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sugarplum1922 | Advice with a credit card debt PLEASE? |
My husband and I just are having some financial problems. We have 4 credit cards, and haven't payed on them in about 4 months or so. He is in the military, and i have been out of work. I just now got a job last week, but won't get payed for another week at least. The minimum payments are so high that there is just no way we can pay one at once. I called one of my credit cards about two months ago to set up payment arrangements, but we couldn't afford the arragment..they wanted like 40 dollars a week for 4 weeks, and then a payment of 100...something like that. We would have been able to afford it, but we have 3 other credit cards as well.
Anyway, I dont know what to do. Im freaking out, and everything is making me nervous. Last week some cops knocked on my neigbors door looking for someone whose name was sort of similar to mine. It was not exact, and Im sure it wasnt me, but I keep feeling like Im going to go to jail or something.
Here are my credit cards.
1-850
2-700
3-500
4-400
What should I do? Will writing them a letter help? My husband is deployed, but I have power of attorney for him, so I can write a letter to his credit card. I have 3 in my name, and he has 1. I can make a small payment to them next week for around 10-20 dollars each. (im also a month late on my house, so Im trying to get caught up on that, and of course my house is my first priority).
Any advice is helpful... |
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Namaste
|
I wouldn't recommend a credit counseling agency unless its absolutely necessary. But it may be necessary to avoid bankruptcy.
In all honesty, your credit card balances are really low. The credit card companies know people are having trouble right now, so it's not like you're the first or anything. So here's what I would do.
Send a letter to these companies telling them of your financial hardship. Explain that your husband is in the military and you are doing the best you can. Ask that they lower the interest rate as far as they can so that you can work diligently at getting these cards paid in full. In the meantime, you will make a monthly payment of $10, $15, or $20 a month.
Send this letter along with your first payment to them. Then every month mail them SOMETHING. Even if it's just $5.00, anything is better than nothing. And STOP using the cards.
As long as you're making an effort and sending consistent payments they should back off.
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Venetian Poker
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You're doing the best you can do.
Call each of the cards up and explain to them exactly what you've said here. Explain that your husband is serving his country (and thanks for that!), and explain that you've just taken a new job.
Think about what you can really afford to pay -- and when -- and then offer it to them.
If that does not work for you, can try to go a non-profit credit counselor, but I don't know if they will work with these smaller amounts. If they will take you, they can often get the interest reduced to 0% to 10% and get your payments down.
Just be sure you're working with a reputable non-profit. |
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lusydidoll
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I'm in the Navy. I do not know what branch your husband is in or what bank you use, but if you have Navy Federal it is extremely simple to do a debt consolidation loan. I just did one recently and it took less than 5 minutes. I imagine that every bank offers something similar but qualifying might be difficult if you've been missing payments. I just got a loan to consolidate 12,000 in debt and I will be paying 260 a month for 60 months. It might sound like a lot but it is a lot better than I was. My minimum payments before were totaling over 470 and who knows when I would have paid it off. |
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hayesatlbch
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go talk to the credit union on base and see if they have any suggestions then tear up the credit cards |
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doreen k
|
You need to create a budget so that you know exactly how much you have available to spend on payments and how much you need for essential living expenses, such as your house payment (is it a mortgage or rent?), food, utilities, insurance, etc.
Can you get help from a family member to pay off one or more of the credit cards until you can get back on your feet? Unless your living expenses are totally out of proportion to your and your husband's income, there is no reason that you shouldn't be able to make payment arrangements on the cards with the largest balances. Once those are paid off, you can repay your family member for the cards with the smaller balances.
Then, you should go over your expenses with a fine tooth comb finding places where you can cut costs. Do you have a large car payment? Perhaps you'll need to sell your car and find less expensive transportation. How much do you spend on groceries, personal care, clothing, and other discretionary expenses? These can be rationalized as necessities, but with discretionary expenses, there is always a lot of room to economize.
Were any of the debts acquired before your husband became active duty in the military? You may qualify for a lower interest rate (6%) due to the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act.
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Phenom
 |
Debt snowball!
It's good that you just got a job. Good start. Here's what I did:
1. Get yourself on a budget and STICK to it.
2. Devote as much money as you can to pay credit card 1 while paying the MINIMUM payment on the other 3.
3. When you're done paying off CC1, pay the amount your used to pay CC1 plus any money left over for CC2 and minimum payments for CC3 and CC4.
4. Repeat step 3 until you've paid off all your cards.
Also, renting is cheaper than owning a home. You don't have to worry about property taxes, maintenance, or any of that stuff. And the money you would have spent on that can go for higher interest yielding investments.
Hope this all made sense. |
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Catherine M
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If I were you I would probably pay the larges one first (or if there is one that is over due) and go from there. Maybe speak to the banks and ask for some assistance.
I would also chop up the cards. Maybe keep one for emergencies, but 4 cards is unnecessary, especially when you are surviving on one income.
I'm sure that others will have even better ideas, I know that some places allow you to consolidate all your debts into one loan, but I'm not too sure how they work, you might have to do some research in your local area.
I wish you luck. All the best. |
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Kelle
|
Actually those debts aren't as big as many people's.
Choices:
See a debt counsellor ( yellow pages).
Talk to the bank manager. ( She has seen it all before.) If you can get a Personal Line of Credit at 6 percent? you can pay off all those cards and have one small monthly bank payment. It's worth trying for.
Good luck. |
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Domter
|
Ask someone you know for help, cut back even more on spending if it's possible. |
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Mike P
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Immeadiately call Consumer Credit Counseling that is a service that will help you get your debts in order. You do pay for it though. Also, check with your local credit union/bank to see if you can coordinate some debt.
TEAR ALL CREDIT CARDS up asap. |
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The Voice
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Well, you cannot be imprisoned for failing to pay debts off. When it comes down to it, all they can really do is harass you and threaten you night and day, until you ask them to stop, then they can just send you 100 letters a day. Getting out of debt is hard, and it was designed to be that way. They dont want you to get out of debt. As you probably know, your not the only one in debt, almost everyone is in debt.
You could try to fight it, saying they lent you dollars and that dollars are not legal tender according to the constitution, but that doesn't always work. I dont have any experience with debt consolidation companies, but you might want to try one of them. debt stoppers is the first one that comes to mind.
If your going to do it on your own just take your monthly income, set aside the amount you need for your house payments, food, water, and electricity, and then take what you have left and pay off the card with the highest APR first. Tell the companies that you will start paying them back and to turn off your card. Tell them to stop charging any extra fees. If you can, try to get one of the companies to absorb the debt from the other cards.
Another solution would be to call up Bernake and demand him to pay off your credit cards and your debt on your house. He has to spend a few trillion dollars more so he might say, ehh sure. |
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Theron F
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just tri to chill out |
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Team Modify
|
First, Forget the credit card payments. Get your house caught up first. You are not going to jail. Me and my wife are in a similar situation. We have not paid our credit bill in almost a year. (she has 5 and I have 0). Also, call your mortgage company. Talk to them about modifying your home loan. I work for a company that does it, but I would try it yourself first. They can and should lower your payments. Right now they do not want to see foreclosures. They have already lost enough money. And look don't be so nervous....No one is coming to take you to jail. I was working with someone the other day, who had not paid on their mortgage in 2 1/2 years AND HE SOME HOW STOPPED THE BANK FROM FORECLOSING! I don't know how he did it and I am not sure if I am ready to risk doing that myself but don't think I haven't thought about it....Oh, and you want to know how I know your not going to jail? If your in jail, you can't work, so you STILL can't pay your debt, so they STILL lose money! They would rather you pay a little bit than nothing. But then again you only pay 20-40 bucks. Then they will still hit you with charges and you are just going to be putting MORE money in their pockets. Worry about getting your mortgage caught up..THEN worry about the credit cards!! If you need anything e-mail me. |
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Corona
 |
Right now, with you being late on your home...forget about the credit cards for the moment. Focus on your house payment. You WILL NOT go to jail for credit card payments not being made, but you will lose your home if you don't pay the mortgage.
I would write each one, or call each one, and let them know that hard times have hit and you are trying to figure something out. It can actually make it worse on you if you set up a payment plan with them and them fail to pay, so try not to do that again. You may even have to let them go for a while and call back when you have the money and offer a settlement payment...which usually they will take off a bunch of the late fees. Write them and tell them to stop calling your home and to send all questions in writing. This will help not stress you out so much if they are calling daily.
Good luck and hang in there. We all hit hard times.
****EDIT*** I wanted to add that calling a credit card consolidation company might not be a good idea. I did this once when I could hardly afford my payments and on their plan my payments were going to be MORE each month by about 50.00, but it would have paid it off sooner. I couldn't do it because I couldn't afford the minimum payments, and I sure couldn't afford the 50 bucks more, and if you miss a payment with them, they will release your account BACK to the credit card company and your back at square one. |
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you don't know me
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call SUSY ORMAN.....apparently she knows everything |
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omgyay_dot_com
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Ok, I would recommend consolidation, but they generally only do it if you are $5,000 or more in debt.
Also, you won't get arrested for not paying, the worst thing that will happen is they'll just harass you with threatening phone calls and letters. Just pay what you can when you can and everything will be ok, this is not enough debt to declare bankruptcy on, so just ride it out, you'll be caught up soon enough once your job's checks start arriving. |
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Stoorsooker
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Cut up the cards and arrange a bank loan. |
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jimnewyork46@yahoo.com
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The responsible thing to do is cancel your credit, and the cop thing I think your becoming paranoid, which is a personal disorder. |
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hotsoup18
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go to a credit consolidation company, like "consolidated credit". they combine all your payments together and break it down into smaller monthly payments |
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