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I need advice on managing my debt

Date: Fri, 01/23/2009 - 00:36

Submitted by anonymous
on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 00:36

Posts: 202330 Credits: [Donate]

Total Replies: 5


Hi all! I am 25, a college graduate, and I have decent job. Because I had to put my self through college, I am dealing with about $30,000 in student loans and a total of $15,000 in credit card debt. I recently moved which is where much of my recent credit card debt came from. I currently have a total of 6 credit cards none of which are maxed out. I am making all my payments above the minimum amount but I feel like my debt is not become any less due to my high interest rates. I had recently recieved an offer for a loan from Bank of America through the mail, where I could consolidate most of my debt and pay about $250/mo for 5 years. I am currently paying about $700/mo. This seemed like a great idea, but when I called I only got approved for $500. I believe my credit score is between 650 and 700 and I have had a few (maybe 3 or 4) late payments throughout the last few years but have always payed. I was recently denied for a department store credit card (bought a dress and was just trying to save the extra 20% for signing up), which is why I am now worried. I am not looking to settle, I am just looking for a simpler way to pay this off. I feel like if I don't do something about this now I could end up in trouble. I would like to buy a house and will probably have to buy a new car in a few years. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!


One thing you can do since you are current on your credit cards because they are not maxed out is to see if you can balance transfer some of your higher interest credit card debt to another card. Many of the credit card companies will give you zero percent interest on balance transfers. This will allow you to pay lower rates on some of the debt. As you clear more and more off each higher interest card your debt will come down faster and you will pay less interest overall.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 01:31

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Have you pulled your 3 credit bureau reports? You are entitled to 1 free one from each company every year. Go on annualcreditreport dot com. See exactly what is on there, and you might see why you were denied credit by the store. Stores are MUCH more likely to grant credit than any other source, so the fact that you were denied could show a big problem on your reports.

Then you need to take a few hours, sit down with the past years worth of credit card bills and see what your payments and interest paid has been like on your cards, and then contact each and every credit card company that you have now, and ask them to #1 lower your interest amount, #2 find out what their balance transfer offers are right now. It takes a few hours and you might get a bunch of "no's", but then you might get lucky and have a good chance at some major improvements, rather than going out right away and starting to transfer balances around.


lrhall41

Submitted by smo65d11 on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 08:21

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Are 0% offers still available out there? I haven't gotten any in the mail for several months. But maybe that's more of a reflection of me and my credit than what is happening with others. I would have figured that most creditors don't want people consolidating their debt with them right now, given the economy and flood of bad debts that are still on the way.


lrhall41

Submitted by ball_mich on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 07:41

( Posts: 360 | Credits: )