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Newbie - Overwhelmed... needs advice.

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Anonymous
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Newbie - Overwhelmed... needs advice.

Hello to all.

 

What a great forum! I spent most of the morning reading suggestions and the basics but I'm a little overwhelmed since I don't know where to begin.  Here is a summary of my case...

 

HISTORY:
My credit score was 710! I had a baby and my husband lost his job.  Had to use credit cards to keep utilities on, keep my husbands car, and pay for my daughter's 1st year of health insurance -- $500 a month was the premium. Smiley Mad

 

CREDIT CARDS:

3 Chase CCs with balance in total of $6000+

1 BOA CC with balance of $5000+/-

3 Store CCs (Victorias Secret, Old Navy and Big Lots) with total balance of $ 2000+/-

1 Medical Bill with balance of $1000

NO LOANS!

I'm past due about 3 to 6 months on these outstanding debts.

 

CURRENT SITUATION:

My husband has a decent paying job now -- so I plan to get back on track, slowly but surely.  My goal is to get to 720 and hopefully be able to purchase a house Smiley Happy

 

MY PLAN:
I plan to pay the past due owe on all the credit cards, then call the CC company with my most sweet and polite tone of voice and cry & beg to lower my APR so that they can help me get back on track ASAP.  Chase has always been very helpful and polite even when they call me to collect so I know they are willing to help me out. I had NEVER been late paying these CC in 5 years! So I have a good rep there.  Also I have payment protection on 2 of these credit cards so that has been helping me.

 

 

 

Now... what do you think? Do I have a good plan? What is your suggesting in terms of my goal? Should I pay these credit cards and keep them open? What is the best way of going about this to reach my goal?! What is the first step?

 

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!


Thank you in advance.

Val (Mission720)

 

 

 

Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Newbie - Overwhelmed... needs advice.

Hi Mission720, and welcome aboard!

 

I'm so sorry to hear of your family's financial difficulties, but I'm relieved to hear that your DH has found employment, and that your family is on the road to recovery. I had a similar start to my "bad credit" trials, some years ago.

 

The very first thing to do, if you haven't done so already, is pull all 3 credit reports from annualcreditreport.com-- you're entitled to a free copy of each report, once per year. It sounds like you may have already done this. But, I wanted to mention it to make sure that you were seeing everything, on all three reports.

 

Are your credit cards still open, or have they been charged-off? If they're open, how quickly can you bring them current? Knowing whether they're open, or closed will help us give you our $.02 on how to move forward.

 

Are these credit cards only on your reports, or are they joint with your DH?

 

 

Message 2 of 5
MYFICOisWACKO2
Contributor

Re: Newbie - Overwhelmed... needs advice.

Welcome to the forums!  Sorry I cant help you with CC advice HOWEVER I can tell you that you are on the right track just being here.

myFICOisNOTWACKO but MYFICOisWACKO get it?!?
6.18.2011Lender pull:
EX-640 Fair Issac V2/TUClassic 04-658/EQ Beacon 5-741
5.20.2011 myFICO pulls:
TU 789 EQ 727
Closed on home 6/27/2011! 180K 4.625% Thanks myFICO!
Message 3 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Newbie - Overwhelmed... needs advice.

Hi LilMirth:

Thank you for your response.  They are all open except for the Old Navy one that says "closed."  Two of the Chase CC are joint with my husband -- I'm the primary he is the authorized user.  I can put most of these current tomorrow (pay day!) but what's going to take me time is to pay them down since I owe so much. 

 

 

Message 4 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Newbie - Overwhelmed... needs advice.

Hi MYFICOisWACKO2 (nice name! Smiley Tongue)

 

Thank you for the welcome.

Message 5 of 5
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