topic Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming! in Credit Cards

Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Schoolbuskid — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:04:37 GMT

I have my share of credit cards and i getting to the point where i cant keep up with them all! I recently was late by two days on my chase freedom card, made a payment today, hope that doesnt hurt my chances of a CLI!

Anyways here are my cards and/or balances!

Creditor------------------Limit/Balance

Truliant FCU------------1500/1190

Bank of the Carolinas 1000/1000

Capital One-------------1100/826

Capital One-------------600/406

Chase--------------------200/224 ( i was late on this one and they charged a late fee....OUCH) Should be $24 when it updates!

Chase BP---------------2000/556

Walmart-----------------700/293

I thought i had better control than this....this is really becoming a major learning process! If and when i get those balances down...lord knows i dont want them to get that high again!

What is a fella to do!

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:13:43 GMT

humm, wow, i am just curious what did you purchase for that much? though i am not really answering your question, i would like to know who people wind up with that level of utilization. Thanks,

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

smallfry — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:15:56 GMT

Pay those suckers off. Then use 2 a month and rotate them.

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:17:11 GMT

SBK:

Haven't you just recently opened most of them? I'd say you're playing with fire. Do you have a sock drawer? It's time to put the plastic DOWN.

(My lame attempt at HVT.)

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:17:15 GMT

I hope that you are working a system out to get these paid down ASAP. Maybe a PT job. Good Luck Vicki

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:25:17 GMT

Well try an pay a small amount over yr mininum payment!!! if its just 10 bucks more at least your trying and NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRR be late again at least pay the minimum! get reminders chase offers those !!!! in advance. you know they will rate jack you! so dont play with that kind of fire and if u use your cards hopefully you got what you wanted now PAY FOR IT!!!! thats all and slowly you will be rewarded for managing debt! GL and everyone gets overwhelmed when spending money afterwards!!! LOL my BP hit rock bottom i bought another vehicle used tht needed some items i used my limit and Im paying lump sums,or just abv the min payments! So im happy I have credit! Im using it wisely! I also like what another member says use one or two at a time then leave em alone and pay them off!

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:38:08 GMT

I once owned about $8.5k/$11k for buying a 10k engagement ring. That is how I got screwed for a year or so lol

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:54:00 GMT

You need to cut yout cards up an pay them off before you get into deep.

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:00:00 GMT

You will be charged an over-the-limit fee now too with Chase. You may want to try to pay an extra 50 on it so it will stand at 0 *if I read your post right, you paid all but 24 dollars on it.* Start paying all your credit cards as soon as you have the money. Pay off your higher interest cards first. STOP using them. Good luck! It will take time. I started off with 99% util when I first came to my fico- 6 months later I'm at 30%. It does take time to pay it off. Get a game plan

Message Edited by AlishaR on 07-15-2008 06:00 PM

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:04:48 GMT

schoolbuskid, look into the price of a small safety deposit box at a local bank. You should be able to get one for around $20/ year.

Put all but one card in it and lock them up. I don't think a sock drawer will do it; I think that you're going to need to get them out of the house. (No online charging --that's cheating!) Only use this card for stuff that you have money for right now. Think of it as a debit card, and pay off all your new charges every week. Swap it out every month or so, so that they all get some activity. You might need to go to WalMart every three months, buy 8 pairs of socks, and charge each with a different CC to keep them all alive. (I will look for the security tape of your checkout on YouTube!)

Get on a killer credit diet. First get everything under 85% to reduce the chances of having some of your creditors rate jack you. Then shoot for under 50% and so forth. Get a part-time job if you have to. I've noticed that the area teenagers who started working fast food at the beginning of the summer have all vanished.

You're finding out what happens if you get lots of new credit before you get your brain reprogrammed to a new way of thinking about money and credit. You need to do a 180 now, before you find yourself in worse shape than before. You can do this! Don't let all your hard work so far go for nothing.

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:52:58 GMT

I guess they always say to keep credit cards by 2 or 3 maximum. Sometimes, managing more than that can be a bit too much and will go out of control. First off, just breathe! I know things may seem a little too overwhelming right now. Don't look at your balances as one whole problem -- it will get overwhelming. Try to break things down into smaller tasks. Second, make sure that are you NEVER to be late on your payments again. I think that's the most important part. And even if it's just the minimum payment, at least it is paid and on time. Buy yourself a huge calendar and mark the due dates. Now it just takes time. Hang in there! =]

Message Edited by thatdoodjohn on 07-15-2008 06:52 PM

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Schoolbuskid — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:55:21 GMT

Its mostly due to the summer being here and being out of a job....i am working now til school starts back! Its just so easy to spend spend spend! I will be getting a good chunk of money this week or next so i can definitely pay off two cards! Thank you fo all of your hearty comments and advice! Thats why i come to this place!

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:40:26 GMT

Have you tried calling Chase and asking the CSR to forgive the late payment and waive the fee? I think they're allowed to do that once per year. I've been late a few times in the past. Each time it was by just a day or so. I explained what happened and they waived the fee. When I asked if it would be on my credit report they said NO, and it never appeared. If the CSR can't do it, ask for their supervisor.

It can't hurt to ask. Of course, it works best if you have a great payment history with them.

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

LouMinotti — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:56:33 GMT

I'm right there with you..7 cards and all have high balances, to put it simply:$10,300 credit line and I have $8900 balance. It comes down to self discipline, sock drawer all the cards and pay at least more than minimum on the highest interest rate cards and get them out of the way..as the balance comes down, call the creditor and ask for a interest rate reduction as every little bit helps psychologically and financially. And you can also watch your score go up during the process which in turn makes you value and respect your credit.
I find that I have gotten to the point where I am protective on the "balance" column on my CR more than the score. I was charged a $49 annual fee on my Cap1 last week, and that bothered me so I called them and asked if this fee could be waived, I was extremely polite but to no avail. Never the less it had me wanting to pay that particular debt asap, especially since I don't have wiggle room to begin with. When your mind set shifts from "I want to spend" to "I want to pay down" you will find that you've disciplined yourself into doing the right thing. Don't be overwhelmed though, just be patient.

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:29:11 GMT

@Schoolbuskid wrote:
Its mostly due to the summer being here and being out of a job....i am working now til school starts back! Its just so easy to spend spend spend! I will be getting a good chunk of money this week or next so i can definitely pay off two cards! Thank you fo all of your hearty comments and advice! Thats why i come to this place!

I know the feeling! Even though I PIF sometimes I just go ahead and swipe a CC without even thinking about when my next paycheck is.

As Hauling stated, it's all about self control. In your case, it might seem like since you aren't maxing out any one card, it's okay to rack up half of the limit on all of them. This will tank your score, as well as put you in debt.

I think you are on the right track though. Get your paychecks, run through you budget, and get those balances paid down!

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

mrlimo — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:46:58 GMT

This may sound odd but look at what you bought. If anything that you bought was an impulse item and can still be returned to the store you purchased it at. It is a way to get rid of some of your debt quickly. In another few weeks if you find that what ever you found that could be returned is still needed school will be starting back soon. You can rebuy it again and defer the payment for 30 days, by then you will have your regular school bus salary coming in. Also I agree with being out for the summer work part time jobs to get debt paid down. If you drive school bus, I know in my area alot of school bus drivers get driving jobs during the summer. Limousine work, Shuttle Bus at an Airport.

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:48:00 GMT

I am right there with you SBK. My BF and I have 5 credit cards with high balances at the moment. Two of which are at 0%(one until the end of the year and the other until september). I wish I could say it was a spending spree that got us into this mess but no. We had to use one to save my kitty's life from liver failure and the other was a car repair bill (all totaled about 5100.00 extra on top of our current debt).

Up until then we were right on schedual with our debt paydown. I understand it is quite overwhelming. I had to take a break and step back a moment and restructure everything to accomodate the new bills. Not terribley easy to do when you are on a limited budget.

My BF and I are commited to getting our debt down and since all this he has picked up like 40 hours of overtime for this coming week alone and has let his work know if they need anymore help let him know. Its going to be hard but we know its all for the best and its only temporary.

Oh an just so you know we have our cards put away and out of sight all the time. We only carry one card in our wallets and that gets payed down every month. So to all of you out there please please don't give up it can be done it just takes good old sweet time.

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:31:02 GMT

I used to have balances on a few cards, eventhough not as many as you, I still had a difficult time keeping track of the due dates, especially since each month it changes slightly. To remember all the due dates, I now put all my bills, household and everything in an Excel spreadsheet. I have a column for Due Date, Vendor, Paid Date, Amt Due/Balance, Login names, passwords for the websites, etc. Everytime I paid a bill, I entered the Paid Date and the tracking/confirmation number. When I receive a bill, I enter the information in right away. This way I get a list of all the bills for the whole month and know exactly what's coming up. After one month, I copy the information for the next month since the bills will be the same and just adjust the due dates accordingly. This has kept me sane in dealing with the different bills and due dates because it's very linear. I actually look forward to paying off each bill because I get to mark it off. Another way I keep myself from overspending is I have 2 checking accts with WAMU, one I use as a regular checking acct, the other I have no $ in. Everytime I pay with a CC I transfer the same amt over to the blank one. That way I spend with what I have but still use a CC to receive reward points and have money to pay the CC bill when it's due! I do everything online so it's pretty simple to transfer money back and forth. This is my way of disciplining my spending. I hope this helps and good luck paying off the debt.

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

TangMeister — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:19:04 GMT

A very good system, you have there. I might also recommend they pick up Intuit's Quicken to help manage the finances. I've used it for over a decade and swear by it.

@Anonymous wrote:
I used to have balances on a few cards, eventhough not as many as you, I still had a difficult time keeping track of the due dates, especially since each month it changes slightly. To remember all the due dates, I now put all my bills, household and everything in an Excel spreadsheet. I have a column for Due Date, Vendor, Paid Date, Amt Due/Balance, Login names, passwords for the websites, etc. Everytime I paid a bill, I entered the Paid Date and the tracking/confirmation number. When I receive a bill, I enter the information in right away. This way I get a list of all the bills for the whole month and know exactly what's coming up. After one month, I copy the information for the next month since the bills will be the same and just adjust the due dates accordingly. This has kept me sane in dealing with the different bills and due dates because it's very linear. I actually look forward to paying off each bill because I get to mark it off. Another way I keep myself from overspending is I have 2 checking accts with WAMU, one I use as a regular checking acct, the other I have no $ in. Everytime I pay with a CC I transfer the same amt over to the blank one. That way I spend with what I have but still use a CC to receive reward points and have money to pay the CC bill when it's due! I do everything online so it's pretty simple to transfer money back and forth. This is my way of disciplining my spending. I hope this helps and good luck paying off the debt.

Re: Too Many Credit Cards With Balances! A lil Overwhelming!

chivo — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:48:17 GMT

WOW..i can never have these many cards myself due to my previous pianfull experience with credit cards. i prefer to have at least 3.. i have 1 credit card now....

chivo