from BlueGreenOrangeWhiteYellowRed
Okay I have seriously screwed myself over with stupid decisions and I need serious help. I have… I think 4 credit cards that have been maxed out for months and owe about $8,000-$9,000 (my last question I said $10, but after thinking about it I think it should be less than $9) I make only like $200 a week and I seriously don’t know what I am supposed to do to get rid of this debt. I need serious help.
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10 Comments Received
January 26th, 2009 @2:51 pm
not much we can do here
January 27th, 2009 @2:35 pm
get another job. work over time work night do whatever it takes.. and PAY MORE THAN THE MINIMUM AMOUNT!!
January 30th, 2009 @12:36 pm
You need to contact each creditor and try to arrange a long-range payoff scheme. But you should also take on a second job to bring in more money. But $200 a week SHOULD allow you to pay more than $9 a month against those debts. Scale back your expenditures.
January 30th, 2009 @11:35 pm
Get another job. Yes that will suck and you won’t have much down time, but you should have thought of that while you were spending money you didn’t have! My fiance had 9,000 in debt and he paid it off in a few months by getting a part-time job at night. It sucked for awhile because he never had any spare time, but now he is back on track and happy!
January 31st, 2009 @6:52 am
The only thing you can do if you really can’t afford to pay these is to declare yourself bankrupt, this will wipe any existing debt. But be warned this is very harsh and means you won’t be able to get credit on anything for at least 10 years not even a bank account, my ex partner did this cos he had no other choice but now he lives with his parents because he can’t get a mortgage, a car nothing. Just be more careful in future
February 3rd, 2009 @5:25 pm
Consolidation loan! Years ago my ex and I were in this same situation so we went to a bank and got a consolidation loan for $10,000. I think our payments were $200 a month but they rolled all our debt into one monthly payment and it was much easier to deal with. One piece of advice though, if you do this make sure to cut up or close the accounts that were consolidated so you don’t make the same mistake of running up your balances again.
February 6th, 2009 @6:44 am
The only way to pay down credit debt is to pay more than the minimum payment every month, and keep paying. CUT UP those cards!! Do NOT use them. EVER AGAIN.
Every six months, if you have never been late with a payment at all, you can call the companies and ask if they will consider a lower interest rate–but you seriously cannot be late even once.
February 9th, 2009 @12:07 pm
Ch 7 bankruptcy; you’ll never be able to pay all this off without it.
February 11th, 2009 @10:35 am
1) Get second job to add more cashflow
2) Do a budget to find ways to find ways to create more cashflow and cut ALL unnessessary expenses. If this means cutting off cable or internet or cancelling your cell phone for a couple months and jsut having a landline, so be it. Hoe bad do you want to get out of debt?
3) Contact the credit card companies to get them to lower interest rates so you can get things caught up.
4) IF they won’t lower the rates look at a consolidation loan which will lower the interest. IF you do this make sure you keep the payments as high as possible. Paying the minimum amount will not get this paid off any faster and you’ll pay more in the long run anyways.
5) If you can’t get the loan, start by applying all possible cashflow to the smallest balance you have (if they are all around the same amount, choose the highest interest rate first) and continue making the minumum payments on others. IE: If your smallest debt is $2000 and the minumum payment is $50 and you were able to free up an extra $100 a month, make $150 payments to that card until it’s gone. When that one is paid off apply the entire payment you were paying on top of the next smallest debt (IE: IF the minimum paymnet on the next one is $65, add the $150 and now you are making $215 payments to that one). Continue doing this until they are all done. Basically, you are keeping your monthly payments the same until all your debts are gone, you’re just moving the payments from one debt to another. This is known as a debt snowball and it’s the same process that most debt management companies promote and it’s promoted by guys like Dave Ramsey (Total Money Makeover guy) and Richard Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad Series).
February 12th, 2009 @6:02 pm
Here is a plan that can help you. If you work the plan, the plan will work for you.
A. Have a garage sale and sell whatever you don’t use or need and use that money to pay down your debt.
B. Consider getting a temporary part time job and use all of that salary to pay off your debt quicker. It is better to have a no fun year
than a no fun decade.
1. Make a budget. Make the budget a week before you get paid. A budget is not a punishment! It is a tool which will free you from ever having to worry about money again. Put everything in your budget. Especially those annual, biannual, or quarterly bills like car registration, insurance, etc. Give every dollar you are going to bring home the name of where it is going. Add an “emergency fund” category to your budget for 25 dollars and save up until you have 1000-1250 dollars. Your emergency fund will help keep you from getting into new debt because of an emergency. If you can, set up a direct transfer to a savings account for your emergency fund. That way it moves automatically and you don’t even have to worry about it. You must cut your spending and live on less than you make.
2.First get current on all of you debts, if you are not already, and make no more late payments, if you have had any. Stop using your credit cards immediately. Do not take on any more debt. Credit cards are like quicksand only the death is much slower. Make a list of all of your debts in order of highest interest rate to lowest interest. Use cash only for your spending from now on.
3.Pay the minimum due on all of your debts and then put your extra money towards paying off the highest interest one first. After you get that one paid off, you put the money you were paying on debt #1 (the minimum payment and the extra payment) towards debt #2. That will pay debt #2 off faster. When that is paid off, you put all three payments towards card #3 and that one will be paid off pretty quickly. As an example:
To start :
Debt #1 (highest interest): minimum payment+ extra payment
Debt #2 (middle interest): minimum payment
Debt #3(lowest interest): minimum payment
Debt #1: paid off
Debt #2: minimum payment from Debt #1+ Minimum payment from Debt #2 +extra payment
Debt #3: minimum payment
Debt #1: paid off
Debt #2: paid off
Debt #3: minimum payment from card #1+ minimum payment from Debt #2+ minimum payment from Debt #3+ extra payment.
That way, you will get them all paid off, on time, and pay the least interest. It will also help towards rebuilding your credit since you will no longer have any late payments. This works no matter how many different debts you may have.
4. After you get all of your debts paid off, add to your emergency fund until you have 6-12 months of income saved up. Put that emergency fund money into a liquid money market fund or into a Bank of America no-risk CD so that if you need the money you can take it out without penalty.
5a. When you have your emergency fund in place, add a category for “fun” to your budget. Save for a holiday, a vacation, a big screen, or dinners out, whatever goal you want. Remember to enjoy your life.
5b. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your retirement. Join the 401(k) plan at work and contribute the maximum. Your employer probably matches at least part of your contribution so why give up free money? Open a Roth IRA and contribute the maximum on a monthly basis. If you start saving for your retirement now, you will probably retire a millionaire.
5c. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your next car. Only buy cars, or other things that depreciate, with cash. Save up for a nicer car. That way you get the interest instead of paying the interest.
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