Would you rather?/ What would you do?

[danif92]

Hi everyone!

Quick question,

• So my score is currently in the crapper at mid 500s. 
• No savings of any kind (two HYS account Barclays and Synchrony $0.00) 
• Member of 4 Credit Unions (MCU, DCU, Alliant and Penfed-which is restricted)

I will be coming into some money ($6,000)

I have credit card debt ($6,795)

My question is do you think I should

(A) take all of the money and pay my debt off completely

or

(B) pay some off it and save the rest

One of my goals is to save up at least ($2,000- $3,000) for a downpayment for a coop to move sometime next year, which on my current salary is very hard to do with all my bill payments. So help! Please, a but of guideance would be apprecitated.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean "wouldn't"? 

It all depends, if you have a steady income and will be able to start putting savings away each month once you knock the CC debt off along with the hefty interest charges, throw everything at the debt to save yourself money, otherwise put 2k away in savings for emergency. That said, must revisit budgeting so you don't get into debt again. 

[xaximus]

I would do a combination of both. Pay some debt off so your utilization comes down and put some money aside for safety/emergency funds. I would review your expenses compared to your income and make a financial plan on how to pay things down and how to allocate cash so that once debt is paid down, you can start putting some cash aside every month.

If you want, list your income and expenses and we can see how you can move the cash flow around or perhaps reduce some bills to pull more income.

Good luck.