Debt

[irishgirl73 1]

debt.......I have some!!!

It is so hard to get out of it & save when you are living on your own. I work 2 jobs & I am doing the best I can. I wanted to try to consolidate my debt but since I am NEVER late with my payments, a friend suggested that I do not consolidate b/c that looks bad on a credit report. Does anyone know if this is true?

I also have what I refer to as "gavin debt"-from all the phone bills & trips to Ireland that I made in the past 3 years, trying to maintain a relationship with my man.

winning the powerball would be sweet!!!

[bostonparis 0]

debt.......I have some!!!

It is so hard to get out of it & save when you are living on your own. I work 2 jobs & I am doing the best I can. I wanted to try to consolidate my debt but since I am NEVER late with my payments, a friend suggested that I do not consolidate b/c that looks bad on a credit report. Does anyone know if this is true?

I also have what I refer to as "gavin debt"-from all the phone bills & trips to Ireland that I made in the past 3 years, trying to maintain a relationship with my man.

winning the powerball would be sweet!!!

I don't know about consolidating, but I do know that they don't like to see someone getting new credit cards every year with a 0% introductory balance, and transferring debt to that card every year.

[irishgirl73 1]

debt.......I have some!!!

It is so hard to get out of it & save when you are living on your own. I work 2 jobs & I am doing the best I can. I wanted to try to consolidate my debt but since I am NEVER late with my payments, a friend suggested that I do not consolidate b/c that looks bad on a credit report. Does anyone know if this is true?

I also have what I refer to as "gavin debt"-from all the phone bills & trips to Ireland that I made in the past 3 years, trying to maintain a relationship with my man.

winning the powerball would be sweet!!!

I don't know about consolidating, but I do know that they don't like to see someone getting new credit cards every year with a 0% introductory balance, and transferring debt to that card every year.

I know about the transferring thing & although I am never late I am "maxed" which doesn't really look very good either.

[Ban Hammer 14,268]

this link just appeared on yahoo news, worth a read

link

[irishgirl73 1]

this link just appeared on yahoo news, worth a read

link

thanks for the link-it is SO true about the cable & cell phone bills!!

[Fandango 1,440]

this link just appeared on yahoo news, worth a read

link

thanks for the link-it is SO true about the cable & cell phone bills!!

yes and the 'Latte Factor' is something that's so trus as well....

[ace13 0]

The Dave Ramsey method works. Take your bank account down to zero every month. Basically, you get paid. You pay all payments (house, car, utilities etc) etc for CC and loans. After you have paid all the basic payments, take out your living expenses in the form of cash and then what ever is left pay CC and loans. Pay all the minimums on the higher balance cards first and then pay the most on whatever card has the lowest balance. Then it just snowballs. You pay off the small stuff and then work on the goliath debt last. It is the only way.

Two things:

1) It would seem to make much more sense to contribute the most towards those cards with the highest interst rate rather than towards those with the smallest balance. You need to get rid of balances on which you pay interest out the ####### first. Makes for a bigger snowball forming faster.

2) One can use credit cards for added benefits (example, my CC picks up the $500.00 deductible I have on my car insurance whenever I use it to pay for a rental saving me the cost of purchasing the insurance from the rental company) without sliding into debt. Just make sure to use it in a responsible fashion and w/o additional cost - i.e. you pay the bill in full when it is due and refrain from using the CC if you can't do that. In short, it's not the use of a CC per se that gets folks introuble, it's spending money you don't have.

My $0.02...

From a business school standpoint that is very true and you theoretically would get out of debt quicker.

But, in the real world, people like to see things paid off and it keeps them motivated. Normally, the amount of interest you are paying on one debt vs another is minimal and if you are behind and are getting phone calls, one less person calling you is nice and worth it.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

this link just appeared on yahoo news, worth a read

link

thanks for the link-it is SO true about the cable & cell phone bills!!

yes and the 'Latte Factor' is something that's so trus as well....

If evereyone was to do the "spend 20min, save $2500" routine, a lot of people would be out of work. It's sort of the flip-side of our over-indulgence, I suppose, that it puts people to work to provide the services described.

Example: If people weren't spending insane amounts on gym memberships w/o effectively using them, you wouldn't see the gym's mushrooming in seemingly every neighborhood in America. I wonder how many jobs that industry alone provides that would go to hell if people were to be smart about their gym memberships.

[Robor007 0]

debt.......I have some!!!

It is so hard to get out of it & save when you are living on your own. I work 2 jobs & I am doing the best I can. I wanted to try to consolidate my debt but since I am NEVER late with my payments, a friend suggested that I do not consolidate b/c that looks bad on a credit report. Does anyone know if this is true?

I also have what I refer to as "gavin debt"-from all the phone bills & trips to Ireland that I made in the past 3 years, trying to maintain a relationship with my man.

winning the powerball would be sweet!!!

I'm in a similar situation and I know what you mean about 'living on your own'. I was married from 1993-2000 and even though neither my ex or I made a lot of money having a 'DINK' (Dual Income No Kids) marriage made life very easy for us. When we split up it was a real shocker. We each got about $15K out of the house equity but that's not much when you consider I had to find another place to live and replace 1/2 of the things I lost in the divorce. Add to that things like power, water, phone, home insurance (especially in FL - my insurance is 3x+ the 2004 rate!), car insurance, etc, etc still cost nearly the same whether you're single or married. I racked up tons of CC debt and a HE loan just trying to survive. That was years ago and I'm still in the debt battle but I'm proud to say that any late bills are a result of my poor memory and my credit rating is still pretty good (730-something) despite my high debt ratio. And you're right, it definitely doesn't help being in a LDR with someone literally on the other side of the planet.

[zyggy 9]

debt.......I have some!!!

It is so hard to get out of it & save when you are living on your own. I work 2 jobs & I am doing the best I can. I wanted to try to consolidate my debt but since I am NEVER late with my payments, a friend suggested that I do not consolidate b/c that looks bad on a credit report. Does anyone know if this is true?

I also have what I refer to as "gavin debt"-from all the phone bills & trips to Ireland that I made in the past 3 years, trying to maintain a relationship with my man.

winning the powerball would be sweet!!!

I don't know about consolidating, but I do know that they don't like to see someone getting new credit cards every year with a 0% introductory balance, and transferring debt to that card every year.

Absolutely.. Instead of ruining your credit score by continuously opening new credfit accounts. Call all of your creditors and negotiate with them to lower your interest rate... Most people don't realize this, but you don't have to take the interest rate that they give you, everything is negotiable.

Most of the time, they would rather lower their interest rate to something competitive that see you take your money away...I do this with my credit card companies at least every other year or when they hike my interest rates... Be persistent and don't let them push you around... if they say they don't do that, go back at them with, I have X amount outstanding and I am paying you an uncompetitive interest rate and am not willing to anymore ... do you still want to have my business or not... Start with about 10% or so.. it'll probably take taking to a manager of some sort to agree to it...

You have two choices.. you have to cut your expenses or raise more cash... or a combination of both. Take a look at what you spend, find out what you need to live on with a small amount to treat yourself... the rest should go to reduce your debt... You may want to get yourself a part time extra job to pay them off even faster...

As said previously, you have to take your credit cards out of your wallet and get used to buying everything with cash. That will make you realize exactly how much everything is costing you and make you think twice before you buy...

[lisaf 0]

I love watching the Suze Orman show, and reading her " bible"

is that lame over here???

seriously, for all the non USC's its great for understanding finance related acronyms and must haves/do's.

[irishgirl73 1]

debt.......I have some!!!

It is so hard to get out of it & save when you are living on your own. I work 2 jobs & I am doing the best I can. I wanted to try to consolidate my debt but since I am NEVER late with my payments, a friend suggested that I do not consolidate b/c that looks bad on a credit report. Does anyone know if this is true?

I also have what I refer to as "gavin debt"-from all the phone bills & trips to Ireland that I made in the past 3 years, trying to maintain a relationship with my man.

winning the powerball would be sweet!!!

I don't know about consolidating, but I do know that they don't like to see someone getting new credit cards every year with a 0% introductory balance, and transferring debt to that card every year.

Absolutely.. Instead of ruining your credit score by continuously opening new credfit accounts. Call all of your creditors and negotiate with them to lower your interest rate... Most people don't realize this, but you don't have to take the interest rate that they give you, everything is negotiable.

Most of the time, they would rather lower their interest rate to something competitive that see you take your money away...I do this with my credit card companies at least every other year or when they hike my interest rates... Be persistent and don't let them push you around... if they say they don't do that, go back at them with, I have X amount outstanding and I am paying you an uncompetitive interest rate and am not willing to anymore ... do you still want to have my business or not... Start with about 10% or so.. it'll probably take taking to a manager of some sort to agree to it...

You have two choices.. you have to cut your expenses or raise more cash... or a combination of both. Take a look at what you spend, find out what you need to live on with a small amount to treat yourself... the rest should go to reduce your debt... You may want to get yourself a part time extra job to pay them off even faster...

As said previously, you have to take your credit cards out of your wallet and get used to buying everything with cash. That will make you realize exactly how much everything is costing you and make you think twice before you buy...

I have negotiated lower rates for all of my cards & I don't use them anymore. It will take time, but I will get out of debt eventually. I am working a part time job just so I can take that extra cash & pay things off a little quicker.

Now that I am not spending $400 a month on phone bills.............It is a little easier to save. I don't have any expenses that I can cut( welll except smoking).

[bebop + rocksteady 0]

:thumbs: :thumbs:

I have a 0% interest rate (!) on one of my credit cards, and 3% on the other.

Trust me, they'd rather get their money and not make anything off of it than never get it at all.

Cass (bebop the great)

Absolutely.. Instead of ruining your credit score by continuously opening new credfit accounts. Call all of your creditors and negotiate with them to lower your interest rate... Most people don't realize this, but you don't have to take the interest rate that they give you, everything is negotiable.

[Caladan 19]

The Dave Ramsey method works. Take your bank account down to zero every month. Basically, you get paid. You pay all payments (house, car, utilities etc) etc for CC and loans. After you have paid all the basic payments, take out your living expenses in the form of cash and then what ever is left pay CC and loans. Pay all the minimums on the higher balance cards first and then pay the most on whatever card has the lowest balance. Then it just snowballs. You pay off the small stuff and then work on the goliath debt last. It is the only way.

Two things:

1) It would seem to make much more sense to contribute the most towards those cards with the highest interst rate rather than towards those with the smallest balance. You need to get rid of balances on which you pay interest out the ####### first. Makes for a bigger snowball forming faster.

Yes and no. From a straight numbers comparison, you're correct. However, I think that there's several other factors to consider: whether closing down a credit card once it's paid off helps your credit score, whether having fewer outstanding debts makes it easier to manage one's money overall, how the debt payments are structured. (ten-year student loan vs. credit card vs. mortgage.)

Plus, like someone said, there's a huge emotional/habitual component to struggling with debt. If someone is in debt $10,000 to three creditors, owing 7K, 2K, and 1K, and a year later they still owe 4K, 2K, and 1K, they're still struggling, the progress feels glacial (three bills coming, three creditors calling, etc.) If in that year they are down to one debt, even if it's still at 7K, they have developed the habit of paying off a bill completely and have seen some of the payoff.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

My current car is a Honda. Have had issues with it early on. My wife drives a Korean (that's the one with the outstanding lien) and so far it has served us well (better than the Honda did when it was its age). I am inclined to buy Korean again. Absolutely do not intend to buy American, the only nice American cars cost a lot, the affordable cars are all trash.

I drive a Hyundai Elantra - got it back in June of last year and it's ok but the handling isn't as responsive and stable as any of the Toyotas I've previously owned.