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.
Nathan Mitchell
You faggots will stay poor forever. OP work your ass off and you will be rewarded. I have always been in and out of second jobs or been working overtime. I will have all my debt paid at the end of this year and will have 30% of my budget going to savings. If you feel overwhelmed you can always quite your second job and continue on later. I believe in you. Do good OP.
How old and how much debt have you paid off in total?
It depends on what type of person you are. If a second job / overtime is ok for you, then go for it. But if you struggle with the job you have then a conservative payback plan is more realistic.
BTW OP has abandoned the thread.
Jayden Garcia
OP here, sorry for the delay.
My monthly interest is about $400 per month across the cards.
Total of my rent, car payment, cellphone bill and utilities is about comes to about $1400. (The area I live in is expensive and still very far from my job, not much choice there. Takes 1.5 hours to get to work and 1.5 hours back.)
I'd rather not tank my credit if I can avoid it.
I do bank with BofA and I saw something about Bankamericard.
I work a salary position full time. I have a ~3 hour round trip commute so I typically don't get home until about 7:00 P.m., so a second job would be unrealistic.
Again, full time managerish job that grosses about 60K, but after taxes I take home about 1.2K every two weeks. A second job is unrealistic and because it is salary and how my contract works, I am not eligible for overtime pay.
Ian Reyes
Alright, theres other options mentioned in the thread. I already owned property when I tanked my credit to force the creditors to restructure my debt at 0% interest. Credit is ruined probably for another 3-4 years but Ive never needed to show my credit to anyone so far. I cant take out any new cc cards but Im fine with cash back debit cards.
Jacob Carter
>The area I live in is expensive and still very far from my job, not much choice there. Takes 1.5 hours to get to work and 1.5 hours back. Try searching for a cheap flat near your job (if possible). If you can just save $200 on rent & fuel per month, that'd be 1% of your debt.
Nathaniel Taylor
Getting closer to my job for cheaper is not an option, as my job is in Santa Monica, CA. The entire surrounding area is also extremely expensive as they are all considered "coastal cities" which bloats the prices even for the cheapest of places. This was the best I could do after about a month of searching.
Thank you for your advice nonetheless. The more options I have, the better.
Caleb Moore
$400 interest per month is brutal. Hardly any chance to reduce the basic debt without living like a monk.
I guess for debt cosolidation you will also have to pay a nice amount of interest. Maybe 12-15%? That would be $250/month. And if you can manage to pay maybe additional $300 to reduce the debt. You would hit 0 in 5-6 years.
Zachary Ortiz
I feel it. It makes me anxious knowing that the majority of my monthly payments is in interest. At this point all I do is put everything that I can into it without affecting my ability to actually survive.
Colton Campbell
I'm about 14k in ccard debt.
I'm in a better situation cuz I have lots of assets but my rent houses and everything has been costing me money.
Can you move in with your parents while you pay it off?
Brayden Edwards
The good thing is you have a nice income. And cc debt is not an uncommon problem. Personally I would go to my bank and ask what they can offer in regards of consolidation. The $400 now must be like 22-25% interest. If you can get any loan that has a lower interest rate you make an improvement.
And as I said earlier arrange monthly payments that are not too high. You need some air to breath and live a regular life. It is better to pay 1 year longer imho but not live like a monk.
Also it is a good lesson to see what interest rates can achieve. Maybe when you hit 0 you can manage to be on the other side and receive interest rates from assets.
Begin working for Uber/Lyft if your car is less than ten years old. Do it for five hours a day after work, every day.
If this isn't doable, find a serving or bar back position at a nice restaurant or bar, and work to get promoted to bartender.
These steps will save you about 1k a month and hopefully bring in anywhere from 2-5k in additional income per month.
Do you want to get out of debt and make it? Or do you want to be a fucking wageslave for the rest of your life, living paycheck to paycheck like your stupid, irresponsible, shortsighted parents?
It isn't going to be fun, but that's what you get for trusting people you knew shouldn't be trusted.
>be a slave great advice Jow Forums you really took the human experience into account
seriously, this world is overpopulated as fuck, and your solution is to blend in and behave? just move to a welfare state already, you have no chance of adapting to the modern world, live out the rest of your days in uncomfortable satiety.
Jaxson Smith
chill your roosters, plenty of good advice in here. boils down to
>Debt consolidation pay it off >work more, pay it off >don't pay anything, declare bankruptcy >move country >win lottery
Caleb Diaz
When I was 18-21 I went to collections on several debts. Yeah, my credit was fucked for a few years but that made me stronger and realize I did not need debt and living beyond my means was not smart. 20+ years later and I am sitting on an 833 credit score. The only acceptable CC debt for me now is whatever I can pay in full when the next bill comes.
Dominic Green
have you explored getting a new credit card that offers 0% interest on balance transfers? depending on your credit limit, you could move a large amount to a new card that has a promotional period of 0% interest, usually 12-24 months.
i didn't go through every reply to see if this has been mentioned already.
Christopher Campbell
For your credit card problem, apply for a 0% balance transfer card, you can shift some of the balance onto there and lower your interest till you can pay off the interest garnering card, then when that's paid off, focus on the 0% card
Jaxson Perry
Aborist sounds as dangerous as a lineman except instead of being eletrocuted you have to worry about falling to your death.
Jacob Harris
>I used to be an arborist (nigga that cuts trees) What was the pay? Did you have to have training/cards for it to work in it?
