do not have the income to deal with the credit cards IMO. You would best be served by contacting a consumer credit counselor and have them negotiate with your unsecured creditors.
