Financial question(credit card debt)

[MadHatter]

Find a reputable credit counseling agency. They can help sometimes by negotiating with the credit companies for you.

This.....I think you are in so deep that you need professional help getting out of it.

[Panthro]

I believe people look at debt consolidation almost like filing for Bancruptcy IIRC

[Hawk]

Them Canadians... :hand:

what? tastes like chicken

[Tweeder]

screw the debt consolidation......They will screw up your credit and it's not 100% they will work. I know a guy that did this and was told to default on his credit cards, he then expected he would get his debt cut in half, but all he got was more money owed and a final notice before legal action would take place. So, now he has screwed up credit, and still has debt.

-Budget (Sit down and see where all your money is going)

-get rid of the luxuries (directv, internet, etc)

-stop eating out (Get you a costco or Sams card and stock up on lunch meat and bulk items so you have leftovers)

-Sell the car (Do what Panthro does, and being you are a car salesmen you could find a great 6k car.)

-Negotiate for yourself (Call credit and negotiate a lower interest rate.)

-Take out a loan (If you cant negotiate a lower interest rate, see about a loan)

-2nd job (Delivering pizzas, bartender both are night positions, you will be tired as hell but well worth it to get out of debt)

-Save about 1k in a savings account if you already haven't, that way if an emergency does occur you won't have to put it right back on a credit card)

-If you don't get a consolidated loan pay minimum payments on all debt except the smallest one (Throw the rest of your money into that card; pay that off move to the next smallest one)

[Ja Rhule]

what? tastes like chicken

Everything tastes like chicken nova days.

[Bama Panther]

A lot of you are saying the same things I would say. Here are the specifics I would recommend though.

1a. Create a zero based budget. A zero based budget gives every dollar you make a place to go. Take everything into account . . . rent, gas for car, clothes, groceries, eating out, etc. Account for every dollar in your budget.

1b. Look at your budget. Go through and see what is a need and what is a necessity. You are looking at a lot of credit card debt. How bad do you want to get rid of it? Do you want to do it while keeping your dignity, that is no bankruptcy or credit counseling agencies? It can be done.

2. Pay for your four walls first. This means pay your living expenses before anything else.

3. Create a $1,000 emergency fund. This is, as Tweeder said, for any emergency that may arise. Unless it is a major emergency, you can cash flow the thing and not worry about it later. Just rebuild the emergency fund.

4. List your debts in order of smallest balance to highest balance. Pay the minimum payments on them. Apply any extra money from the budget, i.e. what is left over at the end of the month, coming in under budget on groceries, etc., to the smallest balance.

5. Debt snowball your debts Once the lowest debt is paid off, roll that minimum payment into the next debt's minimum payment. Once the second payment is gone, roll it into the third and on and on.

6. Create a fully funded emergency fund. This should be living expenses (bare bone) of 3-6 months. At this point, you can cash flow anything that comes your way.

Cut up and cancel all your credit cards. If you can't make ends meet at this point, find a second job. You can also sell some things on craigslist/ebay or have a yard sale.

It's pretty clear that what you have been doing is not working, so you have to change your behaviors before your financial situation changes. If you get out of this mess without changing your spending habits, you will find yourself back in the same situation at some point down the road. You must change your behaviors.

I recommend Dave Ramsey's book, Total Money Makeover. It is good stuff, and my wife and I are actually following his plan now. Stupid student loans and car payments.

Good luck.

[JakeFlake]

Best thing I ever did for myself was bringing my lunch everyday. Saved an incredible amount of money that way. My personal hero in this area is Larry Winget.

[Kevin Greene]

Sell the car!

Wait, does the car get you pussy?

N/Mind, you're fuged.

[natty]

Take the 7 year credit hit and use that time for a serious lifestyle change. Your car payment is ridiculous, as is your min credit payments and car insurance. A back yard for your dog doesn't mean poo - a walk everyday is what's needed.

Theres my life now, wtf happened

Your impossible lifestyle happened.

[88 Bronco]

Take the 7 year credit hit and use that time for a serious lifestyle change. Your car payment is ridiculous, as is your min credit payments and car insurance. A back yard for your dog doesn't mean poo - a walk everyday is what's needed.

Your impossible lifestyle happened.

Great idea until you go to buy a house. Some companies also do credit checks as part of the preliminary screening process. And of course theres the ethics behind this kind of decision.

[pstall]

A lot of you are saying the same things I would say. Here are the specifics I would recommend though.

1a. Create a zero based budget. A zero based budget gives every dollar you make a place to go. Take everything into account . . . rent, gas for car, clothes, groceries, eating out, etc. Account for every dollar in your budget.

1b. Look at your budget. Go through and see what is a need and what is a necessity. You are looking at a lot of credit card debt. How bad do you want to get rid of it? Do you want to do it while keeping your dignity, that is no bankruptcy or credit counseling agencies? It can be done.

2. Pay for your four walls first. This means pay your living expenses before anything else.

3. Create a $1,000 emergency fund. This is, as Tweeder said, for any emergency that may arise. Unless it is a major emergency, you can cash flow the thing and not worry about it later. Just rebuild the emergency fund.

4. List your debts in order of smallest balance to highest balance. Pay the minimum payments on them. Apply any extra money from the budget, i.e. what is left over at the end of the month, coming in under budget on groceries, etc., to the smallest balance.

5. Debt snowball your debts Once the lowest debt is paid off, roll that minimum payment into the next debt's minimum payment. Once the second payment is gone, roll it into the third and on and on.

6. Create a fully funded emergency fund. This should be living expenses (bare bone) of 3-6 months. At this point, you can cash flow anything that comes your way.

Cut up and cancel all your credit cards. If you can't make ends meet at this point, find a second job. You can also sell some things on craigslist/ebay or have a yard sale.

It's pretty clear that what you have been doing is not working, so you have to change your behaviors before your financial situation changes. If you get out of this mess without changing your spending habits, you will find yourself back in the same situation at some point down the road. You must change your behaviors.

I recommend Dave Ramsey's book, Total Money Makeover. It is good stuff, and my wife and I are actually following his plan now. Stupid student loans and car payments.

Good luck.

My only word of caution there is if the card charges an annual fee, sure, cancel. Otherwise you are cutting down the window of time for your credit history and this could negatively impact your FICO score.

But every family in America should read that book.

*observation* the OP is asking for help. They don't need a sermon or well in my house we don't (fake New England scholarly accent) have debt that exceeds..blah blah blah.

Congrats to you for being about the debt tide. Help the brotha out. Sheesh

[TheSaint]

I am single now and dont have any extra money to enjoy my youth and I'm afraid its passing me by.

Sounds like you already enjoyed it. Welcome to adulthood.

Someone mentioned Dave Ramsey. I listen to his show for entertainment purposes, but his methods might help you.

He would tell you to take the credit cards smallest debt to largest. pay minimums on every card but the smallest. Attack it with as much as you can. Get it paid off. Then, take the next smallest and attack it...so on and so forth till you get to the largest and get it paid off. (Ed: i see that this was detailed perfectly above this post)

1. Give you dog away. Sorry. How much do you spend on the dog?

2. Sorry, no direct tv or cable

3. internet - can make an argument for keeping this, but in reality, you can use the library for free.

4. Sell the car (are you upside down?) I hope not. Buy a clunker.

You can get out of this debt quicker than you think.

Watch this: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/

i feel blessed my parents hammered it into my brain to never have credit card debt or get upside down on a car.

we definitely use cards, but we carry a zero balanace