• Welcome to RCTalk! 🚀

    Join the #1 RC community where hobbyists connect, share, and get expert advice on RC cars, trucks, boats, drones, and more!

    • ✓ Friendly & passionate RC enthusiasts
    • ✓ RC tips & troubleshooting
    • ✓ Buy, sell & trade RC gear
    • ✓ Share builds & upgrades

Debt troubles...

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
MW - No the only thing she has is her car, her 401K was just setup this year so it's got no where near the amount of money she needs to really be of any help on her credit card debt.

Hopefully we'll get her into a credit union by the end of the week and hopefully a few more loan apps filled out. If not then she'll have to play the cc transfer game until it's paid off.



-Michael
 
Need to be careful about loan and CC apps. The more you fill out the less likely you are to get a loan and the lower it will pull her Credit Rating. Shop for loans at the Credit Unions and banks as well as gather info on introductory interest rates then make a decision.

When the loan / CC companies see several credit inquires they dont know if they loaned you money or not. The last thing they want is someone that gets 3 loans and 4 CC all at the same time. Its risky for them.

Research, make a plan, then follow through with it.
 
There are consolidation companies that take all of your CC debt, make a deal with the CC companies and they bill you a monthly flat rate.

When I met my wife, she was 12K in debt... and had absolutely nothing to show for it. She was living month to month on credit cards. Paying rent, car payments... and only paying the minimum. She was an idiot but didn't necessarily know any better. Her mother wasn't a good example.

I took her credit cards, cut them up, and she found a consolidation company that charged a $25 flat rate every month as a fee. We were paying around $400 for 3 years. We haven't signed up for a CC since. She was paying around $550 a month and not even making any type of dent in the principal for 2 years. The total was just going up.

I've personally never had a credit card (I'm 30). It makes it annoying to buy things you "want", but then again, it forces you to have the money before satisfying a want. I use a savings account for emergencies.

If you need it, I can try and get her to dig through her paper work to see if she can find the company. It was 3 years ago though... I don't know if we still have it around.
 
the balancing transfer game worked well for me.....I was almost 20k in the hole till about 5 years ago......just gut it out and do it till it's paid....but she has to pay at least what she is paying now with the high interests rates.....that's where most people mess it up...Oh I don't have to pay 100 bucks/mo now I only "HAVE TO PAY" 60......so the debt stays right where it's at now and stretches out 10 times longer.....w/ good credit it really is an easy game to play....
 
When I was 20 I was making 60k a year working three jobs at over 100 hrs/week. So when I was off I played hard and spent tons of $$$. It was so much easier to put things on plastic than carry cash so I did. Then I changed jobs, one of the secondary jobs went out of business, and I started travlling for work so I lost the third one. I had TONS of debt that I could no longer afford to pay. I was over extended to the point that the only way I could pay rent was to not spend money on food and eat at friends or family's houses. I was living paycheck to paycheck and by 23 was paying about $2400 a month for bills. I tried the transfer balance game and that was helping for a while but I just couldnt put a real dent in the monthly amounts. Then I tried the debt consolidation companies and they were able to cut the interest in half and in some cases get credits for all late and over balance charges. I had over 20 Credit Cards with about 40K on them that point. They were a huge help but since there is no legal binding anything and he CC companies after a year or so decided they were going to close all the accounts and put the interest rates back up to where they were before and I was paying even more now due to the fees to the consolidation company.

Finally I started getting threats of sueing me and taking money direct out of my paycheck. Drastic measures were needed, Fast. I got a second job in the evenings and worked some odd jobs on the weekends for extra $$ again, started getting rides to work from a coworker and got rid of my car, sold everything that had any value, contacted all the CC companies and asked for payoff figures. With the little money I had, I paid of as much as I could on the higest interest cards. Paid the minimums on all the low interest cards and put every extra penny towards the high interest ones. Within a year I had gotten things under control and 2 years later I was down to only 10k.

Now at 31 I am completely debt free (aside from a car note), have 2 CCs with about a $200 balance on each just to show an open account with on time monthly payments to help rebuild my credit score, and my Debit Card that I can't live without. I went from a very low 400 something credit score to now about a 690.

The moral of the story here kids is that it CAN be done. Its very hard work and you WILL have to sacrafice things that you think you can't live without but it can be done.

Woodro, with the new laws in the states it is almost impossible to claim Chapter 7 bankruptcy any more. Chapter 13 is much easier and doesn't look "as" bad but it will screw up her credit score for many years. If she has the strength and the willpower to do whatever it takes, pay the higest balance cards first, then the lower ones, but make sure something extra over the minimum is paid every month and eventually as long as the CC companies are willing to work with her she should be able to get things paid down in a couple years.
 
After a few years of battling with CC debt, the wife & I wisened up...
We had a free consultation from a company called Primerica. As of right now, they have us on a program that will put money away for us automatically for retirement, emergency, college fund, vacation, investments...etc So far it's been great for us..

http://ww3.primerica.com/public/
 
WoodiE,
You have a kind heart.......

Here is the best fatherly advice I could give a single young man....

Its just as easy to fall in love with a rich girl as a poor one.
You have choices Son, lots of them.
 
LOL...Eddy you big softy....
If she's a new girl then just be careful...I've had a few of those sinking ships looking for a new boat instead of repairs....nothing I asked them to do was for my benefit but they still just kept the hands out.....they still wouldn't take the basic steps for themselves
 
After reading this over I gathered she does not own her owwn home, which is the best solution, take a second out on a house - the interest would be reasonable.

A signature or consolidation loan is bound to be high interest, but it is the best choice. Sounds like that is going to be difficult.

The legislation against bankruptcy is not exclusive, it is just to cut down the abuse, people who regularly file every seven years to avoid paying debts and f*** it up for the rest of us, like insurance fraud. It just has to be justified and within certain financial amounts and I think she fits it.

That being said, you have to sit down and do the math. Paying off credit card debt takes two or three normal lifetimes, no poop, so

...the only thing that's really a huge problem for her is that's she's just barely making it from week to week.
Click to expand...

This isn't going to happen any time soon.

Hear me out. Bankruptcy is a long term decision, but it's a GOOD one sometimes. There's a lot of misinformation about bankruptcies and what it does to your life. Yes it stays on your credit for 7 years but it does NOT preclude you from rebuilding your credit. You pay high interest on a few loans, save some $$$ to buy things on credit with money down - at the end of THREE years I was back in the game, there were points against my score but I was still able to buy a new car. It's almost completely a non-issue now, and lesson has been learned.

So it's a matter of what is going to take longer, dealing with this credit card debt or letting a BK run it's course. The bankruptcy was the best thing that evr happened to me, got rid of a loser for a wife, all her debt, kept my house - was able to start over, and it worked this time. :D
 
FastEddy said:
WoodiE,
You have a kind heart.......

Here is the best fatherly advice I could give a single young man....

Its just as easy to fall in love with a rich girl as a poor one.
You have choices Son, lots of them.
Click to expand...
Hey Woodie...
Is there something you are leaving out? Maybe this is more than just a "friend?"

Good luck
 
WoodiE, this is an older thread but.....
Recently many of us may have realized that our minimum payments on our revolving accounts were increase by law that went into effect January 1. By just moving balances to another line may not actually reduce payments significantly. The credit union idea is a good one.
Bankruptcy... forget it. She would have to show real hardship or a judge will force a chapter 13 (repayment plan). Another recent legislation change.
Although this was mentioned earlier; be aware that over the long haul excessive inquiries left by creditors can drive a credit score down considerably.
The decisions to approve or disapprove loans are now made largely on credit scores and are very likely answered by an automated underwriting program (software), not a person with less emphasis placed on verifying income, job, length of residence, etc.
She has a window period of 15 days in which to apply without fear of being penalized for excessive inquiries providing the creditors she applies to are within the same industry.
Pick the prospective creditors very carefully before having her apply. Also knowing her credit scores and lender qualifying requirements in advance can give you an advantage.
If you need more info pm me.
 

RC Builds

Back
Top