topic Re: Credit card debt!!! in Credit Cards

Credit card debt!!!

kobe2012 — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 01:50:20 GMT

its been a while since I last posted. I was on this forum every day while rebuilding for almost two years. Well, after having a bad credit for 6 years, I finally got into prime.. went from low 500's to low 700's... Middle of 2013 I got nice cards, found ways to get high limit cards and now, I dug myself a big hole... Am looking for advise on how to pay down my cards... Here are my balances::

CSP: 4800/5000

SLATE: 2000/3000

MARRIOTT: 4500/5000

CAPONE: 2000/2500

CAPONE : 3200/4000

DISCOVER: 1600/1900

BARCLAY: 3600/4000

CITI: 1700/2000

AMEX: 150/1000

WALMART: 3700/8000

GAP: 2300/5000

CHEVRON: 100/5000

CU LOAN: 4600/5000

I have a car loan that's $20000 which is $450 from my credit union. No rent payment, just other utilities totaling $300 a month. Income is around $60k .... I don't know why I did this to myself .. first time I ruined my credit was when I was young and dumb but my debt was only $6k ... I want to cut my debt in half at least until the end of this year but don't know how it is possible. I started saving $1k a month since january of this year. Should I keep saving $1k and pay minimum on each card, then pay off some of the balances at the end of the year???? Please helppppp!

Re: Credit card debt!!!

CreditExpressNJ — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 01:55:43 GMT

I'd say stop saving and with the 1k a month that you were saving allocate what you have saved so far to pay the cards down starting with the highest interest then pretend you are still saving that 1k a month but put it toward credit cards ... AND DONT USE THEM ... The way i'm understanding it is that you were able to save 1K a month and still cover ur natural month to month expenses so use the same method to pay them down except instead of putting it into a savings put it toward your cards...

Re: Credit card debt!!!

myjourney — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 01:58:08 GMT

Great group of help and people

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/The-GREAT-CC-Payoff-Challenge/td-p/2689987

Re: Credit card debt!!!

kobe2012 — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:01:17 GMT

I cut my cards and kept 1 or 2 cards. In my head bankruptcy is the only way but I wouldn't go that route. I worked so hard on my credit but what's the point if I'm back on where I was @.... Frustrating

Re: Credit card debt!!!

myjourney — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:11:18 GMT

@kobe2012 wrote:
@I cut my cards and kept 1 or 2 cards. In my head bankruptcy is the only way but I wouldn't go that route. I worked so hard on my credit but what's the point if I'm back on where I was @.... Frustrating

Don't lose hope sit down think carefully and make a long term plan

Re: Credit card debt!!!

fot1 — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:11:55 GMT

@kobe2012 wrote:
its been a while since I last posted. I was on this forum every day while rebuilding for almost two years. Well, after having a bad credit for 6 years, I finally got into prime.. went from low 500's to low 700's... Middle of 2013 I got nice cards, found ways to get high limit cards and now, I dug myself a big hole... Am looking for advise on how to pay down my cards... Here are my balances::

CSP: 4800/5000
SLATE: 2000/3000
MARRIOTT: 4500/5000
CAPONE: 2000/2500
CAPONE : 3200/4000
DISCOVER: 1600/1900
BARCLAY: 3600/4000
CITI: 1700/2000
AMEX: 150/1000
WALMART: 3700/8000
GAP: 2300/5000
CHEVRON: 100/5000
CU LOAN: 4600/5000

I have a car loan that's $20000 which is $450 from my credit union. No rent payment, just other utilities totaling $300 a month. Income is around $60k .... I don't know why I did this to myself .. first time I ruined my credit was when I was young and dumb but my debt was only $6k ... I want to cut my debt in half at least until the end of this year but don't know how it is possible. I started saving $1k a month since january of this year. Should I keep saving $1k and pay minimum on each card, then pay off some of the balances at the end of the year???? Please helppppp!

So you should have $3k in savings.. Pay the Chevorn,Amex,Discover and As much as the citi card off.. Next month take the $1000 plus all the $25/$50 dollars payments you were making to the cards that you just paid of and attack the rest of Citi then move to the next lowest card... Lather rinse and repat.. Keep rolling the monthly payments you were making on the paid off cards into the next card, 3 years you could be paid off

Re: Credit card debt!!!

CreditExpressNJ — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:20:05 GMT

Yes BK is not the solution here ... I'm pretty sure you can do it with time.. THink of it like this FICO has no memory of balances make the minimum on all cards put alot toward one til its 0 then continue the cycle ... Yes it may take a year but at the end of that year you will see you dodged BK , your CS has recovered and you will have gained more AAoA... so whats not to consider..

Re: Credit card debt!!!

vpae — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:24:08 GMT

@kobe2012 wrote:
@I cut my cards and kept 1 or 2 cards. In my head bankruptcy is the only way but I wouldn't go that route. I worked so hard on my credit but what's the point if I'm back on where I was @.... Frustrating

No worries! Without rent, I think you're still in good shape and far from bankruptcy, just have to be diligent around paying your debt down and not adding any more to it. Create a budget if you don't have one already, find out how much money you have left over each month after the minimum payments and other expenses, sort by interest rate and then you'll have a plan to pay it all down.

Re: Credit card debt!!!

FocusedAndDetermined — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:30:16 GMT

You need to set a budget. Cut out all the things you don't need. Necessities only! Cash-and-carry should be your motto until you get back on track. As someone else suggested apply the $1k you would have put in savings to your balances, paying the most to your highest interest card. You'll be surprised how fast you see yourself getting out of debt, but you must stick to a strict budget.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Re: Credit card debt!!!

Rhaeny — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:34:17 GMT

@myjourney wrote:
Great group of help and people
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/The-GREAT-CC-Payoff-Challenge/td-p/2689987

This ^^^^^^^^^^^

+1000000000

BK is not the way to go right now. You will be screwed for 7 to 10 years on debt that you have the ability to pay (according to your post anyway). The problem with CC debt is the devil called interest. You can do it so start reading up on how to strategize and get your debt paid off with the least amount of money out of your pocket.

Re: Credit card debt!!!

azguy13 — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:38:30 GMT

I am not going to reiterate everything that has already been said but I will say I agree with it all. As long as you can promise yourself you can stick to a budget then you can get yourself out of this without the long term effects of bankruptcy.

A lot if not most of us on this forum have struggled with something like this to some degree. Take other's advice into consideration and learn from our mistakes. You can do it my friend.

Re: Credit card debt!!!

sailor_mercury — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:57:02 GMT

@vpae wrote:
@kobe2012 wrote:
@I cut my cards and kept 1 or 2 cards. In my head bankruptcy is the only way but I wouldn't go that route. I worked so hard on my credit but what's the point if I'm back on where I was @.... Frustrating
No worries! Without rent, I think you're still in good shape and far from bankruptcy, just have to be diligent around paying your debt down and not adding any more to it. Create a budget if you don't have one already, find out how much money you have left over each month after the minimum payments and other expenses, sort by interest rate and then you'll have a plan to pay it all down.

I agree. Without the rent payment you should be able to make a sizeable dent (maybe even more than the 50%) in these in about a year.

Since you didn't provide interest rates, I assumed they were all the same. Two cards have low balances, I would pay them off completely. Two cards can easily be paid to under 30% util which will help. Then there are a couple of cards that are reporting as being close to maxed out. I would pay these down until they are at least 85% paid off. I assumed SLATE was 0% card, so I made this lowest priority. Once you're out of the red zones with cards close to their limits I would focus on the highest APR cards. Assuming interest charges average $200 a month over the next 12 months if you pay $1,500 towards your debt without incurring any new debt you will pay off $15,600 of your balances. If you can afford to put a bit more like $1,700/mo that will fall even quicker and you will pay less interest.

I would avoid putting NEW charges on any of these cards because then you are paying interest on the new transactions. You can also pick one card to pay off completely, use it for your daily transactions and then PIF every month before the statement cuts.

CARD	BAL	LIMIT	UTIL %	Comments
AMEX:	150	1,000	15%
CHEVRON:	100	5,000	2%
WALMART:	3,700	8,000	46%	(Get to under 30%)
GAP:	2,300	5,000	46%	(Get to under 30%)
CSP:	4,800	5,000	96%	(Get to under 85-89%)
MARRIOTT:	4,500	5,000	90%	(Get to under 85-89%)
BARCLAY:	3,600	4,000	90%	(Get to under 85-89%)
CAPONE:	2,000	2,500	80%
CAPONE:	3,200	4,000	80%
DISCOVER:	1,600	1,900	84%
CITI:	1,700	2,000	85%
SLATE:	2,000	3,000	67%	0% Card?
CU LOAN	4,600	5,000	92%

	34,250	51,400	67%

Re: Credit card debt!!!

Irisa — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 03:11:57 GMT

@myjourney wrote:
Great group of help and people
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/The-GREAT-CC-Payoff-Challenge/td-p/2689987

OP, I think if you stick to a strict budget you'll be able to pay off all your debt and avoid bankruptcy. I'd recommend paying the smallest balances off first, then focus on one of the bigger balances at a time. Starting with the ones with highest APRs. And definitely check out the Payoff thread, you'll get really great help there. I know it seems impossible right now, but you can do this. Best of luck to you!

Re: Credit card debt!!!

kobe2012 — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 03:15:15 GMT

Thanks everyone!! this is why I love this forum! I am just afraid I won't be able to sacrifice my lifestyle to pay off my debt... I spend $500 a week alone on food.. but I will try to spend less starting tomorrow. Lesson learned, never buy anything you can't afford..

Re: Credit card debt!!!

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 03:23:47 GMT

Believe me I know how frustrating it is to have credit card debt, every day you think about it, when a commercial comes on you tthink about it, when you see a credit card you think about it, my best advice to you is to cut the other two credit cards up! I put all of my credit cards in the shredder, I am walking around with my debit card, and I look forward to taking "x" dollars out of my pay check each week and paying down the interest.... I am in the SAME position as you except with 62k in cc debt. you just have to make cut backs, instead of fast food maybe cook a home cooked meal? ya-know what I mean? Get into the mentality that your credit cards are your #1 priority you cant wait to make that payment because you know your gonna bring that balance down..

I wish you luck, I still havent joined the credit card pay down challenge but I am on my way to do that now. Say no to bankruptcy no matter what, looking at your balacnes it looks like you can bring them down. I honestly from the bottom of my hear hear you, and I know how frustrating it is... you will make it.. just keep pushing yourself!

Best of Luck,

Re: Credit card debt!!!

myjourney — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 03:23:57 GMT

@kobe2012 wrote:
Thanks everyone!! this is why I love this forum! I am just afraid I won't be able to sacrifice my lifestyle to pay off my debt... I spend $500 a week alone on food.. but I will try to spend less starting tomorrow. Lesson learned, never buy anything you can't afford..

Do your best to buy in bulk ....Costco Sams Walmart etc etc

Re: Credit card debt!!!

kobe2012 — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 03:40:30 GMT

I will try... it's just my gf and I do fine dining at least 3-4 times a week... it would suck if I won't be able to take her out as often..

Re: Credit card debt!!!

azguy13 — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 03:49:03 GMT

@kobe2012 wrote:
I will try... it's just my gf and I do fine dining at least 3-4 times a week... it would suck if I won't be able to take her out as often..

I completely understand why it is upsetting to cut back on stuff like that but if you do not, you are doing far more harm to yourself. Also, keep in mind, if you do not adjust your lifestyle even after you get out of this debt then it will just happen again. This is not a temporary thing, it is a lifestyle change.

Re: Credit card debt!!!

azguy13 — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 03:49:44 GMT

@azguy13 wrote:
@kobe2012 wrote:
I will try... it's just my gf and I do fine dining at least 3-4 times a week... it would suck if I won't be able to take her out as often..
I completely understand why it is upsetting to cut back on stuff like that but if you do not, you are doing far more harm to yourself. Also, keep in mind, if you do not adjust your lifestyle even after you get out of this debt then it will just happen again. This is not a temporary thing, it is a lifestyle change.

^^^^^^^BTW, I am not judging at all, none of us are ^^^^^^^^^^

Re: Credit card debt!!!

kobe2012 — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 03:52:28 GMT

thx creditwatcher... I was reading your post and we are in the same boat.. I wish you the best of luck as well... hopefully we will see our balances go down soon ....