probably a too much asked question bout credit.. but..?

Question

im 19 Years old, i have 20 Credit Cards and a $24,000 debt.. yes THOUSAND! and my question is, what is the best way to lower my debt (other then the obvious stop spending and rip/cancell your cards) i was doing great wit my payments but fell behind 1 or 2 months in like 2 or 3 credit cards.. any tips to lower my debt, suggestions ,thoughts, anything! thankz!!

i do have a job, and i dont want to file bankruptcy so yeah any other ideas how to lower some of it.. oh and sadly most of my cards have an average of a 23.9% APR =(

Answer 1

First of all, make yourself a list (or a spreadsheet, if you're technically inclined) of all your cards, how much you owe on them, what your typical minimum payment is, and what your interest rate is.

Add up all the minimum payments. This is your minimum monthly credit card expense.

Check to see if any of your cards have a pretty low percentage usage. For example, on average $24k on 20 cards is $1,200 per card. Are any of your cards under $600? If so, pay every last penny you can toward the card that has the lowest balance until you pay that card off, while you continue to pay the minimum on the other cards.

If you don't have a card close to pay off, you can choose to focus on either the card that has the lowest balance or the one that has the highest interest rate.

If you have some "room" on cards with lower interest rates, it's also not a bad idea to transfer some of your balance from the highest interest card to lower ones, then focus on paying off the now-reduced amount on the high-interest card.

Once you pay off one of your cards, choose another card to focus on. (The next low balance or high interest card.) Take the minimum amount that you used to pay on the first card and snowball it into the payment of the second. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Example:
Card 1 - 1,200 (minimum payment: 50)
Card 2 - 1,000 (minimum payment: 40)
Card 3 - 800 (minimum payment: 25)

Once you pay off Card 3, you can then pay 65 per month to card 2.

If you want someone to guide you through the process, email me or IM me.

(P.S. Don't cancel your cards once you pay them off. If you owe $24,000/$25,000 that's a 96% usage. If you pay off a $2,000 card it's then $22k/$25k which is 88% usage. However, if you close the paid off card it's now $22k/$23k, which is 95% usage. Keeping the card open but not used makes you look better, because you're not as close to being totally maxed out.)

Answer 2

Try to consolidate your debt to the lowest interest cards. If they offer no interest balance transfers use them. Pay off the lowest balance first. Make your debt your FIRST expense, not your last. Make some small sacrifices, skip the night out and rent a movie, no $3.00 coffees, etc.. Cut up all of your cards except 2 and don't keep them in your wallet. Cancel them when you have a 0.
Get this paid off as fast as you can. It is a GIANT weight around your neck. You will feel much better about your life without this dragging you down.
Even if you had 0 balances on all the cards, that many is looked at as a credit negative. If you needed to get a loan it could make it difficult, another reason to cancel the cards. It only looks bad if THEY canceled the card not if you did.

Answer 3

I had the exact same problem (still do, actually, lol) I am 23, HAD 10 credit cards and my debt is about $12000 plus a new car. I went to a group called Agressive Financial Solutions, and they lowered my debt to more than half; I will be debt-free in less than 36 months. There are tons of programs out there...just go to google and either type in what I told you, or you can just type in credit solutions. Many things will pop up. Good luck and I hope this helps!

Answer 4

That sucks you have more credit cards than you are years old.
Bankruptcy at your age would sure make your life screwed up young man.
Why don't you call Gary Crabtree at 1-707-253-9629 and see what he can do for you. He is a salesman for a debt relief
program that negotiates a settelment on your behalf and requires you to pay PART of what you owe if you have been with the credit card company for over 9 months.......
Best of luck.....tell him my GF Ms. Beck sent you. Peace

Answer 5

So you talk about wanting to lower your debt... why not lower it down to ZERO???

Take a look at Dave Ramsey's book The Total Money Makeover. It has a great plan for getting your debt paid off, but it's hard work and sacrifice.

Answer 6

First I would lock up all your credit cards in a vault or a safe box. Then you work and start paying it all off.

Either that, get a loan with super low interest rate and pay off the higher interest rate credit cards!

Oh yeah, be sure to check off this free $250 if you sign up for Chase and make a purchase. I got this info from http://chi-style.blogspot.com

Answer 7

Dave Ramsey a credit guru, says pay the smallest one first and work your way to the largest. You can also call each company and try to lower payments, but make sure they are not reporting you as late on your credit report if you do that

Answer 8

LOL. I have two cards and my debt is 10k. Hopefully the police dun come knocking on your door.
Anyway, as for my experience, I took a personal loan and paid of my previous credit debt. Instead of me paying interests for each of the card, I concentrated on paying only the interest on my loan.
E.g..if Interest on ure Visa & Master is 2.25% per month for each card...you'll be paying a total of 4.5% per month on your total debt. My personal loan has a 8.85% per annum, so tat's about 0.74% a month....well, der's a catch...I have to pay the loan on installment for 12 months...
I'm currently using the overdraft facility and I just concentrate on the interest on one place instead of 20 places (in your case). Talk to a finance personnel, tell them your problems...be honest w them and they can suggest you the best thing to do....in the end is back to your own judgement.

Gud luck..hopefully ADAM will resist the temptation of owning more than 2cards after the debts is paid off.

Answer 9

I heard somewhere that cancelling all your cards looks bad on your report too. I dont have horribly bad credit but they see me as negative because i dont have anything on mine to build credit, no major cards and the like. also credit card companies would probably work wih you on arrangements or something. They want to get their money back.

Answer 10

how the heck did you get 20 credit cards ? and i thought i had problems with my $2000 credit debt