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Need help and advise to get credit card debt in order!!

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taz3261
New Contributor

Need help and advise to get credit card debt in order!!

I messed up have too many balances and want to become debt-free as soon as possible.

I have multiple credit cards

WAMU Visa owe 4,082.41 limit is 7,500 apr 7.99%

WAMU ESPN owe 1,549.95 limit 2,000 apr 0% until 12/08 so 1/09 apr is 15.99%

HSBC MC owe 1,291.86 limit 2,850 apr 0% (lucky me is a system error HSBC can't tell me until when this will continue)

Chase owe 706.90 limit is 1,000 apr 0% ends 10/08 so this month 11/08 APR is 10.49%

Home Depot store card owe 324.88  limit 500 apr 0% No pymt until 1/09 or default APR 0f 21.00%

Home depot home improvement loan- 440.20 apr 11.99%

 

How will you go about paying down this debt? Do you think a Personal Loan will make sense to pay off balances and make 1 monthly payment?

FYI I have a Chapter 7 discharged 6/05 Credit scores in 7/08 were TU-702; Eq-666; EX-687.

Want to pay down some debt before I pull my scores again don't think I will see much of a difference. I have no late pymts on my reports.

 

 

Transunion-597
Experian-unknown
Equifax-579
Message 1 of 4
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
GST2008
Frequent Contributor

Re: Need help and advise to get credit card debt in order!!

If it were me, I would start by making the largest payments to the one's that were charging you interest in rank order of interest rate, and make smaller payments for the time being to the 0% APR ones.  Home Depot and Wamu are the only ones that it looks like are charging you interest right now.  Then rank the 0% apr ones from lowest to highest and keep working towards paying one off with smaller on the others until you are left with one or two cards with balances and a drawer full of cards with 0 balances.  I think if you make yourself a strategy and stick to it, it will be easier.  Personally, I prefer to have only one or two cards with balances, so I try to pay off the smaller ones first and have them reporting zero.

Current:
TU (5/14/14): 796 (Inquiries; 8/23/13)
EQ (3/23/14): 791 (Inquiries: 8/23/13)
EX (9/24/13): 780 (Inquiries: 7/2/12; 11/20/12; 7/30/13; 8/23/13)

Goals: No new inquiries for 2014, 800 for all CRs by 12/31/14
Message 2 of 4
3 REPLIES 3
GST2008
Frequent Contributor

Re: Need help and advise to get credit card debt in order!!

If it were me, I would start by making the largest payments to the one's that were charging you interest in rank order of interest rate, and make smaller payments for the time being to the 0% APR ones.  Home Depot and Wamu are the only ones that it looks like are charging you interest right now.  Then rank the 0% apr ones from lowest to highest and keep working towards paying one off with smaller on the others until you are left with one or two cards with balances and a drawer full of cards with 0 balances.  I think if you make yourself a strategy and stick to it, it will be easier.  Personally, I prefer to have only one or two cards with balances, so I try to pay off the smaller ones first and have them reporting zero.

Current:
TU (5/14/14): 796 (Inquiries; 8/23/13)
EQ (3/23/14): 791 (Inquiries: 8/23/13)
EX (9/24/13): 780 (Inquiries: 7/2/12; 11/20/12; 7/30/13; 8/23/13)

Goals: No new inquiries for 2014, 800 for all CRs by 12/31/14
Message 2 of 4
taz3261
New Contributor

Re: Need help and advise to get credit card debt in order!!

Thanks!
Transunion-597
Experian-unknown
Equifax-579
Message 3 of 4
GST2008
Frequent Contributor

Re: Need help and advise to get credit card debt in order!!

Your welcome lol I always get into this predicament after the holidays, where I use several cards instead of just one and then end up having to figure out how to pay them off.  I usually start with the smaller balance ones and pay those off in a month or two and then keep going up the list until i get to the last 2 and then start chipping away on those.  Also, a personal lone doesn't solve the problem unless you have a will of steel.  You need to take a hard inquiry to get the loan, you transfer all your debt and incur a new monthly payment and then you have all those enticing 0 balance cards just begging for use.

Current:
TU (5/14/14): 796 (Inquiries; 8/23/13)
EQ (3/23/14): 791 (Inquiries: 8/23/13)
EX (9/24/13): 780 (Inquiries: 7/2/12; 11/20/12; 7/30/13; 8/23/13)

Goals: No new inquiries for 2014, 800 for all CRs by 12/31/14
Message 4 of 4
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