Credit Card Debt advice PLEASE!!!!!!!

[newyearnewcredit]

Hello All. I have came to the forum hoping for some advice. Here is my problem: I am in debt-$51,986.00 to be exact. These are my current cards with rates:

NFCU:11,000/17300 17.65% (I recently paid this down from the whole card being maxed out )

Capital One 13,499/13500 ~25.65%

Compass 7000/8000 ~13.99%

MSCU 3661/3800 ~13.75%

Bancorp South 2463/3000~ 13.40%

Walmart 1671/1800~23.40%

SamsClub 1300/1400~23.40%

Macy's 5000/7000~25.99%

Amazon 2300/2370~26.49% (I hate i ever got this card. I plan on closing it as soon as its paid off!)

Amex Delta 800/1000~ 19.99%

Regions Bank 2500/3000~ 13.74%

Being young dumb and in love got me into this mess. Recently I have started travel nursing hoping to pay off this debt. My question is what is the best way to tackle this mess Ive put myself into? Originally, I started tackling the biggest debt-NFCU. Now that I got the balance down to a smaller amount, I am now questioning if I should have tackled Capital One or Amazon first, since the interest rates are higher?  I will have about a extra $6000 to play with in the coming week in addition to a monthly income of about 8000/month. My only monthly  expense is my carnote of $865.66, cellphone bill of $230.00 ( me and my moms bill), cable bill of $110.00 (ironically, I dont even have cable personally, its my mom's), and internet bill of $60.00. Should I keep with my original plan and pay off the NFCU, then moving to the capital one, and so forth? Should I pay by interest? or by amount owed? Should I pay all cards down to 50% utilization, then focus on paying each off one by one? I also read about a payment method called the Debt Spiral method, if anyone is familiar with this would this be a good method? Any advice would be sincerely appreciated. I am 28 years old with 50,000 worth of debt, and it honestly depresses me-I feel stupid on so many levels for even putting myself in this position. Im just trying to get myself out of this mess. Thanks

[AverageJoesCredit]

Sorry to hear this. Im sure youll get some helpful tips soon. Honestly, im not sure where to begin but perhaps cutting back all non essentials. Question what kind of car are you driving that you have to pay $900 a month. Thats alot .You may want to get a cheaper car. Best of luck.

[EAJuggalo]

I would start with the highest interest and then go from there.  The point is to pay as little in interest as possible, which means tackling those higher rate ones first.  After you have a couple of them knocked down you might look into debt consolidation and see if anyone will give you a better rate than you're paying on your cards.

[SouthJamaica]

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@newyearnewcredit wrote:

Hello All. I have came to the forum hoping for some advice. Here is my problem: I am in debt-$51,986.00 to be exact. These are my current cards with rates:

NFCU:11,000/17300 17.65% (I recently paid this down from the whole card being maxed out )

Capital One 13,499/13500 ~25.65%

Compass 7000/8000 ~13.99%

MSCU 3661/3800 ~13.75%

Bancorp South 2463/3000~ 13.40%

Walmart 1671/1800~23.40%

SamsClub 1300/1400~23.40%

Macy's 5000/7000~25.99%

Amazon 2300/2370~26.49% (I hate i ever got this card. I plan on closing it as soon as its paid off!)

Amex Delta 800/1000~ 19.99%

Regions Bank 2500/3000~ 13.74%

Being young dumb and in love got me into this mess. Recently I have started travel nursing hoping to pay off this debt. My question is what is the best way to tackle this mess Ive put myself into? Originally, I started tackling the biggest debt-NFCU. Now that I got the balance down to a smaller amount, I am now questioning if I should have tackled Capital One or Amazon first, since the interest rates are higher?  I will have about a extra $6000 to play with in the coming week in addition to a monthly income of about 8000/month. My only monthly  expense is my carnote of $865.66, cellphone bill of $230.00 ( me and my moms bill), cable bill of $110.00 (ironically, I dont even have cable personally, its my mom's), and internet bill of $60.00. Should I keep with my original plan and pay off the NFCU, then moving to the capital one, and so forth? Should I pay by interest? or by amount owed? Should I pay all cards down to 50% utilization, then focus on paying each off one by one? I also read about a payment method called the Debt Spiral method, if anyone is familiar with this would this be a good method? Any advice would be sincerely appreciated. I am 28 years old with 50,000 worth of debt, and it honestly depresses me-I feel stupid on so many levels for even putting myself in this position. Im just trying to get myself out of this mess. Thanks

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1. Stop using the cards.

2. Pay off the smallest balance first, then move on to the next smallest, and so on.

This is called the snowball method. Its genius is that each time you pay off a card, the monthly payment you would have made is now freed up and applied to another card.

[newyearnewcredit]

I have definitely stop using them. The only card I currently use is my Platinum AMEX because I have to pay it in full each month. And with me constantly traveling, the benefits are great and my company pays the annual fee.

[newyearnewcredit]

It's a Mercedes. I actually qualified for a lower payment but purposely put my note at that amount to pay it off faster. It'll be paid off April of next year, on the 3rd year mark.

[newyearnewcredit]

That's a excellent idea. What I wanted to do ideally is pay the NFCU, CO, & Compass completely pay the rest of the cards down to a 50% balance, apply for a credit limit increase with the NFCU card, and do a balance transfer from all the other cards that still hold a balance to that card. Hopefully the credit limit increase will soften the blow of the utilization of the card.

[Appleman]

Getting in debt is so easy, and many of us have been in a position similar to yours.

It sounds like you realize your problem, next is to get a budget set up.  I once had your mindset that open credit was an invitation to shop/buy. Truly setting up a budget (try YNAB) will help change your relationship with money and debt. You may also want to try the free version undebt.it where you can look at Debt snowball and Debt avalance scenarios.

See if you qualify for a SoFi.com loan. It is a SP for pre-approval. If you can convert some/all of this debt to a personal loan, your credit score will increase and you will get additional options.

If SoFi.com does not work, I would pay all cards to below 90%. This way lenders will not see these cards as maxxed out. Once you hit below 90% hit the highest interest rate cards the hardest. Not many markets where you can guarantee a 25% return (positive spin).

I would incrementally set additional goals of each card below 70%, 50% and so on. It will take you some time to get this all paid off but trust me, your future self will thank you.

Good luck!

[newyearnewcredit]

Appleman- thank you so much for the advice. I've set myself on a budget and have found a additional 600/month to utilize towards my debt. I'm hoping to be completely debt free by 'this time next year. I'll probably be one foot in the grave from working so much but atleast my scores will be in the 800's😂😂😂

[Anonymous]

the others gave great advice. Especially with budgeting. I'd also say you have no need to feel stupid. You are only 28. Your best years are ahead of you. Just have patience. You have time to get things turned around. May not be as fast as you'd like, but you have time to get where you need to be. Biggest thing for you right now is to not go backwards.