topic Re: Any ideas? in Credit Cards

Any ideas?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 01:51:57 GMT

Worked hard on getting a lot of high limit credit cards. Well I ended up spending about 80% of the available balances and here I sit with almost 50k in debt. My current income is 55k a year. Have a mortgage of 1400 a month. As you can gather making all these payments is becoming difficult. Im not looking to file or anything but do need to find some help. Thoughts...advise and calling me a dumb#$@ is welcome.

USAA Amex

7,737.69

USAA Master

6,958.83

NFCU LoC

4,689.00

NFCU Visa

13,134.00

Chase

1,989.60

Discover

1,186.49

Best Buy

1,424.42

Walmart

667.00

Lowes

887.00

PSECU

9,128.95

American Exp

520.00

Total

48,322.98

Re: Any ideas?

09Lexie — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 01:53:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Worked hard on getting a lot of high limit credit cards. Well I ended up spending about 80% of the available balances and here I sit with almost 50k in debt. My current income is 55k a year. Have a mortgage of 1400 a month. As you can gather making all these payments is becoming difficult. Im not looking to file or anything but do need to find some help. Thoughts...advise and calling me a dumb#$@ is welcome.

USAA Amex

7,737.69

USAA Master

6,958.83

NFCU LoC

4,689.00

NFCU Visa

13,134.00

Chase

1,989.60

Discover

1,186.49

Best Buy

1,424.42

Walmart

667.00

Lowes

887.00

PSECU

9,128.95

American Exp

520.00

Total

48,322.98

Limits and APRs will be helpful for all that may offer advice.

Re: Any ideas?

Stralem — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 01:58:09 GMT

Wow.

Paying that off with a $55K income isn't going to be easy, if even possible.

Filing BK may be your only option.

But... more info, please. What are the limits on those cards? Are you married? Does your spouse or partner have income?

Re: Any ideas?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 01:58:15 GMT

Usaa...navy and psecu are all under 10% apr. Lowes and bb are 0% for a few months. Chase..walmart 24%. Discover 15% not sure on amex

Re: Any ideas?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:02:43 GMT

Nfcu, usaa, psecu are just about maxed all other cards are very low limit. Really no chance on moving any balances around

Re: Any ideas?

peaceonearth — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:15:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Worked hard on getting a lot of high limit credit cards. Well I ended up spending about 80% of the available balances and here I sit with almost 50k in debt. My current income is 55k a year. Have a mortgage of 1400 a month. As you can gather making all these payments is becoming difficult. Im not looking to file or anything but do need to find some help. Thoughts...advise and calling me a dumb#$@ is welcome.

USAA Amex

7,737.69

USAA Master

6,958.83

NFCU LoC

4,689.00

NFCU Visa

13,134.00

Chase

1,989.60

Discover

1,186.49

Best Buy

1,424.42

Walmart

667.00

Lowes

887.00

PSECU

9,128.95

American Exp

520.00

Total

48,322.98

In stead of a going Bankrupt:

Try paying them off. Find a second Job, lower and modify your spending habits...

You can do it.

I wish you the best.

Re: Any ideas?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:20:57 GMT

As I said im not looking to file bk. These are my debts and I know its my responsibility to pay them back. I have already put a budget together to change my spending a few months back. Even paying the minimum is really starting to take its toll on me.

Re: Any ideas?

Creditaddict — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:24:37 GMT

since you have access to some of the best credit unions I would reach out to Navy and USAA and see about a personal loan perhaps... I have heard Navy will sometimes do that and close out the credit cards (unless they have the recent 2.9% BT on them and such.

If those are just such great rates and under 9% they might be to good to consolidate into a personal loan, lets focus on the small ones first but if you really cut out spending and make all your payments, what are you really left with each month to tackle this debt? and do you have this left because you still fall onto a credit card or two?

Re: Any ideas?

Chris679 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:26:00 GMT

Re: Any ideas?

Chris679 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:28:53 GMT

Keep making the minimum payment on all accounts and apply every penny left over to the highest interest rates. Start slashing your spending, no eating out, no toys, get a second job and sell off anything that you don't need if you can get decent value for it.

Re: Any ideas?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:32:08 GMT

I still havent reached out to any of them but I know im getting to that point real soon. I would definitely like to consolidate all of them and close out the cards. I have been thinking of taking out home equity loan but im not sure if I would have enough equity plus I dont really want to turn unsecured debt into secured debt using my house as collateral.

Re: Any ideas?

Chris679 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:34:08 GMT

Don't use your house to pay off unsecured debt

Re: Any ideas?

peaceonearth — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:39:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
As I said im not looking to file bk. These are my debts and I know its my responsibility to pay them back. I have already put a budget together to change my spending a few months back. Even paying the minimum is really starting to take its toll on me.

I would try to pay more than the minimum.

Re: Any ideas?

peaceonearth — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 02:41:23 GMT

@Chris679 wrote:
Keep making the minimum payment on all accounts and apply every penny left over to the highest interest rates. Start slashing your spending, no eating out, no toys, get a second job and sell off anything that you don't need if you can get decent value for it.

Re: Any ideas?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 03:07:33 GMT

What can these creditors do if I cant find away to continue to make all of the payments?

Re: Any ideas?

09Lexie — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 03:13:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
What can these creditors do if I cant find away to continue to make all of the payments?

They can do CLD/AA. Eventually, charging off the debt. In some rare cases, lenders can seek judgments.

Re: Any ideas?

Dw4250 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 03:22:38 GMT

@Chris679 wrote:
Don't use your house to pay off unsecured debt

I respectfully disagree. $48K in credit card debt means you are probably paying between $8-10K a year just in interest! A home equity loan would have a much, much lower interest rate. If you do not plan to move/sell your house in the next few years, I would advise looking into a home equity loan (if it's a possibility). This is also a much better option than BK.

Even if this is a possibility, you will need to be very disciplined and not run up the cards again. Remember, Cash is King!

Re: Any ideas?

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 03:29:49 GMT

Lexie why is it a rare case when they seek a judgement? What does a judgement entail?

Re: Any ideas?

09Lexie — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 03:44:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Lexie why is it a rare case when they seek a judgement? What does a judgement entail?

Not every lender will file lawsuits to seek monetary damages.

I suggest the following:

If you haven't already done so, stop using all your cc's.
cut all non-essential expenses, ie cable, newspaper Netflix etc
do not eat out, buy and cook your meals
if you truly want to keep your cc's and they are not delinquent is their an asset you could sell?
is their a family member who might give you a personal loan

bottomline is you'll have to make some hard cutting decisions and if you do not want to file bk then you'll need to come up with the money. I do not have any experience with DMPs but that may be an option.

Re: Any ideas?

celluloid17 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 06:04:39 GMT

I think a DMP or Debt Management Program might be something worth looking into. An initial credit counseling session would be free and they would go over all of your debt and expenses and help to devise a plan to pay it off. The debt management agency would help negotiate lower interest rates with your lenders and craft a repayment plan designed to have you debt free in a predetermined number of years. You essentially pay the debt management agency every month and they dispense your payments to the creditors. The caveat is that often times the creditors will require your accounts to be closed when paid in full and you can't use the cards at all during the repayment period. The best place to start (reputable and safe) is www.nfcc.org (National Foundation for Credit Counseling)

I went through a DMP myself a few years back, albeit with much smaller debt, but I was able to successfully pay off some of my debt in about four years.

Here's a blurb on what a DMP is from the NFCC website:

If you have severe debt, you may be eligible to enroll in a Debt Management Plan (DMP). A DMP is a systematic way to pay down your outstanding debt through monthly deposits to your credit counseling agency, which will then distribute these funds to your creditors. By participating in this program, you may benefit from reduced or waived finance charges and fewer collection calls. And when you have completed your payments, they'll help you reestablish credit.

It takes approximately 36-60 months to repay debts through a DMP. Your accounts with creditors will always be credited with 100 percent of the amount you pay through an NFCC Member Agency. A DMP serves the dual role of helping you repay your debts while creditors receive the money owed to them.

For those with considerable debt problems, entering into our Debt Management Plan is an effective first step on the road to a financially stable, debt-free life.

I think the first thing you should do is make a list of all of your debt, along with the credit limits and APRs. You need to "face it to erase it" as they say, so you'll know exactly where you stand.