Been about 3-4 years of having credit cards and I spent a lot on getting my car fixed, college tuition, payments and what not. I have 4 now and a total credit limit of about 9000. I am maxed out on all of them and I pay a lot of over the limit and late fees. I have cut down my usage of credit cards to bare minimum now. I only use cash or my debit card to make all my purchases. All these late fees, overages are affecting my credit pretty badly. I am still pretty young in my early twenties but I want to get rid of this debt asap and then move on to graduate school and then owning a house. I am decent for somebody my age and have my own car. I can%26#039;t find a good way to pay off my credit card debt as it seems that they keep piling on the fees every other month or so. Any suggestions on how to get rid of this debt. I don%26#039;t want to talk to any credit counselors as they seem like manipulators as opposed to helpers to clear credit card debt. Thanks
Never ending credit card debt? Been there and can offer some advice.
First step: BREATHE. I am serious. Get yourself in the right frame of mind to devise a plan.
Now. Do you have every card able to be paid online? if not, sign up for online paying. This will help A LOT!! It will also save .42 every time you write a bill.
Next thing is to call all the credit cards and ask for a reduction. Tell them you were offered 0% for 12 month on another card. BTW, if you have, transfer the balance. This will allow you to keep the finance charges at $0 and the money will go towards your mission. Every %age point helps and It does not hurt to ask.
With a notebook and pen, sitting at table with no TV or radio on, write down all balances. Write down which are over the limit and which have been late in the past. Write down your minimum payment on each
Next is the plan of attack. First step is to get everything down from being over drawn. THIS IS A MUST or you will chase your tale. if 2 cards are over, make minimum payments on those that are not to help get the other down.
You will now have to change your life some to help with this. if you can find ways to save money, that can be transfered to your goal, you will be better off.
So where can you save money?
Do you buy coffee from D %26amp; D or 7-11? Stop. Start making it. = $1.75 / cup saving
Do you Smoke? Try and quit. $5.00 a pack saving
Buy Lunch every day? Bring lunch. The costs gets cut in half or in full if you eat leftovers.
Basically, you need to know what you buy and how much of it. So for a week, carry a notebook with you and your spouse (if there is 1). Write down everything you buy. When you do your grocery list, by store brands and cut out some of the discretionary stuff. The money saved will be very helpful!!
The plan in action.
You will be making multiple payments every month. Pick a card - I would start with the lowest balance. You have it set up online already so this will make it easy. Every 3 or 4 days, look at your checking account and make it to the nearest 10 by making a payment to your CC. if you 257.35, make a 7.35 payment to bring you to 150.00. You will be spending basically what you would have spent on discretionary stuff. You will not miss it. This will be ON TOPof your normal minimum payment (which is written down because it will change over time BUT not for you).
Attacking all cards at once will not motivate you because you will not see the progress. So just make minimum payments +$5 on the other cards. Think about it as a fight. Would you want to fight 5 people at 1 time or 1 person at a time but have 5 fights? You will lose the fight against the 5 people (probably) but have a chance to win 5 1 on 1 fights.
Here are some other tips:
Loose change - it adds up and usually not missed. Throw it into a jar. At the end of the month, bring it to the bank and make an additional payment.
eBay - have stuff you do not use? Sell it on eBay. make payments with the money received. Garage sales also work.
The overall key though is to decrease spending until you have everything under control. The cards should not even be in your wallet so there is no temptation. They are off limits.
These methods worked for me. I think they will do the same for you.
Good luck.
Never ending credit card debt? You could try a credit settlement program. It will affect your credit but so will not paying your credit cards.
Never ending credit card debt? you can try transferring your balances to other credit cards with lower interest rates. Sometimes with transfers the interest is lower. Call around and find out. Also buckle down and give up a few luxuries to pay your debt. Like instead of going to the movies or eating out try saving that money. I know it%26#039;s hard because I%26#039;ve had to do it myself but if you really put effort into it you should be able to pick your credit score back up.
Never ending credit card debt? I was in your situation as well and the best advice I found on how to get out of it was in Suze Orman%26#039;s book Young Fabulous and Broke. She lays everything out in clear, easy to understand language and gives you real solutions for budgeting, getting out of debt, using your credit wisely and raising your credit score. The book also has sections that explain investments, mortgages and retirement plans. I found this book to be invaluable and even after I managed to get out of debt, I still use it as a reference whenever I have questions. Good luck - if I can do it, anyone can!
Never ending credit card debt? You should read a book by Jerrold Mundis called %26quot;How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt and Live Prosperously%26quot;. The first half of the book has really practical advise on ways to get rid of this disease. Close all of those accounts except your debit card.
Never ending credit card debt? 閳?Well you%26#039;ve certaintly made a step in the right direction by cutting down your usage of credit cards [[however thats prolly more because you are maxed out honestly... right?]]. What you need to do is cut up the cards so that you cant use them. [[ Dont close your accounts, because that will end up making you look worse in the end. ]] Once you cut them up you can focus on paying them off. ALWAYS pay more than the minimum... remember there are finance charges, etc. And ALWAYS pay on time. I usually pay at least 5-7 days in advance so they have time to process it and it wont be late. If you pay before the due date you can avoid all those late charges, and cutting up the cards means no over the limit charges because you cant use the cards. You just have to put your foot down and do what you have to do.
閳?I%26#039;m also a college student who pays tuition, 2 credit cards, cell phone, loan payment, etc and is slightly in debt as well. So I know where your coming from. Good Luck!
Never ending credit card debt? Call Consumer Credit Counseling Services at 1-800-388-2227. They are the oldest and largest non profit credit counseling service in the Country.
I used them several years ago and they worked with my creditors to lower my monthly payments and interest rates. I was debt free in 36-months.
Their web address is www.nfcc.org
Never ending credit card debt? I was once exactly where you are. I know how discouraging it can be to have so much debt. In order to prepare for grad school and then homeownership, you need to have a plan to eliminate your debt. The positives, you have a manageable amount of debt and you are young.
Good move to avoid credit counseling agencies. They sometimes can make matters worse. I will suggest that you start reading about debt elimination plans and establish a bare minimum budget.
I found help where I least expected it. Check here:http://www.daveramsey.com/
His advice was invaluable and helped me achieve my goal of being %26quot;debt free.%26quot;
Good luck.
Never ending credit card debt? With the late fees you will probably have a hard time paying on these, unless you can find a card that will do a balance transfer, with a low interest rate for a certain amount of time. PAY more than the minimums, in fact if you can set up your payments to get your cards paid off in a certain amount of time, preferably matching what your new credit card is for that is the smartest thing to do.
If you cannot do that, then pay the littlest card with the highest interest down, and then IGNORE that card. Pay the minimums to not get dinged a huge late fee on the other 3. Don%26#039;t charge anything to the little card once it is paid. Add the amount that you were paying to that card to the next littlest one and watch it snowball. Remember when you get these cards paid down to put that money that you have been paying each month into a savings account to cover expenses for the future things you want.
You need to also learn better spending habits, if you%26#039;re like most people, you feel if you have the credit you should use it. But you are better off to build your credit and ignore it. Only buy what you can afford to pay off in a month to 2 months time. If you cannot afford to do that, don%26#039;t put it on your card.
If you don%26#039;t have the income to pay the bills in a timely manner each month, than you might have to get creative with ways to come up with extra money. We are heading into the season of extra workers needed. Now is a great time to get a handle on the out of control debt. Also look and see if there are any not for profit credit counseling services either in your city or possibly through a local college.
Good luck, taking care of your credit is a huge concern. I spent years in the same boat. I just now got to the point after filing bancruptcy that I have been offered a large balance credit card. The thing I keep looking at is the interest rate. When I want something I think about how much I%26#039;m really going to pay for it if I put it on my charge card and cannot pay it off immediately. That makes me want to save up and pay it off quicker.
Never ending credit card debt? HI Tiger!
I know you mentioned that you did not want to talk to any credit counselors, but they really can help. especially if you go with someone that you know someone else used. Check out this company--i used them and they were great--helped me with a budget and planning. I have saved so much money. I recommend them to anyone with questions or that need help with credit card debt!
http://www.debtcounselingcorp.org
Never ending credit card debt? why did you use a credit card for college tuition - college loans would have been a lot cheaper and you don%26#039;t have to start paying until 6 months after you%26#039;re done with school
Never ending credit card debt? You need to start with a written budget. Find out exactly where you money is going. Then cut back on the things you dont have to have.
Get a second job for awhile.
list all of your debt smallest to largest and pay min payments on all but the smallest. attack the smallest with a vengance. Then once its paid move to the next debt. the reason for this is it keeps you motivated. Interest rate is not the real problem. its your spending.
Stay away from these so called debt managment companies, debt consolidations companies. If they charge a fee then its a scam. What they will do is not pay your creditors for months and then try and settle for less. No special skills. they just dont pay,
Also, if they dont pay. You, and you alone are still responsible for the debt. Your creditors will come after you and not the companie you hired.
Its not gonna be easy but it will be worth it.
