My journey to zero balances

[sobreezy]

I'd payoff everything except for the BoA Elite card since it's at 37%. Doing this you'd have to come out of pocket about 3700 bucks but you'd have approx 18 cards reporting a zero balance. Then requst letters from the credit card customer service rep that states you have 0 balances and send it to the CRAs so that they can update your credit report faster like within a week. this is IMHO.

[jamie123]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm approved for a loan from Lending Club that I'm going to use to pay down a large chunk of this debt. Does anyone have opinions on how I should pay these off? Should I go for the lowest possible monthly payment or pay off the accounts with the highest interest rates? The loan covers all but 14-15k of the 49k outstanding balance.

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I would suggest paying off as many cards to $0 as possible. You should be able to pay off all but 2 cards if you do it that way.

[lolabelle]

Yay for green!  Good for you for taking this on.  I never had the amount of consumer debt that you have, but I had quite a bit.  Getting rid of it once and for all was definitely one of the most liberating things I've done in my life (even with the still-mountainous student loan debt).

As a side note:  Do you have a handle on your budget?  YMMV but, for me, having clear visibility into what's going out and what's coming in at any given moment, and also having a plan for how my money is going to be used going forward has been essential in not racking up more debt.  I use YNAB (You Need a Budget - that's my referral link that gets you a discount off the regular price if you're in the market for a program) and I'm not exaggerating when I say it's been life-changing for me.  I love it because it's simple and because they offer a ton of free classes and support - plus there's a fantastic online community.  For the first time in my life, I've been able to get to a point where I'm living on last month's income, have an emergency fund established, and a variety of "rainy day" funds.  Really, though, any budgeting method that fits your personal needs is the right one.

Good luck!  I'm looking forward to following your progress and seeing more green on your chart!

[Education44]

That was me seven months ago. Every card I had was maxed out - in fact some of them were over the limit (except AMEX, which is new). Like you and your DW, I just decided I had to buckle down and get these accounts paid off. I started with the smallest balances. To help with utilization, I got a CLI on my Wells Fargo and a small CLI on my Capital One, even though they were almost maxed out. I should have my Discover and Sapphire paid off within the next two months. Almost every penny I make goes to paying these accounts off, but the feeling I get as I pay each one off is amazing. I can appreciate the process you're going through, and wish you the best of luck.

Credit Limit $20,000	Balance $7,883	Account Wells Fargo
$8,250	$7,096	Capital One
$6,000	N/A	J.C. Penney
$5,000	N/A	Chase Freedom
$5,000	$910	Chase Sapphire
$5,000	$1,848	Discover
$3,300	N/A	Walmart
$2,150	N/A	Victoria's Secret
$2,000	N/A	Amex BCE
$2,000	N/A	Chase Southwest
$1,900	N/A	Merrick Bank
$1,450	N/A	Credit One

[Anonymous]

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@Education44 wrote:

That was me seven months ago. Every card I had was maxed out - in fact some of them were over the limit (except AMEX, which is new). Like you and your DW, I just decided I had to buckle down and get these accounts paid off. I started with the smallest balances. To help with utilization, I got a CLI on my Wells Fargo and a small CLI on my Capital One, even though they were almost maxed out. I should have my Discover and Sapphire paid off within the next two months. Almost every penny I make goes to paying these accounts off, but the feeling I get as I pay each one off is amazing. I can appreciate the process you're going through, and wish you the best of luck.

Credit Limit $20,000	Balance $7,883	Account Wells Fargo
$8,250	$7,096	Capital One
$6,000	N/A	J.C. Penney
$5,000	N/A	Chase Freedom
$5,000	$910	Chase Sapphire
$5,000	$1,848	Discover
$3,300	N/A	Walmart
$2,150	N/A	Victoria's Secret
$2,000	N/A	Amex BCE
$2,000	N/A	Chase Southwest
$1,900	N/A	Merrick Bank
$1,450	N/A	Credit One

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@Education44,

Smart and well done!!!

[Nikki75082]

I am doing this too! I am going to use the debt snowball method. We have $180,000 total debt that includes 4 credit cards, 2 conn's accounts, 2 cars, and a mortgage with 24and a half years.

My plan is to have every thing paid off in 8 years. Both our credit score is horrible low 500's$. I will be document how this will change our credit score.

[Anonymous]

Update! Loan from Lending Club has been approved and the money is on its way. I know the advice has been mostly to pay down all the highest rates, but what I really need is some cushion in my monthly payments and I've found a way to save myself $300 a month by paying off all my cards and putting most of that money towards my wifes cards where I'm an AU.

[Anonymous]

Here's a screen cap of what my debt will look like by this time next week if not before.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Here's a screen cap of what my debt will look like by this time next week if not before.

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That's awesome.  What APR did you get on the loan and what will the monthly payment be on that?  It always helps having all the payments together instead of a bunch of different cards.

[Zorasmiles]

Congrats on the many steps taken to upright your credit ship!  Make you continue to have good luck on your journey and no unforeseen challenges.  Good luck.