What to do about a lot of small debt?

Question

I'm a 21 yr. old student, still living at home, working a part time job. Over the past couple years i've accumulated more than $3,000 of debt from phone bills, bank dues, student loan ($1,000), merchandise payments (no credit cards at all). Its bothering me because I know I have to take care of this but there are other things I need as well such as a car for school & work and other misc. Any advice on tackling this debt while also maintaining decent funds for everyday life.

Answer 1

Get a loan from your parents OR consolidate to a zero interest credit card, then start paying off ASAP without incurring any new debt.

Answer 2

You already know that you must stop these bad spending habits before you begin to turn the corner.

Keep only 1 credit card for emergencies. The max on it should be no more than $1,000. Use this for real emergencies, car repairs and the like.

Pay more than the minimum on the loan/bills that has the highest inetrest rate and pay off small debts ASAP. See if you can consolidate your bills. Perhaps, you can take a semester off to work two jobs or do this over the summer. Put all the extra cash on those debts. Don't ask for help unless the situation is hopeless. You would hate to eat up favors over $3,000. You may need help later in a more desperate sort of way.

Sometimes everyday life has to be put on hold to give you peace of mind. Don't worry about party money until you can no longer worry about bills. Best of luck, your head is in the right place.

It's a good thing you realized now that graduating with poor credit is not the road for you.

Answer 3

Start living within your means. You are spending more than you make, and it is piling up. For a person your age, going to school and without significant income, you will only keep digging the hole deeper if you don't stop now.
Finish school and deal with the school debt. Put the everyday life stuff on hold for a few years and get your degree.
Once you graduate, you can get out of it.
If you stay on this path, not only will you have a big debt, but you wont graduate. Then you will be really stuck.
Live lean for a while.

Answer 4

You can either get a loan from your parents or change to a full-time job. I lived at home too, worked full time while taking 4 classes each semester. I graduated last year with a electrical engineering major(3.5 gpa) with zero debt and a four year old car which is paid for. If you put more effort into it, you should be able to do it by yourself without depending on anybody. I am two years older than you by the way.

Answer 5

A zero interest credit card is a good option, IF you can afford to make payments and not rack up any additional debt. but you may not qualify for a card if any of your debt has already hurt your credit rating. if you are currently, attending school, a good option is to borrow a student loan for educational/living expenses. if you ahve already made payment arrnagements for your tuition, any additional loans funds that you borrow will be issued to your for living expenses. You will need to file a FAFSA is you have not already filed one (at www.fafsa.ed.gov). i would not recommend taking out a credit card if you can not afford to make the payments, as it will only hurt your credit even more! But if you are currently in school at least half time, student loans will allow you to get your accounts in order, defer the payments until you are out of school (and you can make payments that you can afford while you are in school w/o a penalty) and this would allow you to use your money from your job for current living expenses.

Answer 6

do the best you can and just pay the bill get 1 credit card to help you out.