Over the last year and a half I have amassed quite a lot of credit card debt due to some large medical bills, some IRS back taxes, having to replace a broken air unit, and a young dog with cancer.
Right now I have a total debt of $54,300 spread over these cards on available credit of $350K, so my overall util is still fairly low at around 15%.
AMEX ED - 0% until Feb 2016 - 5150 balance
SPG - - 8265 balance
CSP - 8100
Ritz - 6200
Freedom 5800 - 0% till 3/2016
Prestige 5462
Arrival 4740
Venture 10,670
I have 20K cash that Im taking out of my 401K to pay toward these balances right away. Im only 40 and I have a good amount in my 401K, so not too concerened about this. I also just got a hefty increase in my salary that will cover the deficit in my monthly living expnses and allow me to pay these down at $2500 a month.
After the 20K I will have balances around $34K so at $2500 a month I should be able to get this paid off in 14 to 16 months which is not too bad.
What would be the best way to pay these down? I would like to try avoid any AA but I have more than enough available credit form a slew of lenders, so its not a big concern. My scores are all around 710 to 720 with my current util and 8 cards reporting balances out of 26. Im not going to be aplying for anything so maximizing scores is not a concern.
Keeping the interest I will pay to a minimum is the most important thing. So Im wondering, do I pay the 2 balances that are at 0% at close to the min until the 0% runs out?
Should I spread the 20K over several cards, or pay off 2 or 3 to 0 so that I can put more towards each card every month?
Most of my interest rates are at about 15% except for Arrival which is 18%.I plan to make a round of calls this week to request further APR reductions. I have 6 cards to pay outside of the 2 with 0%, so on a monthly basis should I pay $400 to each for the $2500 or like $2000 to one till paid to 0 and min to others.
As much as I hate to even be in this position, its shows how having a large amount of available credit can be usefull when carrying a much larger than normal balance. Despite these large balances reporting my scores have not dropped alot nor has anyone taken any AA yet. Ofcourse in teh best scenario I would never have accumulated this much debt but life happens.
Poor doggie. 
This sort of depends on the person; I'm on the practical money side so I agree with tackling the highest APR first (of course make minimums on all cards first!) and then work your way down to the lowest APR. The 0% cards still have some time left on them so I would leave those until later and enjoy the 0%.
Others do like the psychological aspect of paying down the card with the smallest balance to show accomplishment. It's up to you! Would you mind posting the APRs of your cards?
Quicksilver $10,000 | Better Balance Rewards $2000 | Sallie Mae $3500 | Freedom $3500I'd pay something over the min to all. I've heard paying min can flag you for potential AA if the overall picture is questionable.
There's always the debate about highest interest rate first or lower balance first. The first is always the best financial decision, the later is good for emotional wins.
I'll add a couple other variables to consider, while not giving any answers. 
Are there cards you'd like to be putting current spend on? You should only be spending on cards where the balance has been PIF (not in the pay-to$0 myfico way to max scores, but in the pay-the-last-statement-balance way to avoid interest and get to keep your grace period). I'd not worry about rotating categories etc., but I'd pay down Arrival and/or Venture first. Then I'd decide what to pay down based on a combination of which cards I might like to free up first and which lenders I'd like best to stay in good graces with (assuming the interest rates on the non 0% cards are mostly the same). AmEx has been sort of twitchy lately for some. Years ago I was balance chased by Citi and Chase. I'd think that Cap One is the least averse to the balance stretching out, so maybe that's a big one to leave to the end?
Sorry to hear about all you've been through. I've had two dogs with different cancers this year and am down to one dog now. Thankfully I, like you, had positioned myself to weather it financially. Maybe not in the most optimal way, but being able to make choices where the finacial concern wasn't the deciding factor.
Thanks all for the insighftul replies.
Im greatful that I will be able to manage this debt and get it off my back in a relatively short period of time.
The crazy thing with my dog is that I spent around $15K to basically have a vet tell me has has cancer and there wasnt much that could be done.
Befor I even knew he had cancer he had to have xrays, medicine to control naseau and vomiting, then ultrasounds, then open stomach surgery and then finally an endoscopy which was the only procedure that could actually confirm the cancer.
Before I knew it I had run up vet bills over $15k, put the dog through much more than I would like to have had I known what was going on. Before we knew what it was the Vet put him on Prednisone which made him feel better for about 2 weeks and then he crashed hard. The Prednisones drastically decreased the likelyhood of chemo therapy working(which all vets failed to mention), so after all that I had no choice but stop his suffering.
And then when it came to my own medical bills, I have what I thought was a very good PPO policy with Blue Shield. Well it turns out that one of the most important factors on a health insuance policy to look at is "OUT OF POCKET/OUT OF NETWORK MAXIMUM"
On most policies this number is essentially unlimited but most peaople probably wouldnt know that. If you have something like Kaiser you dont have to worry about this as anything doen at Kaiser is in there network.
So I was in the hospital for a stomach blockage that was caused by a poorly done surgery I had 12 years ago for appendecites that caused major scar tissue. I went to the emergency room with excrutiating pain in my stomach and I had to have emergency surgery to open up the blockage in my stomach before my intestines could burst....I know it sounds nasyt, sorry.
Anyways, It seems that one is expected to ask each and every person at the hospital that treats you if they are in your network. The hospital was in my network but it turns out they subcontract for ultrasounds, xrays and other varoius procedures. SO basically when the technician came to do my ultrasound I should have told him to get the F out of here and get me an ultrasound tech in my network, nevermind that my stomach might explode in the 20 minutes...lol.
When all was said and done my 10 day stay cost $167,000 and even though I had insurance I was responsible for $26K of that. I was able to negotiate some of it down but only to around $20K.
@ IWOL - I'm so sorry to hear of your hardships.
Docs being subcontracted out is pretty typical in hospitals; the one I used to work in pretty much contracted all the doctors out. The radiology techs were all hospital employees though. However, with the way they do billing, they break it all down and bill separately for each and every little thing so you wind up paying a lot of money. Then each doctor you used (radiologist, surgeon, ER doc) will all also bill you separately. It's ridiculous! At least you were able to negotiate some of it down. Have you talked to the hospital's billing department about a payment plan? -Most- people can't just fork over $20k right away.