Need Help!!!

[Anonymous]

My husband and I have made some bad choices regarding credit since we have been married, but we married young, were in school ect, ect. Last year he took a job about an hour and a half from home, we were going to sell our house and move. Did not happen!! Anyway we got behind on bills, the first time I had ever let anything go past 30 days. It killed me, I knew better but there was nothing that we could do. We struggled for 6 months and things got better. Our credit score dropped way low and I we are starting to struggle again because all of the credit cards are killing us. The late fees over the credit limit fees. Now because the credit score is low we can't get a loan to pay off all the credit cards and pay everything off. We would be great if everything was under one payment. I dont know what to do!!! Any suggestions would be great!!!

[My_dog_FICO]

djclem99

  Call all your credit card companies.  Let them know you're going through a hardship right now and see if they would be willing to suspend your account (not close it) and stop charging the overlimit and latefees until you get back under your credit limits.

  Make a calendar with each CC's due date and minimum payment due.  Mail off at least these amounts 1 week before they are due.  Pay extra to the ones that still won't work with you on the fees so that you stop sliding further into the hole with them.

  If you really are over the edge and cannot get back up, it may be time to restart.  Although some people agree that bankrupcy can give you a new start (with a black eye), I would rather let an account hit collections and work on a settlement when I'm back on my feet.  There is no clearing a bankrupcy from your CR but some settlements can be worked as Pay For Delete.

I see that this is your first post.  Please - read all of the sticky's on the message boards.  Those are the threads at the top of each message boards.  You'll be light years ahead in knowledge just reading those, and when you do post more questions, they'll be more detailed and you'll get alot more replies.

[Anonymous]

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djclem99 wrote:

My husband and I have made some bad choices regarding credit since we have been married, but we married young, were in school ect, ect. Last year he took a job about an hour and a half from home, we were going to sell our house and move. Did not happen!! Anyway we got behind on bills, the first time I had ever let anything go past 30 days. It killed me, I knew better but there was nothing that we could do. We struggled for 6 months and things got better. Our credit score dropped way low and I we are starting to struggle again because all of the credit cards are killing us. The late fees over the credit limit fees. Now because the credit score is low we can't get a loan to pay off all the credit cards and pay everything off. We would be great if everything was under one payment. I dont know what to do!!! Any suggestions would be great!!!

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Are you currently in a house, and do you have any equity?

Are both you and DH working?

If so, what are your median FICOs?

How much overall CC debt and CC CLs do you have?

Anything in a 401K you can borrow against?

Anything in an IRA you can take an unqual'ed withdrawal from?

Any fairly recent vintage PIF vehicles?

Message Edited by Noah_Bodie on 12-03-2007 02:39 PM

[Anonymous]

yes as My Dog pointed out,  Call your creditor's and let them know and see if anything can be worked out.   The worst mistake that many have made, including myself, is ignoring these and just letting yourself get further and further behind.   Call them.

[Anonymous]

If you cannot work oout anything with your creidtors, contact you local United Way and get on a DMP.  they are usually less costly than the commercial kinda and you have the peace of mind knowing the creditors will actuall get the payments.

[Anonymous]

My mother is having success with a DMP.  She's in a bad situation right now, but at least it stops a majority of the companies from harrassing her.  Poor mother.  This time, literally.  -snickers-