Beat Credit Card Debt

If I let my cards slip for a while I don't know how much they've hurt my credit. I need credit card debt consolidation, will they accept me if my credit cards have been beating up my credit a little in the last month or 2?

Please do not consolidate. It is not free, they will lower your payments by increasing the length of time until you are debt free, and you will take a hit on your credit score. Or they negotiate your debt down after telling you not to pay for awhile adding another hit to your credit score. There is a better way.

A. Have a garage sale and sell anything that you no longer need or want.

B.Get a temporary part time job, if you have one, get another.


Here is a plan that can help you. If you work the plan, the plan will work for you:
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 and make no more late payments. 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.

You can do it and it isn't as hard as you think. Just follow the plan.

2009-04-27 10:42:39 by SRL

www.nocreditcrunch.net- College credit card debt, credit card consolidation loan,bad credit lenders, personal loan with bad credit. credit ...

I have gotten myself in such a mess with credit cards I just want to beat my own a$$ and I need advice on how to work it out. I have racked up 1 card ($8300) 2nd card ($6000) and 3rd card ($2500) all maxed out. The payments are $250/$160 and $70 and I am making them but then the problem is that I am broke for the month so I use what I just paid on them and go to the grocery store to get groceries or go get gas and have to put it right back on the card. I AM SO SCREWED and I feel so stupid that I did it but I guess I proved to myself that I cannot be given a card with $8000 on it use it wisely, too late now though I just need to get back out of it. Please help!

Find a credit card that you can have for 12 months 0% interest and transfer your credit card balances to that card. Each month put away a portion into a savings account to earn some interest. Just make sure to have enough money in there to cover the balance after the 12 months is up. And quite buying things unless they are a necessity. Hopefully your credit has been ruined by this but paying off that 0% credit card may help to bring it up!

2007-05-24 07:35:29 by AMBER M

Price: $12.99 $12.99

I had one coteacher tell me to show them I am boss, aka that I won't allow them to walk on me, and another teacher said to threaten to report them. So I just tried both methods with Chase and got no where.

Long story short somehow our mailbox was opened and I never received a bill for last month. So I went online at work to check on it, and paid it, although unfortunately it was late. Now they are charging me double (which is fine) and a $39 late fee. I have never been late with them and they refuse to rid of my late fee, even when I told them I won't be able to pay it, and they won't get their money.

Are there any good strategies and/or tips for any creditor on ways to reduce my APR or even the debt I owe them?

I never get anywhere when I call anyone and this is so frustrating because I primarily used my cards for dental and school, and some medical. I can't pay them and I don't want to do bankruptcy. I am so FRUSTRATED!

Credit cards are really quite evil, unless you can afford to pay them off in full every month I would not use one. Have you spoken to the 'late payments' section & explained that yr mailbox with tampered with? If you just went on line & realised the payment was late then the damn computers couldn't give a rat's 'A'. If you actually phone yr bank & explain what happened & that is has never happened before & you don't intend for it to happen again then they may reverse their late fee. It is @ their discretion & you catch more bees with honey. So be polite & play it straight If you're going to have trouble paying the next few bills especially if they won't rescind the fees, make arrangements to pay & stick to them. This should not adversely affect yr credit score. The bank would rather get some money than none & have to spend even more money chasing you. Good luck

2009-03-18 21:44:50 by Abbey loves Jesus

Price: $9.97

im doing a debate in school and my topic is 'should it be more difficult to attain a credit card?' were the con side. so we are saying no it shouldnt. so if you could give us some helpful information to suport that. that would be great. and give us some pro. so we can object it to beat the other team

THANK YOU!

Well for many people, a credit card is a necessary way of life. Some people live paycheck to paycheck and they need money for groceries and utilities and stuff like that in between paychecks.
Another thing is that credit cards help build credit history. Especially for students who have no credit, if they are able to use their credit wisely, they can have a better chance of being approved when they apply for bigger loans like home and car loans.
Credit cards are also an emergency measure for many families. In case something bad happens to them financially, they can choose to use their card and pay it off over time.

2008-12-22 05:54:14 by Katiee

All these credit card companys send out checks that enables you to write them for the amounts allowed ...sometimes thousands of dollars...I get several every week in the mail...Seems like an awful lot of money at your finger tips....Has anyone ever took advanage of this knowing they cant pay it back and has anyone ever try to beat the system without paying it back

Credit is worth more than any small amount of money you could cash out today...what you consider large sums is really peanuts. There will come a time when you want a new car, or a new home, or a new.... IF you screw up your credit today, count yourself out of the running for about half your life...that is a long time, and when you consider what it will cost you, it would be plain stupid to play that game...unless you knew you were dying soon. Good luck. Bye the way, someone has to pay for all this mismanagement of money..it is me, and all others who take care of credit..we are charged higher interest rates because of this kind of stuff. Cheating is cheating, I don't care how you look at it.

2006-08-05 08:08:56 by bam b