How to handle credit card debt the best way possible???

Question

Okay, here's my situation: I have 7k I put on a 0apr till 08-08 but my husband's is out of control. He has three cards totalling 22k alone. One is at 4% that has the highest balance the rest is at least 15% with 5k in one and 3k in one. Financial geniuses this one is for you!!!!

Answer 1

I am not a financial advisor, but I do know credit. The balances of each of the cards needs to be below 40% LTV. In other words, if you have a credit limit of $1,000.00 you must get the balance below $400.00. Your credit score falls 10 points when you go over 40%. 20 points when you go over 50% and 30 points when you go over 60%. When you max them out it kills your credit. Do what you have to in order to get those balances down and quit giving your hard earned money to the credit card companies.
Good luck!

Answer 2

I had much the same problem with about 15K in credit card debit that probably would've taken me about 15-20 years to pay off if I only paid minimum on all cards. My personal solution was to use a debt management company to help me. They consolidated all of my debt into one payment and I paid it off in a little over 3 years. They get your creditors to accept a minimum payment from you and they either stop charging you late/over the limit fees (if you have them) or lock in an interest rate. Doing this was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. *The only thing you have to watch our for though, and I didn't know this until I read Suze Ormans' book "The Money Book for the Young Fabulous and Broke," was that when I consolidated using that agency, they advised me to close all of my accounts. I thought this was a good thing because it shows that I want to stop my bad behavior, but closing accounts cuts off your history. You don't want to do that. Suze Orman suggests leaving your accounts open and just cutting up the cards. She also suggests paying down the ones with the higher balances first. Once those are paid off, use the extra money you have to apply to your next lowest card balances, etc. I highly recommend her book, it's been very enlightening. Good luck to you.

Answer 3

Try this: go to www.powerpay.org. It is a free site that will break down your debt and tell you many different scenarios about your current bill situation. It's really neat! You put in your information and then you can select the payment plan that a) saves you the most money b) saves you the most time c) saves you the most interest, etc. It also talks about the power pay concept...you pay one bill off completely and use the money that you were paying on that debt and apply it to the next debt you want to pay off. It's interesting. I hope it helps!

Answer 4

Pay at least the monthly minimum on all of the cards. If you can afford to pay more than the monthly minimum, use extra cash to pay down the card with the smallest balance first. In your case, the smaller balances also carry a much higher interest rate, so you don't want those balances to continue growing and compounding the interest.

Answer 5

Consider speaking to a financial advisor. Best scenario would be consolidating your debt into monthly payments and cut up your credit cards.

Answer 6

Hi,
I used "Credit Solutions" to settle my debt and improve my credit score.They managed to reduce my debt up to 58%.It's legitimate.I came accross this company on NBC News Special Edition.Check it out here:
http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-1813149-10467845

Answer 7

Declare bancruptcy, pay off, and never use credit cards again.

Answer 8

pay your debts on time