Advice on what to do with low limit cards after PIF

[xenon3030]

You might be able to take a loan from your 401k (prior leaving your job) to pay your CC debt and there should not be a tax penalty. There can be fee/interest involved and it looks like a loan and it gets paid back from your check from your current employer. I do not know what would happen, if you decide to leave your job. You may dig into the terms and penalties on either hard vs soft withdrawal from 401k.

Closing too many accounts in a short period of time might trigger other lenders. It might create complication if you plan to apply for personal or biz cards. You may close one card e.g. per quarter.

I suggest to keep a few more cards like Target and Lowes.

[ThomasJNewton]

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@ALLgoodABQ wrote:

my student loans just started up again at about $100.

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I know it is only $100, but are you currently on an Income Based Repayment Plan? You might also be able to reduce or eliminate that monthly payment.

[andrew_1911]

Without knowing your age, your current retirement portfolio or level of job security after leaving your company it's hard for anyone here to give good advise. Generally, it's not a good idea to leave a stable job when you have debt and no savings (retirement doesn't count). Depending on your age (how far away retirement is) it might make more sense to consolidate your debt under a personal loan at a more manageable interest rate. Whether that is an option depends on why you're in debt. If you're just gonna rack it all back up again you should snowball it instead. We also would need to understand the rest of your finances, are you upside down on a car too? If there is any level of risk in starting your own business and leaving your job you should stay until you pay off your debt AND have a funded emergency fund. 

[ALLgoodABQ]

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond guys. So after further research, the company I work for has a noncompete agreement that is included in the contract when I got hired. I know some people have told me that these things rarely hold up in court, but I'd rather avoid all that. So unfortunately, my business will have to wait until I make sure they can't do anything to me once I've opened it. And to answer the question, No, my job is not that bad, I was just trying to do something new, since I've been doing this for the last 9 1/2 years.

The good news is that I've inquired about taking a loan from my 401(k), and I'm in the process of doing that right now. With this loan, I should be able to pay off about 70% of what I owe. And hopefully my scores will shoot up like crazy from this, since right now they are below 600 since everything is maxed out. 

Again thanks for all the input.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

what bout a 401k LOAN? where you pay interest back to yourself?

[ALLgoodABQ]

Hey all! Just wanted to give an update and a thank you to everyone who commented. I went ahead and took out an $11,000 loan from my 401K, which ends up costing me $106 a paycheck. The day it hit my account I PIF the following cards...

Capital One PL 278/300

Target Red 783/800

Mercury 985/1000

Avant 1471/1500

Ally Cash 1471/1500

Wells Fargo Hotels 972/1000

Sync Venmo 486/500

Sync Sams Club 763/640

Sync Amazon 1445/1500

Most of these statements close within the next week or so, while the Sams and Amazon are at the end of the month. I'm hoping Sync dosen't cut my limits again, but i'm prepared for whatever comes.

My FICOs as of today are Eq 588 and Trans 583 (creditkarma vantage), and Exp 656 (Exp app).

As far as my business plans, i've placed those on hold. I want to be in a more stable financial position, and I need to inquire on whether I can actually do what I want to do, in terms of non-compete agreements and such.

So again, thanks for all who contributed. I'm already breathing easier today, having knocked out 9 monthly payments and the god knows how much interests i've been donating these guys. I know i'm not out of the woods yet, but the light at the end of the tunnel just got a whole lot brighter...