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My credit sucks!

J

jonMEGA

Golden Member
A few years back I got few credit cards to help build my credit. My plan backfired and I'm getting alot of calls from the card companies and I want to pay them but I don't have the extra money to be able to pay them. My g/f lost her job a few months ago and I have to pay for all the rent/utilities along with my car payment. We have a 4 year old daughter together and we are getting married in June. She is going to school at night, and could get a job during the day but any money earned from that job would get eatten up by daycare.

We live in an apartment now and would like to get a house sometime after the wedding. I'm pretty sure my credit is in the gutter after a year and a half of late/missed payments. I have about $4000 - $5000 in debt total. What can I do? Would bankrupcy be any worse on my credit than it already is now?

 
Banruptcy (assuming you file bankruptcy no EVERYTHING) will wipe your credit report clean, leaving on the notification that there was a bankruptcy and on what date. It lowers your credit score by about 200 points, too. However, in about seven or ten years, you'll be golden -provided that you're smart about it.
 
Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
Banruptcy (assuming you file bankruptcy no EVERYTHING) will wipe your credit report clean, leaving on the notification that there was a bankruptcy and on what date. It lowers your credit score by about 200 points, too. However, in about seven or ten years, you'll be golden -provided that you're smart about it.
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Hmm.. because a one of the creditors said my account has been "wrote off" and told me that thats worse than a bankruptcy.
 
You need consumer credit counseling. Go here.

Watch out for so-called debt reduction companies that will actually rip you off. A non-profit status does NOT mean that it is a legitimate company. Good luck.
 
Bad news for ya. You ain't gettin' a house anytime soon.

And I seriously doubt that you really believed you were just "building credit" as you were buying things and borrowing money that you couldn't afford to pay back.
 
Your credit definitely is in the sh*ter, so there's little point in even confirming the fact.

It's such a shame to have done it only over $5k too, because borrowing money from credit cards to pay other ones can be a stop gap for quite a long time.

Anyway, you need to maximize your income and minimize outcome (obviously). Given that your debt is so little, I'd think that bankruptcy is a huge overraction. If you really concentrate on it you can pay those credit cards off quickly. Then you've just got to wait until the late/missed payments are further in the past to the extent that your credit score is better.

If you have any cards still going do not cancel them. You'll not be able to get a new one for a while, so you need them to help with your credit.

You also need to sell that main system of yours and do a serious downgrade. If you are serious about this, you need to be serious about how to overcome it.
We live in an apartment now and would like to get a house sometime after the wedding.
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That's perfectly doable, but "sometime" is going to be closer to the end of this decade than to the wedding, unless your fiance has good credit and your incomes put you in the reasonable range. With her credit if it's good but no income and your credit being in the crapper you won't be moving into a house in the near future. But, with only $5k in debt you can really turn things around over the next 2-3 years credit-wise.
 
Originally posted by: Gibson486
Why would you even think about buying a house when you cant even pay off 5k in debt?
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Well a monthly payment on a house is about what I pay a month in rent. We havent been late/missed a rent payment in over 5 years.
 
If you already own a house, car companies give bankrupt people cars faster than those with bad credit, and much faster than those with no credit.

But getting credit on everything else is sort of a hassle.
 
Originally posted by: jonMEGA
Originally posted by: mugs
Ever hear of personal responsibility? :|
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Huh?

I am now......
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Sorry, I just hate it when people view bankruptcy as anything but an absolute last resort. You mentioned that you want to buy a house after you get married, and ask what effect bankruptcy will have on your credit. To me it sounds like you want to wipe out your current debt before you get yourself even more in debt by buying a house. Pay off your debt before you think about buying a house; they're YOUR debts, no one else should have to take the hit for your poor financial planning.
 
Do you got any friends or family that could give you a hand? 5K isn't all that much I think. Not worth declaring bankruptcy for IMO.

My credit aint so good, because I had this outstanding phone bill I never knew about because I was moving around a lot a few years ago. I found out that it really devasted my rating..

 
bankrupcy is BAD BAD BAD. especially for only 5K. check out debt managment programs and the like... but whatever you do, bankruptcy is the dead end option..
 
Just an FYI, I do real estate loans, and Consumer Credit Counseling is basically a bankrupcy to the bank. That's how they see it. Also your creditor probably told you your account was charged off. That means they sold it to a collection agency, to let them try to extract the money from you. Talk to all your creditors, do not spend another cent on your cards and make any payment you can to pay them down. You need to get a side job or something, 5k is not that big of debt, it's a shame you damaged your credit over it.

Do not file BK, that is a huge headache you will deal with for a long period of time. The last guy I worked with who had filed BK filed for almost 250,000 dollars, 150K of it was unpaid taxes to the IRS. If you're gonna pull the plug, GO BIG!

jk
 
Originally posted by: jonMEGA
A few years back I got few credit cards to help build my credit. My plan backfired and I'm getting alot of calls from the card companies and I want to pay them but I don't have the extra money to be able to pay them. My g/f lost her job a few months ago and I have to pay for all the rent/utilities along with my car payment. We have a 4 year old daughter together and we are getting married in June. She is going to school at night, and could get a job during the day but any money earned from that job would get eatten up by daycare.

We live in an apartment now and would like to get a house sometime after the wedding. I'm pretty sure my credit is in the gutter after a year and a half of late/missed payments. I have about $4000 - $5000 in debt total. What can I do? Would bankrupcy be any worse on my credit than it already is now?
Click to expand...

I know everyone's financial situation is different, but I have to agree with the majority here that say $5000 is not a lot of debt. How much are you making? What was your g/f doing before that was a better deal than child care? How much is your car payment?

You need to pay off your $5000. If you can't do that, buying a house is going to be a seriously difficult endeavor. Also, do all the math when it comes to buying vs renting. How much is your rent? What does it include? And how much do houses in your area sell for?
 
I think you better suck it up and after 7 years, you will be clean. Don't do bankruptcy for such a small amount, it will last at least 10 years. Just learn your lesssion and move on and be carefull with credit from now on.
 
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