topic Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate. in Credit Cards

Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:14:34 GMT

Well, I've been trying my best to at least keep the minimum payments of almost $1250/- all in together posted against 4 different cards amounting to around $17,000/- for the past year and half. But now its hitting me hard. Life's not playing to my tune and I've been caught into paying two car payments and a lot other $h!t. My dilemma is should I stop paying my cards and start saving the money going down the drain as high interest rate or somehow still beg to keep the minimums rolling? The balance with the mandatory payments doesn't effect a bit on my balance and thats why I used the phrase "Down the Drain." I calculated that if I stop my minimums and start saving in just over 6months I'll have extra $7000/-. I'm surely planning on to buy a house in near future so in a year that might account to a healthy $15000/- down payment in the neck of the woods I live in. Will that be helpful with charged off credit cards on my report card? I've done my best to raise my FICO SCORE but for some reason we are both communicating in some alien language. I've tried so many "BALANCE TRANSFER" offers coming in mail from well renowned banks like Bank of America, US BANK, WAMU, ETC., ETC., but all disappear like a rainbow reasoning blah blah blah!!! Any advice fellow trying to hard to not to try hard brothers/sisters? PLEASE I DO NEED ONE AS I'm ONLY 27YEARS and Wisdon and Age doesn't match in my LIFE :-(

Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:24:41 GMT

What is your income? Do you have any assets, savings, or investments?

I know it's not what you may want to hear, but you sound like a prime candidate for a bankruptcy to me. This can help you regain your footing faster than it will paying down that debt for the next 20 years.

Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:30:22 GMT

Thank you for that quick reply. And as funny it may found my Gross income is in 100k but but but net after all business expenses is only in 40ks. I can't file bankruptcy coz I need to buy a house. My cards are maxed out coz of some family obligations. I had my score in upper 700s just 15months ago. Day and Night.... NIGHT and DAY!:-(!

Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:33:30 GMT

Why do you "need" to buy a house? Are you going to be able to make the mortgage payment as well as pay down this debt?

It sounds to me like you would be better off seeing a bankruptcy attorney now, and buying your house in 2010 when you are back on your feet again.

Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

phumanr — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 20:48:59 GMT

Hello,

You may want to set up a meeting with a credit counselor....maybe someone who can negotiate the interest on the credit card bills.

I filed bankruptcy about 2 years ago -- you can rebuild. After two years, I have prime rates on my mortgage, car, and some reasonable credit cards; however, please take bk as your last option -- you will have a lot of doors slammed in your face. I have to go through alot to get back where I am.

Phumanr

Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 21:11:05 GMT

I can't imagine your being able to get any kind of a decent mortgage with 4 credit cards that you reneged on. However bad your scores might be now, they'll be way worse if you do that. You said that you're struggling to pay minimums--are your cards maxed out? If so, that's why your FICO's won't improve. And new CC's won't touch you if they see that all you can do is pay minimums. You might as well hang as sign around you neck saying that you have to sell plasma in order to scramble up the money.

Can you get an additional part-time job? I've never had much credit card debt, but I was way behind on getting my retirement savings going. My income has soared since then, and there is the additional benefit of not having the time or energy to spend much of anything.

IMO, you are nowhere near ready to take on a house and mortgage.

Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 21:23:35 GMT

What hauling has said is the way it is - there will be no mortgage if you default on the cards.

Aside from the horrid interest rate, if you could even get a mortgage, you will have the same feeling that so much money is going for nothing.

Please post the accounts and balances and APR and what the mins are - also your net take home and other monthly debts or what you feel you can kick loose. It's budgeting time, my friend - for both your business and personal life. A sugestion that might help is to contact SCORE http://www.score.org/ they can help with your business and getting expenses under control and give you ways to increase your sales/gross. Best of all - it's free!

Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:27:15 GMT

hmm. this is a toughy. first, and foremost if you stop paying your debt you will not get a mortgage and you fico will to shot. as it is, it's going to be difficult for you to get a mortgage. you can only afford minimums and you have 4 maxed out cards this shoots off warning signs. will you even be able to pay a mortgage on top of what you are already paying?

if you want a house this soon you have to pay the debt down and keep your credit history clean (no late or missed payments EVER) you don't want any baddies this close to when you apply for that mortgage.

If i were you, I'd get a second job and use that 2nd check solely for paying off CC IN ADDITION TO what you are already paying out of your current income. Start with the highest rate card/loan first and work your way down. After you have paid this debt way down and are now able to keep up this rate of pay on your current income then divert the 2nd income to a high yield saving account for the down payment on the house.

this will take some time. but you will get out from underneath this debt.

Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

dallasjetfan — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:08:20 GMT

I guess you can add a future foreclosure to your credit report!

Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

RobertEG — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 06:07:58 GMT

Listen to the naysayers on here. When they give pessimistic advice, you know that the road to hoe has NOTHING to do with a silly short term FICO score. If anything has sunk into my feeble brain in listening to all the excellent advice that comes from this forum, it is that seeking a short term FICO increase is only the quest of one who seeks and can afford new credit NOW, and is in a position, with low %util and few recent baddies, to tweak the system. Otherwise,the quest is not FICO improvement now, which is only a tweak from knowing how to play the short term game. With high current balances and the threat of defaulting further on CCs, that attention on FICO is rediculous. Repair credit. Fico is a long term time game, and cannot be won during a two minute drill.

Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 18:26:42 GMT

@RobertEG wrote:
Listen to the naysayers on here. When they give pessimistic advice, you know that the road to hoe has NOTHING to do with a silly short term FICO score. If anything has sunk into my feeble brain in listening to all the excellent advice that comes from this forum, it is that seeking a short term FICO increase is only the quest of one who seeks and can afford new credit NOW, and is in a position, with low %util and few recent baddies, to tweak the system. Otherwise,the quest is not FICO improvement now, which is only a tweak from knowing how to play the short term game. With high current balances and the threat of defaulting further on CCs, that attention on FICO is rediculous. Repair credit. Fico is a long term time game, and cannot be won during a two minute drill.

Not really sure where that's coming from. RobertEG! I don't think any of us were talking about anything other than crisis credit repair. I mentioned future scores only to point out that if OP thought they were bad now, they would be incredibly bad if he defaulted.

FICO scores might have an awful lot of quirks in them, but they do generally reflect credit health. When bad credit is turned around, FICO scores seem to follow. It's useful to know scores simply as indicators of how things are going. You don't repair credit to increase scores, you repair credit in order to have the freedom to do some of the things you want to do with your life.

Re: Fico Score in 530s Credit Card Debt in 17ks with 28.99% rate.

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 18:44:33 GMT

From someone who filed a BK, my advice is do NOT do it unless it's a crisis situation, i.e., you're about to lose your home (my situation - not yours since you don't have one yet). I was so relieved when I was told by a credit counseling agent this was what I needed to do to salvage my home. But, when I got in that bankruptcy attorney's office, I cried! I knew my credit was going to be shot to hell for 10 years and I was NOT feeling good about it.

Thank God it's over and I am NEVER going back to that stress. Yes, I have about 9 credit cards but my uti is 6%! It's going to stay that way.

PLEASE think it over before you decide on a BK. That is a radical decision and not so easy to regroup from.