How should I eliminate my debt? I my wife and I have 3 credit cards that have very high intersted!?

Question

The interest rates and balances are as followed.
16% on 4,000 with a 5 thousand dollar limit. Minumum payment of $125

9% on 5,000 with a 5,500 limit. Minumum payment $150.

and

14% on 11,500 with a 12,500 limit. Minumum payment $250

How should I go about paying these off as far as order and amount if I have about $1100 a month for credit card bills?

My wife and I just got out of college and are just starting to work new jobs. We make a combined 87K. We haven't used the cards in 5 months since we started working. I just wanted to know the fastest way to pay them off.

Answer 1

In order to pay the least amount of interest you want to pay off the high rate bills first. But make sure you're still paying MORE THAN the minimum balance on your other bills as well. If you're going to get out of debt, you must also stop increasing debt. If you're charging, do so on the lowest interest rate card, if it's maxed then stop spending!

Answer 2

If you do not qualify for a consolidation loan from a credit union or a bank your best plan is this...

1.) Be prepared to start paying cash for everything!

2.) Can you get a credit limit increase on the 9% card so that you can transfer the balance from the 16% card to the 9% card without a cash advance fee or cash advance interest rate? If so, this will automatically save you 5% in interest each month.

3.) Make every one of the monthly payments as scheduled ... don't miss one or pay late ... if necessary pay just the minimum payment on the 14% and 9% cards.

4.) Pay off the highest interest rate card (16%) first. Don't close the account and don't use it (...more on this later).

5) After you pay off the 16% account, take the money you were paying toward it and add it to the payment on the 14% card. Again don't close the account or use it.

6.) Now you have the money you were paying to the 16% account and the 14% account to apply toward the 9% account.

Now...why did I say not to close or use the 16% and the 14% cards? Your credit score utilizes the credit limits and the outstanding balance to calculate your credit usage. Right now you're using 80% of the available credit on the 16% card, 92% of the available credit on the 14% card and 91% of the available credit on the 9% card. You never want to use more than 30% of the available credit limit at any time (except in the case of an emergency and even then pay it back ASAP so you're using 30% or less of the credit limit).

Credit utilization isn't a bad thing but you just have to watch your percentage so that you can build your credit score. The higher your credit score the lower the interest rates for which you will qualify from all financial institutions.

Remember, the rules are simple:
Consolidate when you can.
Transfer balances to lower rate cards when you can.
Pay off highest interest rate cards first.

Why give the credit card company all of your money...they don't mind charging you a high interest rate at all. You're sending their profits sky high and they are laughing all the way to the bank!

It will take a long time to pay these accounts off but you will get there. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Well you have to pay $525 to pay the minimums. Do that pretty much right after the rent(I can't think of anything more important).

Then pay extra on the 16% card. When that is paid off, start paying down the 14% card with the full payment amount you were putting toward the 16% card. Then pay the card with 9% balance.

With $400 extra(making $925 in payments) you can get your balance to 0 with the 16% card in 9 months. It will then take 15 months to get rid of the 14% card. It will then take only 4 months to get rid of the 9% card(with payments of the full $925).

With a little over $10 a day in extra payments you can be debt free in 2 years and 4 months. It sounds like you guys are off to a good start.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Since you have such high interest on these cards, I'm going to assume your credit isn't the best, or you'd have better rates. You have a couple of options...you can try to go it alone or you can get some help.

To go it alone, here are some resources to help you:

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/debtplanner/debtplanner.jsp
https://www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com - this one has some free resources, as well as some you pay for.

You can call your credit card companies and ask if you can get the interest rates lowered, but in my experience, it's not likely to happen. But miracles do occur, so it pays to at least ask. Dave Ramsey, the financial expert, says to pay off your smallest balance first, and in your case, it's the one that has the highest interest rate, so that's helpful too. His plan says to pay the minimums (or just a few dollars more) on all the bills but one, and then put all of the rest of your $1100 onto the remaining bill until it's gone. Then repeat the process until all of your debt is gone. And then eliminate the cards, or save one for true emergencies.

He also advocates putting $1000 into a savings account for emergencies so you aren't tempted to charge up your cards again.

To get some help, you might try looking for Consumer Credit Counseling Services. Some of these companies are fly-by-night rip-off companies, so you have to be very careful! The legit ones are affiliated with the United Way, and are non-profit. They might have fees, but they will be small. The debt counsellors will call your creditors and they can often get the interest rates lowered even when you couldn't on your own. The one caveat is, you have to give them the credit cards. You can't have a credit card whilst on the program, so take that into consideration before you decide.

My sister got in with a company that had a similar-sounding name, and they took her money, plus outrageous fees, and then never paid her bills, never made the right arrangements, and she ended up in even worse shape than she started in, and had to file bankruptcy. You don't want that, so be very careful!

Some folks go for debt consolidation loans, or using a home equity loan. I would do neither of those things. A debt consolidation loan doesn't address the causes of the debt, and often times, people run up the charges on their credit cards again, so then in your case, you'd have 3 credit card bills PLUS the consolidation loan to pay off. If you use the equity in your home to pay it off, you run the risk of losing your home if you default on the loan!

It's hard to be an adult in the US without some debt, but you can work your way out of it, and hopefully stay debt-free after that so you don't have to go through this again!

Answer 5

CUT UP THOSE CARDS! They seem to be causing you more trouble than good.

Next, start paying more than the minimum payments each month. Credit Card company's give you a "minimum payment" option because that way you will pay that and they have more of your charges to charge you interest on...which, in the long run, makes you pay MORE than what you charged! This does not do any good in the end.

If it is possible, try to pay the full amount on at least one of the cards this month, and so on. If this isn't possible, put as much towards the card with 16% then pay the minimum on the other two.

Good luck and try to get rid of those cards. If it is IMPERATIVE that you have a credit card, keep the one with the 9% interest rate. If you realize that you do not need a credit card currently, as I said before, CUT THEM UP!! You will still have pay the bills, but you will not be able to spend/charge anymore on them!


Again, GOOD LUCK!

Answer 6

Oh, my....do you own your home and have any equity? Maybe you could refinance...Or any rich relatives that would consider helping you by co-signing for a consolidation loan and pay them all off at a much lower rate? I had over $28,000 in credit card debts and thank God my parents helped me and my whole debt will be paid off in about a year and I borrowed the money in 1999! I don't mean to brag, I totally understand HOW easy it is to slip into that trap and see no way out! Good luck!!

Answer 7

You pay:

9% card - $150 Minumum
14% card - $250 Minimum
16% card - $700

Then once your 16% card is paid off you cancel the 16% card and pay:

9% card - $150 Minimum
14% card - $950

Then once your 14% card is paid off you cancel it and pay:

9% card - $1100

You could also talk to a bank about a consolidation loan, but make sure as soon as you pay off the two higher rate cards you cancel them. Then stop charging anything and watch the skit at http://www.pfvlog.com/ called 'don't buy stuff you can't afford'.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

I would recommend using a Debt Management Plan at a reputable credit counseling non-profit. I recommend CCCS of Greater Atlanta because they are one of the oldest and most respected organizations that help people get out of debt. Good luck!

Answer 10

I admit that I never dealt with this - but you may be able to consolidate all of your debt into one account, that you may be able to pay off with a lower overall interest rate. You can always contact a reputable credit counseling agency for help.