notaclue asked:
i have some credit card debt.. i have great credit and dont want to ruin it but it seems that i will be paying till i am 90… i dont use them at all. but the balances i do have are taking forever to pay off.. can anyone help?
i have some credit card debt.. i have great credit and dont want to ruin it but it seems that i will be paying till i am 90… i dont use them at all. but the balances i do have are taking forever to pay off.. can anyone help?
Just put as much extra as you can towards paying it off. If you are only paying the minimum then you will never get it paid off but just try and put an extra $100 a month towards it. Cut up the cards so you won’t be tempted to use them again.
Pay the whole amount and whatever extra you can afford…even if it’s only an extra ten dollars a month.
get a debit card stop spending $ u dont have
If it is building good credit, why worry?
Also, I am no expert, but if you are interested in getting rid of a few cards, why don’t you pay off one card with one that you already have? So then you will juat have to worry about 3 cards instead of 4.
Just make sure that you are not paying only the minimum balance. If you continue to pay only the minimum balance then it will take you until you’re 90 lol. Always try and pay more than the minimum, I’m not going to say how much exactly because it all depends on your own finances and what you are comfortable with. Also anytime you have any extra money that you may not need just dump that on your debt. The more money you put on it the less money you are paying in interest. Good Luck with everything.
Quit eating , If you smoke STOP , If You date turn *** and let the other person pay ect. ect. ect. Get the idea ? Your stuck as most of us are >
Sign up for a card that has 0% on balance transfers for a year. Transfer as much as you can to the new card and cut it up (any purchases you make will accrue interest until the transfered balances are paid).
I SWEAR by this. I transfered 3 high interest cards to Washington Mutual almost a year ago. I have $300 left to pay by May. I took my time to pay it off…sometimes 10%, sometimes the minimum. NO FINANCE CHARGES!
The only way to pay them off faster is simply to pay more. Pay as much as you can against your highest-rate card, get that gone, then do the same to the next one, etc…
If you really took a step back at how you spend your money now, most people can easily find another $50-200 per month to pay down debts. This means skipping the starbucks, the lunches out, etc… Find some way to not spend $3-5 every day that you otherwise seem to do. At the end of the month, you’ll have another $100-150 to put towards a card.
Great for you that you are no longer using them and you are thinking about preserving credit
Option #1 is to call and ask if they can provide a better interest rate for you. Often times they play hardball, so be persistent with them.
Option #2 is to enroll in a Debt Management Plan. Make sure they are certified by the NFCC (National Foundation of Credit Counseling), registered with the BBB, and licensed in your state for debt managment. Basically DMP programs have relationships/contracts with credit card banks to get you lower interest rates. You pay the debt off in full and the balances are paid off more quickly as you are paying on the principal.
Be aware of debt consolidation companies and debt settlement companies, those are typically bad news.
I wish you the best!
See if you can transfer the balance from one account into another with a lower rate. I just did this today from an account with a 5.99% rate to one with a 1.99% rate. It will save me $70 in interest over 7 months (after the fee to transfer), which doens’t sound like much, but it is a start. I will then transfer it again in Early September to another acount with a low rate. Also, if my minimum payment is $100, I try to pay $150 it adds up. If you can lump all your accounts into 1 single payment on one account (hoping you have one card with that high of a limit), it actually pays it off faster as you are applying the payment to the single account instead of paying minimums to 3 accounts.
The other option is finding a lower rate personal loan. Banks like Bank of America have them at around 8.9%, so if you have credit cards with rates higher than that, this may be a better option.
Good Luck
try to pay off as much as you can every month, if it ends up being too much then you can use them a little if you need to. For example, decide to pay off let’s say $500/month, even if you need to charge $50 or so later in the month because you have no cash left. You’ll still be savng on interest.
Also, try calling them and asking them to lower your interest rate. If you’re a good customer who is always on time with your payment, they may be nice, and if they say no, you can tell them you’re going to look around for another card with lower interest that you can transfer the balance to; might do the trick!
Also, if you have several cards carrying balances, try to combine them to one card, or pick the one with the smallest balance to pay off first, do this by making bigger payments on that one, while only paying the minimum on the other cards.
Hope this helps!
The fastest way to take care of debt is to put extra money towards it, but most people don’t know where to get that extra money. The webpage below shows some common-sense ways to save up to $100 a month to go towards your debt.
WRITE a budget for every penny you make and spend on anything. Cut it to the bone. Until you pay off the debt, you DON’T HAVE a life. If possible, get a part time job for extra income. EVERY spare dime goes toward the debt. This is not easy, but it is the fastest way to pay off anything.
Shred, burn or place credit cards in a safe deposit box. Notify the credit card company not to send any more cheques for balance transfers or loans. Live within your means. Instead of going to the movies, rent a movie and watch with friends. Eat meals prepared at home and not from a box. Always make a list before going shopping. Prepare a menu. Purchase only what is on the list. Make a monthly/ weekly budget and allot money for utilities-food-auto-etc. Keep cash for each week and when the money for the items and the week is gone, that’s it. Buy items from Goodwill and yard sales instead of new, but depends on the item. Start eBaying anything you have but don’t really need. Pay extra on the credit card with cash advances first. Pay the lowest card off first, then you have additional money to pay on other cards. Do things for yourself that you usually pay others to do. Allow yourself to spend $10 at a dollar store once a month if you really are a shopaholic.
Getting bogged down by the credit card debt is very easy. Many people remain blissfully unaware when their credit card debt spirals out of control. And when they find it out, the situation has become unmanageable.
The easiest method of determining you exact status of your credit card debt and your monthly repayment is to compute your monthly income and then calculate the maximum you can pay into your credit card account. Then divide your earnings by your monthly credit card payments. If you find that at least 15% of your earnings are used to pay your credit card debt each month, then your chances of getting trapped by huge credit card debt are high. Besides this debt cannot be eliminated easily.
If you are in the unenviable condition, the best solution is not to use your credit cards and trim your expenses from other areas. This idea may be alien to many, but it is the beginning of the path of saving plenty of money. One of the areas where you can save money is your grocery expenses. Though we all need food to live and some amount of expenses in this area is inevitable, the way in which we spend money on food items, can reduce our monthly bills drastically.