@Coach2018 wrote:I’m hoping to get some honest advice and perspective on what to do next.
Here’s my situation:
Discover Card: $9,516 balance
Mastercard: $4,000 balance
Visa: $3,200 balance
Amazon Store Card: $2,500 balance
My wife was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. She went through chemo, surgery, and radiation. Thankfully, she’s now in recovery. The medical bills were rough, but we managed and slowly paid things down.
After her recovery, I wanted to do something good for her, there was this little house she always loved, and in May 2023, we were able to buy it. It felt like things were finally turning around.
Then in October 2023, I found out I needed open-heart surgery, and it had to happen immediately. I was diagnosed on a Tuesday and on the operating table by Friday. Between the medical bills, missed work, and recovery, we had to use the credit cards again, including for some leftover costs from my wife’s treatment.
Now, I’m struggling to keep up. My credit score is 655, and the card payments are either up to date or within 30 days, but I know I’m heading for trouble if something doesn’t change soon.
I looked into getting a personal loan to consolidate the debt and have one fixed payment, but with my current score, the interest rate would be around 35%. My cards average around 29% interest right now.
So my question is:
Would it make any sense to take the loan, even with that higher interest rate, just to get out of the revolving debt cycle or would that just make things worse?I feel like I’m stuck in a hole I can’t climb out of, and I’ve worked so hard to keep my credit in decent shape. Any advice, suggestions, or personal experiences would mean the world to me.
Don't do a loan with a higher %. That will make things worse for sure, UNLESS it's the only way to keep you from defaulting and adding lates to your profile.
What does your wife's profile look like? I had some luck assisting my friend by moving some of hers and her husband's debt on their cards to one side or the other, allowing one of them to have a much better looking profile... which allowed them to get their foot in the door for a 0% APR balance transfer card. Getting that first step up is the hardest, because things tend to snowball either worse or better. Right now you're likely in the position that your cards are close to maxed out, and they balance chased you down to no wiggle room so your utilization is likely in the toilet... which makes getting another card when you really need it so much harder.
This is one of the best reasons to NOT just have couples be authorized users on everything. Have seperate profiles. If your wife has a clean profile she can likely open a new BT card, you can move the worse balances over there, and yours will start to look better and give you some breathing space for that first step.
Remember that even if you're applying for a card indvidually they almost always ask for HOUSEHOLD income, even if one of you is not currently employed that person can list any income that would be used to pay off the bills on the application. This means if she's a housewife, and all the cards so far have been opened with you as the applicant and her as an authorized user, you're actually in a great place to get what you need with a little patience and small effort.
If you are authorized users... see about undoing those links. Remove the other from each card, and then ask each credit bureau to remove those accounts from each credit report. In my household we just get extra copies of a few specific physical cards for the other to use without them actually having their name on it (only a few cards like Ritz do we do actual authorized users for due to how the benefits/perks work)... I use P2's Smartly card without being an authorized user with no issue.
Sock - 
Chopping Block - 
Debit Cards - 
