Paying Off Credit Card Debt

My family and I had an unplaned birth, and our now overwhelmed with medical expenses and the new expenses from the child. Since we did not have health insurance we became overwhelmed with bills. Over the last couple of years we have fallen progressively farther behind on our credit card bills. We have not made a payment on some of the cards in over nine month. Utlimately, besides lowering our credit score, is the consequences of not paying the cards. Can the creditors take our vehicles? Take money from our bank accounts? Garrnish our wages? We are very worried about our debt and would like to pay the debt off, yet feel very intimidated by the whole process. Thanks for any help

Since it's been several months since you have paid your credit cards I am going to assume that they have been written off and sold to collection companies.

What they can do is take you to court and get a judgment against you and your husband, at that point they can garnish wages (if your State allows it), attach bank accounts and file liens on any other property you may own.

If your cars are paid for they can be seized and sold to pay your debt. If you still owe money on them they can file liens to make sure that if you sell them they will be paid out of the proceeds of the sale.

All this on top or ruining your credit for 7-years.

2007-05-17 12:26:40 by Penny H

Learn how to reduce your credit card debt faster using the Snowball Method. Visit www.debtopedia.com for more helpful information and to get a ...

My husband and I are getting enough back with our income tax refund to pay off around $1350 worth of credit card debt. Paying it off would be great, but would only save us $70.00 a month.

We have good credit, but a pretty bad debt to income ratio. We are only renting a house and would like to buy. Will this make all that much of a difference? We could use the money for new furniture (we're just using hand-me-downs since we just got married in September) and for a nice vacation.

What do you think?

Pay off the credit card debt. You wouldn't get a mortgage with an impaired credit in this market. And your credit only deteriorates if you don't pay it off.

2008-02-13 18:18:15 by Girl gamer! ^_^

Price: $17.00

We are coming into some money and I had read a article about how you can pay off credit card debt with out having to pay the whole thing but I cant find the article with all the 'credit card wordage' any one have any suggestion?

Are you referring to debt settlement???

In any case, I doubt if this article is the same as the one you're referring to, but it may be discussing the same topic:
http://familyfinancialhelpusa.com/five-w ays-to-get-rid-of-debt/

2009-09-02 07:49:48 by Gwen

Price: $12.99 $12.99

I made the biggest mistake that a college freshman could make, I got a credit card. I racked up charges, than overcharged, payed the miniums, overcharged...it was all just one ugly desperate cycle. I've learned my lesson luckily rather early on, but my credit rating is totally screwed up now. I'm making payments every two weeks to pay off my debts and intend to be more responsible. What are some other things I can do to increase my credit rating?

Continue paying on time with more than the minimum. Try to pay until the balance is zero, then charge what you need to (should still be under 25% of your credit limit... I know yours is probably low as a freshman student card, but it'll increase over time!) and pay off ON TIME and IN FULL. This avoids that nasty interest that most credit cards love to charge.

Also, don't apply for new credit cards. Part of why your credit score is all messed up is because your credit history is tiny. The most recent activity, most notably the last 2 years, is what's most important in calculating your FICO score... You don't even have a score without 6 months of activity!

If you act like a responsible credit card handler, this information will affect you less over time... especially if you get an increased limit when you're out of college and use THAT responsibly, too.

Do you have student loans? These could help your credit score later on by giving you a better mix of credit, but don't freak out about paying them all off right now. The interest rates on these loans tends to be rather low and if you manage to reconsolidate your loan after you graduate, you may be able to lock in a great rate when your credit's shining.

2007-03-21 08:11:12 by aristocrat1.0@sbcglobal.net

I have 5 credit cards: 3 are nearly maxed out; the other 2 each has a balance that's half of the total credit limit on that card.

Which is better to do: a) pay off the remaining balance on the 2 cards; or b) pay down the 3 near-maxed out cards? (all 5 cards have similar APRs)

Thanks so much!!

Start paying down the card with the highest interest rate...then the next highest and so on.

2007-11-05 09:32:44 by Jane S