Because of the actions and negligence of my parents, I am currently in about $20K in credit card debt. They were in "financial trouble" and I wasn't making much money at the time so I helped them out as much as I could by very close to maxing out my credit cards because they "would have been homeless/starving/etc" otherwise. Now that they're stable, months later I later find out that their financial trouble was a combination of gambling debt and other things that I prefer not to get into. They apologized weakly and told me they would help me out, but it never came because "we're living paycheck to paycheck, sorry" so I don't expect anything from them.
I have since acquired a job in which my take home is about $2.5K a month after taxes. However, the interest on the credit cards is eating me alive. As you might expect, my parents are not good with money and never taught me anything about financial responsibility so I'm not really sure about what I can do to start working this debt down. I keep getting mail from vendors about "debt consolidation" but I'm not too certain what it entails or whether it's a scam or anything. I live very frugally otherwise (cook for the week, little eating out, entertainment is mostly games) and I continue to try to pay more than the minimum whenever I can, but at the rate I'm going, it'll be years before I work it down.
Does anyone have any advice on what are some options for me to help speed things up? As far as cutting back on expenses, I'm pretty much at the bare minimum as I don't want to carry this debt around for the next decade or two.
You can do a debt consolidation but it will fuck your credit for like 7 years. So you won't be able to get a mortgage, loan etc for a while. And when you can you will be paying high interest. Source: I was you a few years ago but I ended up paying off my debt through hard work
Jeremiah Allen
Rice and beans everyday. Work as many hours as you possibly can. Get another job. Cut bills you don't need Have cable? Turn that shit off. Have a cell phone plan? Get the cheap prepaid ones from the drug store. Pay your debt from the smallest to largest, minimum payments on the rest. Once you finish never ever get into debt again unless it's a mortgage.
Colton Brown
I used to be an arborist (nigga that cuts trees) and literally this is one of the first rules they teach you. Always cut 1/4 of the way through the bottom, then the rest of the way through the top. That way the branch drops, and doesn't swing
Ryan Green
Just curious how much is the monthly interest and how much from the 2.5k are left after all your basic costs?
Typically a debt consolidation is a good thing. Make sure you go somewhere trustworthy and try to stretch the payback time over a long time period and get the monthly costs as low as possible. If you habe spare money left to make some additional paybacks, good.If not you should still be able to have a regular life.
No worries about helping your parents. Family is family and most people would have done the same.
Do you care about your credit? If you stop paying, itll go into collections and you can either settle for a lump sum smaller payment or begin paying it down with 0% interest.
Camden Ramirez
Get a personal loan. You get a lower interest rate. Or roll it to a 0% balance transfer card like Bankamericard. You get no interest for 1 year on whatever balance you transfer over. Then apply for a different card the next year and transfer the remaining balance. Both of these will improve your credit.
David Rivera
You do this and you might die at an early age. My bro-in-law's coworker ended up working many full time jobs to pay his daughter's debts and died from exhaustion. Take your time OP. Also try and find a partner who 1.Isn't in debt/brainwashed by the (((merchants))) and 2.Pray to God that we get rid of these Satan worshipers from our lives. Talmudism is the only religion that charges (((interest))).
Aiden Roberts
>Rice and beans everyday. Work as many hours as you possibly can
That is just stupid. Work your ass off for cc debt? No. You work your ass of for money that pays your house and maybe your car. But not cc debt.
Be realistic and make a plan that you are comfortable to live with.
20k in debt should only be around 700-800. go get a second job or some other position.
If he gets credit counseling yes, just taking out a personal loan for debt consolidation it doesn't have any effect on your credit other than being another credit account.
