Stuck in Credit Card Debt

[jiujitsu1]

Hello forum,

I am new and have been browsing the forum for some time now. I have had the privilege of finding a lot of valuable information on here, but have yet to develop a strategy to get out of this credit card debt. I made a few unfortunate decisions these past 8 months and now I am here.

Quick summary:

I am a 24 yr old realtor. I quit my 9-5 job in October 2022 to pursue a career in real estate. At the time I had no reserves, so I decided to go on an app spree with the plan to live off of credit cards for at least 3 months(monthly overhead was around $3k at the time). My credit scores went from 690-710 before the app spree occured, now (due to high uti) my scores range from 560-608. The plan obviously did not go as planned due to deals not being closed until mid February and me not having any other stable soure of income. Fast forward to now, I am over $18k in credit card debt still with a fluctuating income. Any advice would help to get out of this temporary situation asap!

CC                              Balance/Limit                APR

Discover                       1,465/1.5K                   0%

AMEX gold                  1,698/1.75K                27.99%

CapOne QS                  1,954/2K                    31.74%

Home Depot Cons        305/500                   25.99%

Best Buy                         455/500                   30.49%

ChaseSouth.                3,743/3.8K                27.99%

ChaseSap                     4,858/5K                   26.99%

Sam's Club CC                0/1K

ultimate goals: get out of cc debt, acquire 3 months reserve, acquire stable income, fico 750,  jump start business venture

[Kforce]

Income  >=  Living expenses + (debt payback)

       ?      >=                ?              + ($18,000 @ 28% = ~$400 interest loss monthly), so negative $400

Make more money or lower monthly living cost = pay off debt.

Extra job 

Move in with parents or friend.

Cut out all extras, eating out, streaming, etc.

Maybe a loan from family member to reduce interest.

Living off your credit cards is going to cost you.

Some approx numbers.

18k @ 28% with $500/mo = 7 years and 22k interest

18k @ 28% with $700/mo = 3.3 years and 10k interest

18k @ 28% with $900/mo = 2.3 years and 6.5k interest

[FireMedic1]

Maybe go back to your old job that gets a check every 2 weeks and do the real estate PT. The market isnt going anywhere. Comes down to more income to pay the debt down. Right now its finances over FICO.

[SouthJamaica]

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@jiujitsu1 wrote:

Hello forum,

I am new and have been browsing the forum for some time now. I have had the privilege of finding a lot of valuable information on here, but have yet to develop a strategy to get out of this credit card debt. I made a few unfortunate decisions these past 8 months and now I am here.

Quick summary:

I am a 24 yr old realtor. I quit my 9-5 job in October 2022 to pursue a career in real estate. At the time I had no reserves, so I decided to go on an app spree with the plan to live off of credit cards for at least 3 months(monthly overhead was around $3k at the time). My credit scores went from 690-710 before the app spree occured, now (due to high uti) my scores range from 560-608. The plan obviously did not go as planned due to deals not being closed until mid February and me not having any other stable soure of income. Fast forward to now, I am over $18k in credit card debt still with a fluctuating income. Any advice would help to get out of this temporary situation asap!

CC                              Balance/Limit                APR

Discover                       1,465/1.5K                   0%

AMEX gold                  1,698/1.75K                27.99%

CapOne QS                  1,954/2K                    31.74%

Home Depot Cons        305/500                   25.99%

Best Buy                         455/500                   30.49%

ChaseSouth.                3,743/3.8K                27.99%

ChaseSap                     4,858/5K                   26.99%

Sam's Club CC                0/1K

ultimate goals: get out of cc debt, acquire 3 months reserve, acquire stable income, fico 750,  jump start business venture

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My advice would be

(a) stop using cards

(b) snowball your credit card debt:

Snowball method.
1. Stop using cards.
2. Pay off smallest balance first, then next smallest, and so on.
3. On other cards pay minimum + something each month.
As each balance turns to zero, that will free up your remaining monthly cash to apply to the next smallest balance.

(c) Find an alternate source of income which is steadier to supplement your present income.

[jiujitsu1]

Understandable! Thank you for your feedback. 

[jiujitsu1]

I think that will be my next step. Thanks for your feedback!

[jiujitsu1]

Got it! Thanks for your feedback!

[DRME]

You could attempt to negotiate reduced, lump sum settlements with the companies.

With so many low-balance accounts, it would take some time.

However, if you stopped paying all the cards, you would have all those minimum monthly payments to save up and appy toward settlements.

Figure appx 30-40% of the balance for each settlement.

So a $1500 balance might settle for $500.

Saves a lot of interest in the long run, too, as once the accounts go into charge off to a collection agency after 6 months, interest stops accruing.

Your credit will fall even more, so as somone else said, finance vs. fico right now.