How do I efficiently manage my debt? Should I put everything on one credit card?
rz asked:
We have about 25k in credit card debt from a self funded home remodel. We did the remodel a year ago (having no debt) now we realized it was dumb to put some much on the credit cards rather than going a lot slower and paying mostly cash for everything. Now we have like 7 credit cards and it’s really overwhelming to manage them all.
We have about 25k in credit card debt from a self funded home remodel. We did the remodel a year ago (having no debt) now we realized it was dumb to put some much on the credit cards rather than going a lot slower and paying mostly cash for everything. Now we have like 7 credit cards and it’s really overwhelming to manage them all.
Should we try to get a credit limit increase and try to consolidate all our debt on one card? I know we should just try to pay off one card at a time but all our income is paying off these diff. cards at diff. times. We can make the payments it’s just that our money is low once we’ve paid everything and then another bill come around. What’s the best thing for us to do as far as our credit, bank account and sanity!? No condemning answers, only helpful advise.
also how much do debt consolidation co’s charge?
Raul
July 27th, 2009 at 5:59 am
Alice
25K is a big amount. And 7 credit cards is also not good. So try to reduce your number of cards and try some debt consolidation agency who will arrange for you a single payment so that you can clear all your debts. Always try some BBB registered debt consolidation agency who are non profit organisation. Don’t be afraid everything will be ok with time so be confident and slowly remove your debt.
July 29th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Patricia
Any chance of a line of credit with your bank or a home equity loan….rates are really low right now………………
August 2nd, 2009 at 6:04 am
Kristen
this will help good luck x
August 4th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Jackie
Not much details on your situation, so I am going to give you general guidelines to pay off debts. Of course you still need to pay other bills, so the first thing is go thru your budget and all NECESSARY monthly expenses, such as rent, utilities, groceries, and gasoline (for commuting to work, and etc.). I think the phone bill can keep it to the minimum as cable and wireless internet. So how much do you still have left to pay your credit card bills? Enough to cover ALL minimum payments on EACH credit cards? If so, that is good, but you will have to cut down more monthly expenses from your daily life to have more “free” money to pay your HIGHEST interest rate credit card. So pay the minimums on rest of the credit cards, but do PAY MORE than MINIMUMS ON THE HIGHEST INTEREST RATE, untill pay this one off, move on to the next highest interest rate, and so on…good luck!
August 7th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Ana
Consolidation doesn’t really help. Is it really worth a 3% fee ($750) to reduce your paperwork?
It sounds like you don’t have a monthly budget, because the bills keep hitting you all the time.
Get a copy of “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey. It will go into the details of how to do a budget.