What is the best way to go about paying off my credit cards?
I have several credit cards all maxed out. I cannot transfer anything over to another card because of my low credit score and can’t get a credit card company to do that. I feel as if I have dug myself in a hole and can only make the min. payment each month because I have so many different payments. What are the options that are good for me?
Tags: Best, Cards, Credit, Paying
Get a better job, make more money, stop spending money you don’t have and pay them down as quickly as you can.
There are many ways to pay it off.
You can pay it off yourself by hard work, saving, and being frugal within several years.
You can pay it off by having someone else to pay it off for you.
You can pay it off by working in “high paying” jobs within months.
Good Luck.
Contact Consumer Credit Counseling Services, they are free and will work with your creditors to lower your monthly payments as well as your interest rates. I used them several years ago and was debt free in 36-months.
Go to a credit counselor and they can work with the creidt card companies. they may be able to lower your interest rate even if you cant and get everything put on one card so you will just have one payment. pay off as much as you can every month.
Start paying more than the minimum balance on your highest interest rate card. Stick with a certain amount until you get it paid off. Then when that card is paid off, start paying what you were paying on the first card in addition to the minimum payment on the next highest credit card. Stick with it and you can do it.
Try to get a better job use the credit score of person who is really closer to u and transfer all the payment on the low mark up credit card. I think this is the best solution i know
If you’re able to continue to pay…
1. Cut up all cards except 1 (with the lowest interest rate)
2. Let’s say you have 4 cards, all maxed. Pay all that you can equally across each every month. This WILL mean sacrifice on your part. No eating out, no movies, no new fashions, no vacations, nothing. This hole is something that you can beat, but not at your current lifestyle.
3. If the situation is dire, then go to a credit consolidation company. Perhaps they can negotiate your payments.
4. Stay in your job. If you can… look for part time work (since you’re not doing anything else (see #2 above). Even a job for 3 months with ALL of the proceeds going to the credit cards will help.
best of luck to you… you’re smart to recognize the hole instead of digging a bigger one.
I started with the least amount owed one, and made bigger payments with that one, hence got it paid and gone quicker than the others.
Then, used the same way with the other two.
Hard lesson learned for me, and now have only one cc, and won’t get another ever !!
It will take time, and I didn’t charge anything else in the meantime.
Good luck and don’t give up…….you can do it.
1. Stop using them…
2. Settle one card after another.. No use paying the minimum sum as the you are just servicing the interest. Get one out of the bad books by paying a little bit more…
3. Get some assistance from the proper authorities…
Here are a few ideas.
Check your spending habits. Try to save $2 a day on little things such as coffee, soda, gum etc… That will give you an extra $56-$62.
Check your statements and see which balance has the highest APR or the highest finance charges. If the finance charges are similar to the other balances, I would try to put extra money to the card with the highest APR. If the finance charges vary drastically, I would pay extra on the card with the highest finance charge. Usually if your finance charges are lowered, the overall minimum payment is lowered, which will slightly increase how much cash you have. Try applying the $60 to the card with the highest finance charge or APR.
Another option is to pay off the smallest balance first.
It depends on which method will free up your cash first.
First, fix whatever got you into the situation or else nothing will help.
Secondly, cut back on your spending until you get them paid off. Cut anything that you don’t need. Don’t eat out, don’t buy anything at all that isn’t essential, cut back on driving whenever possible, etc. The more you cut, the faster you can start getting it all paid off. Start a budget or at least start making a list of where all of your money goes each month. That alone generally gets people to saving 20% once they realize what they spend money on.
Then normally pay off the highest interest rate first. DO still pay the minimums on the rest, but do NOT split payments between all of them. Pay all that you can on the highest interest rate card first, while still making the minimums on the rest.
As an alternative, if you have any small balance cards pay those off first. It can help give you the motivation to work through paying off the rest if you can quickly get rid of a monthly payment to worry about.
Watch out for debt consolidating services as some (most?) are scams. If you can find free assistance services, check into them.
I would suggest you to join a debt settlement company who will negotiate with your creditors and bring down your principal debt amount by around 30% to 70% depending on your credit cards.
You can make minimum monthly payments and be out of debt within 3-36 months. There are no hidden costs and upfront fees associated with the monthly payment options. Once you are in the program, they will start negotiating process in 24 to 48 hours.
For more information check out this debt settlement company who has helped me out with the unsecured credit card debt situation.
http://www.debtfreeafterall.com
Good Luck
start paying off each credit card slowly and don’t use them for awhile
1. Decide to stop using all credit cards.
2. Create a budget (see the referenced book below if you don’t know where to start)
3. Save FAST $1000 for an emergency. Right now your credit cards have caught your emergencies. Have the cash so you don’t go further in debt.
4. Start with the lowest balance. Psychologically it will make you feel like you are getting some place by getting the little ones out of the way. If you have to have a garage sale, sell your car or get a 2nd job to get extra money to pay off the cards. When one card is paid off use the money you were paying on that card and apply it to the next smallest balance. Keep it rolling (called a debt snowball) on the 3rd smallest balance when the second is paid off, etc, etc.
I suggest you read The Total Money Makeover by Ramsey for the full details and what to do after you get rid of the debt.
Don’t debt consolidate. It is proven that the majority of the debt consolidators don’t improve their spending, they just dig a deeper hole because they didn’t change their behavior. You need to change your behavior. Stop using the cards, use a budget every month and pay “left over” money each month on the debt.
Good luck and you can do it! (We have used his plan for over a year and so far have paid off more than $15k and have over $3k in savings for emergencies and car insurance and house insurance, and other bills coming up in the summer)