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Seeking advice for credit card debt
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Unfortunately I've allowed myself to get deep into debt. At the end of the day I knew better, and there's no excuse. It doesn't change my current situation. I'm roughly 34k in credit card debt. My credit score is too low to get a loan to pay this off, and focus on one payment. Naturally interest is wrecking me. I don't like the debt resolution companies, cause they all want me to take a hit on my credit score, 625, and use their method to pay it off. I don't trust it. I've heard tales of people still stuck with credit card debt after this method. What hurts more then anything is I lost a side hustle that was allowing me to cut it down, and I've been extremely budgeting myself. The upside is its helped me lose some weight lol If I can't get a loan to consolidate the cards into one payment what's the best strategy? Pick a low card and pay it off as quickly as possible, or pick a card with high interest rate and focus on it? Thanks for reading and leaving feedback.
Top Comment: the avalanche method, where you pay minimums on all of your debts and focus your extra payments towards the debt with the highest interest rate mathematically minimizes the amount of interest you are charged, which in turn results in getting out of debt the fastest you can. https://old.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/debt#wiki_what.27s_the_best_way_to_pay_down_my_debt.3F but the first step with credit card debt is to stop adding to it. stop using these cards for any new purchases. Then you do a detailed monthly budget, cutting out any and all unnecessary expenses, we are talking about canceling your netflix subscription because you cant afford it right now level of cutting. you need to find every available penny to start paying this debt off so that you arent sitting with $31k of credit card debt 4 years from now because you havent made any progress. its going to suck, its not going to be fun, but when you get through it and out the other side, it will be worth it.
25M I'm in alot of debt, please help me
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It's mostly the credit card debt that's bothering me. I'm okay with the auto loan being semi long term. Can anyone give me some advice/ideas? My goal is to have money to live and hopefully get my own apartment but rent is insane in los angeles and I can't afford to enjoy life like this
Top Comment: What do you spend on other things? This only adds up to $781.03. Which means you’re spending almost an extra thousand somewhere else. Unless that is known it’s hard to help build a proper plan to get out of debt.
How are you guys managing your debt?
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Are you guys having similar problem like me? Struggling to manage the multiple debts. I have personal loan, home loan, and 2 Credit card. Not sure how to track them. Is it only me or someone else is also having same issue? Also please share tips on how you guys manage these. Thanks!
Top Comment: One minimum payment at a time
American's obsession with putting themselves into debt
Main Post: American's obsession with putting themselves into debt
How did you get into debt?
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Just a curious question because I know people in large amounts of debt and I’ve seen a lot of posts on here. I think it’s amazing how some of you have gotten through some heavy debts and paid them off!
I’ve never been in debt, come from a very low income family, had to work at an early age to pay for my own stuff in my early teens. I’ve struggled providing single handedly for my family of 5 but I have still never fallen into debt. I have always lived with the mindset of “if I can’t afford it don’t buy”.
What was it that caused you to slip into debt?
Top Comment: ITS A I BUY NOW PAY LATER MINDSET
Strong debt- advice
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Hello everyone, I hope you are well. Well, the situation is as follows, I am M34 with a wife and a young daughter, and after a lack of control over my expenses, I have reached this debt. I have a net income of $1,650 approximately and monthly expenses of $1,600 where I include rent of the place where I live, general expenses (electricity, internet, etc), food among other things, and from the table shown, I only cover the MBA, so I am left with practically nothing at the end of the month. At the end of May, I finish paying the MBA and in June I would have $420 available to start paying debts again, naturally it is not enough to pay the instalments of all the debts I have, so I would have to prioritize, what I am thinking about is (1) firstly to talk to the banks to see how to reorganize or refinance each debt, (2) secondly to get a second job to be able to increase my income. It is worth mentioning that my wife does not work, we agreed that she will stay at home taking care of our daughter who is only a few months old, but given the circumstances, she will probably have to find a way to generate some additional income. What other advice can you give me? It is a very overwhelming situation, especially because of the responsibility I have on my shoulders, but I know I will get out of this. Thanks for reading.
Top Comment:
You need another job or a better job. $1650 a month is like $12 an hour.
I've Ruined my Life by Running Up Credit Card Debt/Overspending
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Assuming that I can even make it out of this situation alive or not having to declare bankruptcy.. never, ever again.
I ran up about $20K+ in credit card debt by agreeing to go on a bunch of vacations I couldn't afford, and spending all of my money at the bars. Stupid, I know. I was buying things I couldn't afford, with money that I didn't have, so that I could impress people that I don't even like.
I'm a software engineer and I had/have a somewhat respectable income. My thought was, "I'm sure I'll be able to pay the credit cards back. I make a lot of money." I was not on a zero-based budget, so I didn't realize that there was no way in hell that I could afford those trips. I eventually realized that the minimum monthly payments had ballooned out of control and they were eating up a substantial portion of my paycheck. All of that overspending was cute, until it wasn't.
After I ran up that debt, I got into a car wreck. I had no money so I couldn't buy a new car. And my credit was so jacked up because of the credit cards that I couldn't get anyone to approve me for a reasonable car loan. I had to go through a year of absolute hell with no transportation at all. I finally have a car now, but the interest rate is terrible. (Still better than not having transportation though.)
I found out recently that I have a very bad cavity. I'm in so much pain and I need a root canal to end it. But I can't afford it. I have no money, my credit cards are basically maxed out, and I can't get approved for a reasonable loan to get my care. The only options I have are to take a disgustingly high interest loan that will put me even deeper in the hole, so deep that I may not be able to get out(should I do this since the pain is so bad?), to somehow get to a dental school, or just endure the pain until March 1 until my benefits kick in. The pain is getting so bad that I can barely even function. I don't think I can bear this pain for much longer, it feels like I'm getting punched in the face every second of every day.
Today was the absolute worst though. To even be able to make my car payment(which is so high because of my credit) I feel the need to work 3 shifts per week at a restaurant so that I'm not completely obliterated by that car payment. Not having transportation is not an option. I got in a good bit of trouble at my software job today. My work wasn't done, and my boss called me and asked if I had an explanation. I didn't. I just ran out of time.
I ended up hanging out with friends on Saturday for my birthday. And lo and behold, I had a shift on Sunday. I need to have these shifts so that I can make my car payment and have transportation. But if I didn't have that stupid shift on Sunday, I could've easily finished my work and been in the clear. This is at a new job, so I'm making a horrible first impression. Had I not spent all of my money and ran up those cards, I wouldn't have a side job at all. Then, I would have all the time in the world to get this software insanity done.
I've reduced my restaurant shifts to 2 days a week, 12 hours a week so that this will never happen again(or at least I sure hope so.) That still moves the needle financially so I can have a car, but it will give me enough time to get my software work done.
If you've never worked a corporate software job before, it is death. It pays well, but it is death. I estimate that I will need 75-80 hours of work a week to stay on track and do my work at the pace they expect. Software development is literally insane, this is part of the reason why I'm so burnt out of it and resent it now. Add in 12 hours/week at the restaurant for my car payment, and that's 87-92 hours of work a week, or an average of 12.5-13 hours of work per day. I'm not afraid to work like a bananimal to get out of this grave that I've dug for myself.
I don't even know what to do from this point on. I guess this is more of a rant, and I just wanted to share the stupid decisions that I've made and how I feel the effects to this day. I put it under free talk because I don't mind people commenting, giving advice, or even just roasting me for the horrible decisions I've made.
My plan is to get the care I need, somehow, get some savings, pay off my debt with a vengeance, and then budget until the day that I die. I'll use a credit card once per year to maintain a good credit score, but that's it. Next time someone offers me to go on an expensive vacation that I can't afford, the answer is NO. If my buddies want to go to the bar and I can't afford those nights out, the answer is NO.
EDIT: Thank you for all the feedback. I was able to book a flight and hotel room so that I can get to Mexico for a day to get my teeth done. My surgery is scheduled for tomorrow, I’ll be well again very soon.
Everything except for work and this surgery is getting dropped haha.
FINAL EDIT: I went to Mexico and my surgery was successful. I feel so much better. Thanks so much guys!!!
Top Comment: Friend, not to be all worst case scenario here, but a dental infection can get into your bloodstream and cause sepsis or other stuff, and then you’re gonna have larger medical problems than just a cavity. Please get that part of this taken care of like yesterday! (This is one of my hidden medical fears right here.)