Credit Card Debt: $17,000

[Aimster]

Let's say the interest on the CC is between 17-25%.

I am thinking of a 20,000 student loan to pay off the debt with an interest of 10% maximum.

Anyone have any better ideas?
Please let me know thanks.

 

[TheoPetro]

no sense in getting rid of the debt unless you have a plan to stay out of debt. Google personal finance tips. Itll do wonders.

 

[jagec]

Sell whatever crap you bought and use that to pay the bill. I bet your car is a LOT newer than it has to be.

You usually have to be a student to get those student loans...

That, or do a AOR and keep transferring the balance and paying off what you can, thus postponing the high-interest period. Heck, some cards offer 0% for the lifetime of the balance...as long as you don't buy anything else with the card, you would be golden.

 

[yhelothar]

Call your credit card company and ask them to lower your interest rate.
I did that. They lowered my interest rate from 14.2% to 9.1%

Tell them about another credit card out there that you can get with a lower interest rate, and threaten to switch cards. They'll almost without fail, lower your interest rate.

 

[TheoPetro]

Originally posted by: astroidea
Call your credit card company and ask them to lower your interest rate.
I did that. They lowered my interest rate from 14.2% to 9.1%

Tell them about another credit card out there that you can get with a lower interest rate, and threaten to switch cards. They'll almost without fail, lower your interest rate.

I tried that and they were only going to lower it from ~17->15. I guess thats what I get for having a credit history 6 months long and being a student.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Stop spending so much on stuff you do not need.

You do NOT need a notebook/fast PC with large monitor/brand new LCD or Plasma TV/gaming consoles/new car/other expensive gadgets. Return then or sell them, and get cheap stuff until you can afford more.
Stop going out regularly. This also includes going out for meals, as making your own food is a lot cheaper.

 

[her209]

Good lord, how does one rack up $17K in CC bills?

 

[randym431]

Get a new card, buy a bunch of new stuff to take your mind off your old card debit. And so on, and so on... Thats the American way.. And the US Government way too... You're in good company.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: her209
Good lord, how does one rack up $17K in CC bills?

seriously...and u said you've had a credit card for only 6 months?

stop spending money. spend like a bum for the next 6 months and you'll get a lot of it taken care of. sell your expensive stuff that you don't need. you'll lose money but you'll get out of debt quicker. short term loss for long term betterment.

btw, what do you do? do you work, go to school, etc.? can you borrow money from your parents?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: TheoPetro

Originally posted by: astroidea
Call your credit card company and ask them to lower your interest rate.
I did that. They lowered my interest rate from 14.2% to 9.1%

Tell them about another credit card out there that you can get with a lower interest rate, and threaten to switch cards. They'll almost without fail, lower your interest rate.

I tried that and they were only going to lower it from ~17->15. I guess thats what I get for having a credit history 6 months long and being a student.

Holy cow... how do you have $17K in CC debt and only have a credit history of 6 months? And just be a student to boot? You're on the fast track to bombing your credit score (what little you have) right from the get-go.

EDIT: Wait a sec... how do you have a CC with a <= $17K credit limit with a credit history of only 6 months?

 

[S Freud]

I think some of you and confusing two different posts in this thread.

OP, you need to cut that card up, once you have yourself back on track you can call the company and tell them you lost it and get a new one. Also, like others have suggested I would start looking to sell the things you bought with the card. Do you really need the things that got you this far in to debt? What do you make per month? Do you have money to set aside in order to make the payments and get it all paid off?

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny

Originally posted by: TheoPetro

Originally posted by: astroidea
Call your credit card company and ask them to lower your interest rate.
I did that. They lowered my interest rate from 14.2% to 9.1%

Tell them about another credit card out there that you can get with a lower interest rate, and threaten to switch cards. They'll almost without fail, lower your interest rate.

I tried that and they were only going to lower it from ~17->15. I guess thats what I get for having a credit history 6 months long and being a student.

Holy cow... how do you have $17K in CC debt and only have a credit history of 6 months? And just be a student to boot? You're on the fast track to bombing your credit score (what little you have) right from the get-go.

EDIT: Wait a sec... how do you have a CC with a <= $17K credit limit with a credit history of only 6 months?

That is the interest rate not the balance. The CC company was offering to lower his interest rate from 17% to 15%.

I don't know if you got him confused with the OP or what.

 

[Dulanic]

I agree with others... 6months history and 17K is impossible without it being a secured card which means you would have most the money. This is BS.

I have 8K debt myself and have for 2 years from moving around and switching jobs for expenses in between. I have not paid one cent of interest by playing the BT game.

 

[YetioDoom]

Originally posted by: Dulanic
I agree with others... 6months history and 17K is impossible without it being a secured card which means you would have most the money. This is BS.

I have 8K debt myself and have for 2 years from moving around and switching jobs for expenses in between. I have not paid one cent of interest by playing the BT game.

OP never said anything about 6 months.

 

[FoBoT]

spend less
earn more

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: Dulanic
I agree with others... 6months history and 17K is impossible without it being a secured card which means you would have most the money. This is BS.

I have 8K debt myself and have for 2 years from moving around and switching jobs for expenses in between. I have not paid one cent of interest by playing the BT game.

BT game?

 

[Jeff7181]

See if you qualify for any credit cards with 0% APR on balance transfers with no annual fee. If you do, transfer your balance to that one and keep making payments on it. At least then the interest won't kill you.

Aside from that, stop living beyond your means.

 

[kranky]

It's easy to dig the hole but a lot harder to get out of it, especially with high interest rates.

There's no magic system to fix this problem. First, it's illegal to use student loan proceeds for non-educational purposes... whether anyone would ever find out, I don't know. I guess if you can show receiving the loan funds and afterwards you can show equivalent educational expenses, that would be OK.

Three key bits of info - do you know your FICO score, how long of a credit history do you have, and do you have any black marks on your credit report (30-day late payments, etc.)? If your report is clean, your FICO is good and your history is established, you should be able to get new cards with better interest rates and transfer the balance. But don't just apply for a boatload of cards to see which ones you get - with the current credit situation, banks are getting skittish about people applying for many new accounts.

What is a concern about your proposed solution to reduce your debt is that it increases it by $3,000! Yes, look for ways to reduce your interest rate, but the important thing is to figure out how to REDUCE the amount. It would seriously be in your best interest to look for a second job, cut expenses, sell things you don't absolutely need, and put all that money towards your debt. Playing interest rate games is only a band-aid.

 

[chusteczka]

BT game is Balance Transfer game.

I assume the OP is a student from the reference to student loans. Student loans exist to provide a student the means to pay bills without incurring debt in a manner better suited for other aspects of society. It is understood that students have to pay bills but have little opportunity to make money to pay for the bills. This is why student loan interest is deferred until after school and why that student loan interest is tax deductible.

All that credit card debt should be put into student loans. If possible, it may be best to receive the maximum amount of student loans each semester and use this money to pay off all bills.

The idea to sell belongings to pay for the debt does not sit well with me. Assuming those items were purchased for utility rather than novelty, those items have a useful purpose. To sell these items will let that need go unfulfilled and the money received will be a fraction of the total debt incurred for that item. Basically, the result is that money is owed for utility that is not received. This is hardly a wise financial decision to make. The best thing to do is to decrease spending and purchase less expensive items in the future.

Take a look at a typical product, such as a computer processor. The spoiled view for such a purchase is to think "for just a little more money, I can receive 200MHz more". The frugal view is to think "I can save money by purchasing this other processor with only 200MHz less". A 200MHz difference for a processor is nothing but the monetary difference can sometimes be $50.

 

[StageLeft]

Holy crap, would half of you please spend less time here and more in a reading comprehension class? OP NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT 6 MONTHS.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: her209
Good lord, how does one rack up $17K in CC bills?

do you really have to ask that question? I would say it's fairly easy to do in this day.

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: TheoPetro

Originally posted by: astroidea
Call your credit card company and ask them to lower your interest rate.
I did that. They lowered my interest rate from 14.2% to 9.1%

Tell them about another credit card out there that you can get with a lower interest rate, and threaten to switch cards. They'll almost without fail, lower your interest rate.

I tried that and they were only going to lower it from ~17->15. I guess thats what I get for having a credit history 6 months long and being a student.

This is NOT the OP

 

[ponyo]

Rolling credit card debt into student loans is a terrible idea. Student loans are like taxes and stay with you for rest of your life until it's paid off. Credit card debt is unsecured and it can be wiped away whole after 7 years even if it's unpaid.

I would much rather default on credit card debt than roll it into a student loan. Student loan is the devil and many young people will find out the hard way later when they have to repay it.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: Naustica
Rolling credit card debt into student loans is a terrible idea. Student loans are like taxes and stay with you for rest of your life until it's paid off. Credit card debt is unsecured and it can be wiped away whole after 7 years even if it's unpaid.

I would much rather default on credit card debt than roll it into a student loan. Student loan is the devil and many young people will find out the hard way later when they have to repay it.

So that means I can max out all my credit cards, and they'll stop bugging me about it in 7 years?

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Holy crap, would half of you please spend less time here and more in a reading comprehension class? OP NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT 6 MONTHS.