Credit cards

[tornado]

Ive got some and need them paid off,rates to high and keep rising,with missing no payments and always paying more than min. I hate credit cards,Any1 have any expiernces with consolidation or debt couseling? I tried for a unsecured loan but the rate is just a tad smaller. any help would be apprciated.

[Krazydan]

Dave Ramsey would say to pay the min on all except the lowest. Attack the lowest one till payed of the move to the next one. snowball effect. the more cards you pay off, the more you can put toward the next card

[CJREX]

^This

Unless you can get a killer rate on a consolidation loan, you'll end up deeper in the hole after origination fees and such.

[DrMilhouse]

I played around with the IDEA of paying them off for several years. Then, I got serious about paying them off and did. Like, top ramen dinners and red box movies instead of going out saving money everywhere to pay them off. When I got absolutely serious about paying them off, it goes away pretty quickly. Taking another job if you have the time speeds that along and fills in the time to keep from getting bored saving money.

Paying the smallest first is one way that works. I went for paying off the biggest interest items first.

Debt consolidation companies can probably do something with it. I checked with one years ago to see what they could do. From what I could tell, I would make one payment to them and they'd do all the dividing it out to different companies. Maybe they'd be better at it that I was, I dunno. The only thing I could see with that is I was still making payments for a very very long time and that didn't inspire me.

Make minimum on all debt except the one you're currently working on. That will keep them satisfied. It's a great feeling to be done with them. It took less than 1 year. I have only a car payment remaining and only about 3 months of that left since I double the payment now.

[gwballin]

Two questions to the op:

1. You have stopped using the credit cards, right?

2. Why did you buy more than you can afford?

[DrMilhouse]

Two questions to the op:

1. You have stopped using the credit cards, right?

2. Why did you buy more than you can afford?

Look out, here come the preachers about credit that are here to point out that you're irresponsible and basically suck at life.

It's that shit that makes it embarrassing to bring up the fact that anyone even has debt to begin with.

I had an awesome upbringing and finance and money isn't something that I was taught.

Some things can be learned on your own which could mean making a few mistakes.

OP came for support in paying off his debt, not a lecture.

[gwballin]

Look out, here come the preachers about credit that are here to point out that you're irresponsible and basically suck at life.

It's that shit that makes it embarrassing to bring up the fact that anyone even has debt to begin with.

I had an awesome upbringing and finance and money isn't something that I was taught.

Some things can be learned on your own which could mean making a few mistakes.

OP came for support in paying off his debt, not a lecture.

Thanks for jumping to conclusions...

I asked the first question because if the op is still using the cards and only making the min payment on all but one his debt is likely to grow.

I asked the second because until the op addresses the behavior that led to his current problem he won't be able to prevent it from happening again.

[tornado]

I played around with the IDEA of paying them off for several years. Then, I got serious about paying them off and did. Like, top ramen dinners and red box movies instead of going out saving money everywhere to pay them off. When I got absolutely serious about paying them off, it goes away pretty quickly. Taking another job if you have the time speeds that along and fills in the time to keep from getting bored saving money.

Paying the smallest first is one way that works. I went for paying off the biggest interest items first.

Debt consolidation companies can probably do something with it. I checked with one years ago to see what they could do. From what I could tell, I would make one payment to them and they'd do all the dividing it out to different companies. Maybe they'd be better at it that I was, I dunno. The only thing I could see with that is I was still making payments for a very very long time and that didn't inspire me.

Make minimum on all debt except the one you're currently working on. That will keep them satisfied. It's a great feeling to be done with them. It took less than 1 year. I have only a car payment remaining and only about 3 months of that left since I double the payment now.

What if the debt company fails to pay a card does it go against you and your credit?

[tornado]

Look out, here come the preachers about credit that are here to point out that you're irresponsible and basically suck at life.

It's that shit that makes it embarrassing to bring up the fact that anyone even has debt to begin with.

I had an awesome upbringing and finance and money isn't something that I was taught.

Some things can be learned on your own which could mean making a few mistakes.

OP came for support in paying off his debt, not a lecture.

Yea i knew i was going to hear bad from some people about it,yea i messed up i admit it but i want to fix it.

[tornado]

Thanks for jumping to conclusions...

I asked the first question because if the op is still using the cards and only making the min payment on all but one his debt is likely to grow.

I asked the second because until the op addresses the behavior that led to his current problem he won't be able to prevent it from happening again.

As of now no im not using them,just paying on them and most are close to max, Im going to talk to a debt co and see what they say and if they arent any better i might just sell my good primary car and buy something a little cheaper for now??? I really dont want to and hoping the dept co wont rape me.

[DrMilhouse]

Thanks for jumping to conclusions...

You're welcome

I go to defense about things like that because that's how things went when I brought up the same topic for myself.

By the way, these two posts are one of the reasons women (or people in general) love the whole text message thing (the other thread). It's much easier for things to be taken two different ways and when something is taken the wrong way, people hide behind the good intention way of taking it. To be perfectly absolutely clear on that, I'm NOT saying that's what you did there. I'm not even implying it.

Anyway, back on topic.

I assumed that since the OP is in here talking about it, they're starting to really be serious about not having debt. Those are great questions to gauge the level of commitment for sure.

[DrMilhouse]

What if the debt company fails to pay a card does it go against you and your credit?

You bet it does! Only thing is, you can probably count on them doing their job and paying them so they don't get slapped with lawsuits.

[gwballin]

You're welcome

I go to defense about things like that because that's how things went when I brought up the same topic for myself.

By the way, these two posts are one of the reasons women (or people in general) love the whole text message thing (the other thread). It's much easier for things to be taken two different ways and when something is taken the wrong way, people hide behind the good intention way of taking it. To be perfectly absolutely clear on that, I'm NOT saying that's what you did there. I'm not even implying it.

Anyway, back on topic.

I assumed that since the OP is in here talking about it, they're starting to really be serious about not having debt. Those are great questions to gauge the level of commitment for sure.

I should have been more clear but I'm posting from my phone and hate typing on this thing, lol.

[tornado]

[QUOTE=DrMilhouse;2369523]You bet it does! Only thing is, you can probably count on them doing their job and paying them so they don't get slapped with lawsuits.[/QUOT

OK. Yea i just want to do this and do it right,just gonna have to look for a good co to go with.

[TARZAN]

Dave Ramsey would say to pay the min on all except the lowest. Attack the lowest one till payed of the move to the next one. snowball effect. the more cards you pay off, the more you can put toward the next card

It annoys me when people say stuff above and talk like it was Dave Ramsey's idea.....This is not Dave Ramsey, this is common fucking sense. Most of what Dave Ramsey speaks is common sense.

OP, depending on how much you owe you may be better off using the equity in property or a vehicle (if possible) to help pay it off (with a much lower rate)

-Will

[tornado]

It annoys me when people say stuff above and talk like it was Dave Ramsey's idea.....This is not Dave Ramsey, this is common fucking sense. Most of what Dave Ramsey speaks is common sense.

OP, depending on how much you owe you may be better off using the equity in property or a vehicle (if possible) to help pay it off (with a much lower rate)

-Will

I rent and owe on my car no equity lol

[redls1]

Yeah I have a similar situation. My wife still uses it for small things and I keep yelling at her. Told her to get her own credit card. She did. We just used it for vacation but sent in the whole amount and paid it off. I paid off 2 smaller ones and have one left.

[Tide]

Ive got some and need them paid off,rates to high and keep rising,with missing no payments and always paying more than min. I hate credit cards,Any1 have any expiernces with consolidation or debt couseling? I tried for a unsecured loan but the rate is just a tad smaller. any help would be apprciated.

Dont do debt counciling or consolidation or anything else. And for sure as fuck don't get one loan to pay off 3 or 4 others.

What you need to do is pretty simple really...

First, tear them up. If you have one with a low balance and some room on it, keep it. BUT, freeze it in a block of ice or do what you have to do to make using it a complete pain in the ass but still accessible in case of an emergency.
Second, as long as you have a solid credit history with them, call them up and see if you can get some fees waved or lower interest rates. If you have shown good faith on your part, they will very likely show good faith on theirs.
Third, get a cork board and hang it on a wall. Starting from left to right, post your lowest balance card to your highest balance card - NOT what has the highest APR.
Fourth, and this is going to sound a bit weird...Quit paying more than the min on all of them and instead focus on paying off the lowest balance card(s) first. Do this from start to finish, beginning with the lowest balance card to the next highest, etc.

What you're doing is creating a snowball effect (edit: didn't read the whole thread but it's already been mentioned). Look at like this...

Right now, you're paying (for example, four cards with balances of 500, 1250, 3000, and 5000)
What you're paying: 30...75...110...160
What the min due is: 10...25...60...100 (this is 2 percent of the above balances)

What you should do: 140...25...60...100

Once you pay off the lowest balance card, move to the next, to where it looks something like this: x...165...60...100
Then move to the third card: x...x...185...100
Then move to the last card: x...x...x...285

Even if you're making more than the minimums, you're likely just paying a little bit of the interest so the balance doesn't really go anywhere. You're just treading water. So, what you do is pay everything you possibly can on the lowest card, while paying the mins on the others until you have it paid off. Then you go to the next one, and the next until you're done.

Once you get a card paid off, do not close it. This will negatively affect your credit rating which can cause your remaining cards interest rates to go UP. HOWEVER, to give yourself a bit of a stimulus that you're doing it right and making progress, as you pay off each card, take them off your bulletin board. Or using a bright red sharpie, write PAID OFF in bright big letters.

After you get your cards paid off, use them against each other to lower your rates and reduce or remove monthly/yearly fees. Don't fall for credit protection scams, life insurance, or anything of that sort. Everything is negotiable - including rates and fees. If they won't reduce the rates or eliminate the fees THEN close it out. At this point you can take a slight hit to your credit, because you don't owe anything on the cards you DO have.

You probably don't want to do it, but you're going to have to start living really really cheaply. Get rid of any sort of debt you don't have to have. Is your cel bill 150 bucks a month because you've got unlimited talk and text and all that useless bullshit? Dump it to the lowest plan possible. You don't need text, and you don't need aps, and all that other useless bullshit. Do you have a home phone AND a cel? If so, dump the home phone. You don't need it because you use your cel 90 percent of the time anyway. Are you on a high tier broadband? Dump it to the slowest. How much are you eating out? People have convinced themselves they need all this bullshit when the reality is you really don't.

People get themselves into trouble by essentially nickel and diming themselves to debt hell. 5 bucks here for an energy drink, 10 bucks there for <whatever>. I got myself into debt trouble a couple years ago. It took me and my wife taking a hard honest look at our finances to realize just how much we were throwing away. I was spending 500 a month on eating out and pointless bullshit I didn't need nor really even used. The 5 and 10 bucks here and there doesn't seem like much until you add it all up.

Download a bank statement and print it out and highlight the bullshit you spend every month. I guarantee that it will surprise the shit out of you.

There are other 'tricks' that can radically speed the process up, but it takes some dedication and real self evaluation to do it.

[tornado]

Dont do debt counciling or consolidation or anything else. And for sure as fuck don't get one loan to pay off 3 or 4 others.

What you need to do is pretty simple really...

First, tear them up. If you have one with a low balance and some room on it, keep it. BUT, freeze it in a block of ice or do what you have to do to make using it a complete pain in the ass but still accessible in case of an emergency.
Second, as long as you have a solid credit history with them, call them up and see if you can get some fees waved or lower interest rates. If you have shown good faith on your part, they will very likely show good faith on theirs.
Third, get a cork board and hang it on a wall. Starting from left to right, post your lowest balance card to your highest balance card - NOT what has the highest APR.
Fourth, and this is going to sound a bit weird...Quit paying more than the min on all of them and instead focus on paying off the lowest balance card(s) first. Do this from start to finish, beginning with the lowest balance card to the next highest, etc.

What you're doing is creating a snowball effect (edit: didn't read the whole thread but it's already been mentioned). Look at like this...

Right now, you're paying (for example, four cards with balances of 500, 1250, 3000, and 5000)
What you're paying: 30...75...110...160
What the min due is: 10...25...60...100 (this is 2 percent of the above balances)

What you should do: 140...25...60...100

Once you pay off the lowest balance card, move to the next, to where it looks something like this: x...165...60...100
Then move to the third card: x...x...185...100
Then move to the last card: x...x...x...285

Even if you're making more than the minimums, you're likely just paying a little bit of the interest so the balance doesn't really go anywhere. You're just treading water. So, what you do is pay everything you possibly can on the lowest card, while paying the mins on the others until you have it paid off. Then you go to the next one, and the next until you're done.

Once you get a card paid off, do not close it. This will negatively affect your credit rating which can cause your remaining cards interest rates to go UP. HOWEVER, to give yourself a bit of a stimulus that you're doing it right and making progress, as you pay off each card, take them off your bulletin board. Or using a bright red sharpie, write PAID OFF in bright big letters.

After you get your cards paid off, use them against each other to lower your rates and reduce or remove monthly/yearly fees. Don't fall for credit protection scams, life insurance, or anything of that sort. Everything is negotiable - including rates and fees. If they won't reduce the rates or eliminate the fees THEN close it out. At this point you can take a slight hit to your credit, because you don't owe anything on the cards you DO have.

You probably don't want to do it, but you're going to have to start living really really cheaply. Get rid of any sort of debt you don't have to have. Is your cel bill 150 bucks a month because you've got unlimited talk and text and all that useless bullshit? Dump it to the lowest plan possible. You don't need text, and you don't need aps, and all that other useless bullshit. Do you have a home phone AND a cel? If so, dump the home phone. You don't need it because you use your cel 90 percent of the time anyway. Are you on a high tier broadband? Dump it to the slowest. How much are you eating out? People have convinced themselves they need all this bullshit when the reality is you really don't.

People get themselves into trouble by essentially nickel and diming themselves to debt hell. 5 bucks here for an energy drink, 10 bucks there for <whatever>. I got myself into debt trouble a couple years ago. It took me and my wife taking a hard honest look at our finances to realize just how much we were throwing away. I was spending 500 a month on eating out and pointless bullshit I didn't need nor really even used. The 5 and 10 bucks here and there doesn't seem like much until you add it all up.

Download a bank statement and print it out and highlight the bullshit you spend every month. I guarantee that it will surprise the shit out of you.

There are other 'tricks' that can radically speed the process up, but it takes some dedication and real self evaluation to do it.

cool thx man. Ive called the cc's and asked for a lower rate they wont budge. Jerks

[DrMilhouse]

I've never had a credit card company budge on anything on a current account. One that was seriously seriously seriously past due, they dropped to 0% when I arranged for automatic huge payments for a few months to pay them off.

Current accounts? NEVER. They figure if you're keeping them current, they must not be fucking you hard enough.