debt consolidation

750 is a pretty good credit score. i have no doubt in my mind you would be able to secure some of these 0% apr cards: citi simplicity 0% 18mos, chase slate 0% 15mos, discover it 0% 14mos. the thing is, once you consolidate, you need to have self control to not blow through those credit lines again. youll be in a world of pain because the debt is gonna be amplified two time over. if anything i would hide the other cards or even cut them in half, if youre a little swipe happy.

 

Thats what I did either last week or the week before, was I took them out of my wallet and left them at the house. Being YOUNG and STUPID at the time sure messes you up later in life. I'm 30 now but, Dang.

 

Then your best option is to get informed before you do anything! Low-life's prey on the un-informed, don't be one of them. Have you heard of Dave Ramsey? If not, google him up and start looking into some of his plans and listen to his radio shows/podcasts. As far as debt and how to handle it, makes much sense. When you get to it, his investing advice is a bit questionable, but as far as getting people out of debt, one of the better ones out there. It's only the cost of a book.

But, do not make an uninformed decision, make sure you do your own research and reach a decision that makes sense for _you_.

 

I have heard great things about care one, check them out

 

Just got a call back from the bank and she said she couln't get us the loan. She said our credit was great , it was just the liquidity (whatever that means) and didn't have any back up money to cover the loan if something happened. If I had the cash I wouldn't NEED the loan. So she just suggested that we do the snowball affect on our credit cards. She was talking about a budget yesterday and I told her maybe I am just stupid or dumb, but I don't understand how to do it. Especially when the light bill flucuates and other stuff fluctuates. Just really frustrated.

 

sorry to hear man. creating a budget for the variables, like eating out, buying luxury things, etc. there are static items that you will not be able to change from your monthly expenses, like child care, utilities, rent, groceries (not full blown gourmets, maybe you have to eat skim for a month or two) that will have the taken cared of. make a realistic budget of your variables and make a budget of the statics. stick to them and you should be able to come up with some money whe you actually sit down and see what is going out every month. i know its going to be hard, but if you can sarcifice for a month or two, i think youll be in a better position.

 

Hey man, I'm in medical school and on a pretty tight budget with my wife so I know what you're going through. We're able to stay out of debt using a pretty regular system.

First, figure out your monthly bills. Everything should be static aside from electric and has for your car. Insurance, mortgage, car payment, food even can be static.

So write all that up including the minimum paypuments on your credit cards and add it up. Now figure out how much you make per month. If you have a regular job it'll probably be a static number per month.

So now you'll know how much extra you have or need each month. Now, for things that you'll spend money on throughout the month, like food, gas, and fun, take that money out in cash and put it jn an envelope on your fridge. That's all the money you have for the month. If you have extra at the end of the month in any category, put it back in the bank

For reference, my wife and I have 3 categories for food, fun, and gas. We have 360 for food, 100 for fun, and 80 for gas. Obviously your number may vary. Doing this prevents you from using your credit cards and getting more into sbt

Now, with your credit score you should be able to get a 0% balance transfer offer. I would suggest tryin to get one and shunting as much money into that, never use the card again, and pay it off over the maximum term that's at 0%. I would not put it on your mortgage like others have also advised.

If you work out your budget, if you're under you can see where you can make up money. Paying $2 a day for coffee ends up being $40 a month in coffee that you could make yourself for a couple bucks. Lemme know of you have more questions on this system, it's called the envelope system

And yea, if we run out of food money midway through the month, we get crafty with wha we have in the freezer and pantry. It took a bit to get the number solid so we weren't starving, but we're comfortable not going over that amount each month. You just gotta stick with the limits you set for yourself.

 

I'll second Dave Ramsey! Look for the Financial Peace University often offered through local churches. Or look for info on the "debt snowball" approach to paying off the current debts. Ramsey classes are often offered through local churches. Dave's is a keep it simple kinda approach. Do it now while you are young..... it's much more painful lesson to learn later on in life.

The "envelope system" mentioned above is one of Dave Ramsy's suggestions for those starting out on a get out of debt/budget plan. It works!

Chuck

 

Yup it is his system. While I do not personally free with his investing advice, his budgeting system is key to making and sticking to a budget. It's much harder to overspend when you have physical cash in hand compared to a "limitless" piece of plastic.

 

Anyone know of a free budgeting (newbie friendly) worksheet I could look at to get started? I think from what I've been reading is that it starts with a budget then you can see how much money you have and then start paying extra to one of the credit cards and then snowballing from there.

 

If you've got Excel - Just google "Excel Budget" or try a website like Mint.com.

 

My wife and I both get paid every two weeks but we are on off week so we have a paycheck coming in every week. Do we need to budget every check in every week or what? Right now we just have a calendar with when each bill is due on the calendar for every month and who gets paid that week.

 

Most companies are actually receptive to changing your due date to something more convenient to me. The only off payment I have really is my car payment, but that's because I took out a new loan recently for it (when I traded in my truck).

Usually what my wife and I do is just budget for the month and take all of our money out on the first of the month. As money comes in and bills go out, you should always be ok as long as whatever you budgeted had a positive revenue stream. So even if you pay all your bills on different dates, you should be able to handle it without much thought beyond actually making the budget out.

 

I'll third Dave Ramsey! It's not easy, and you'll have to sacrifice. But, in the end it will be worth it! My wife and I killed over $41,000 of debt in 20mos. Everything is payed off except the house! 0 based budget, and the envelope system!
Good Luck!

 

Well, the first things my wife and I have done is I've taken my credit cards out of my wallet and left at home. Then we downgraded our cable and I think we are saving $45-$50 a month. We have 1 store card that has about $180 on it and another card that has $165 on it. We are planning on paying these off by January and then taking that money and put a couple hundred $$ in saving for emergencies then going to the next card. I don't think we can pay all or most of our debt like some of the stories I've been seeing. It just doesn't look possible. I need to sit down and figure out how to write a simple budget.

 

Dave Ramsey's ideas and advice can be accessed for free online or podcast. Of course if you buy his book "Total Money Makeover" all the forms are in the back. He will walk you through budgeting (we thought we knew how to budget) It can be done! I thought he was another crackpot selling a "system". My wife convinced me to watch his intro dvd, and I was convinced. You have nothing to lose, but your debt. You'll have a better marriage as well. The number 1 cause of divorce is money fights and money problems.

 

Yeah I've read that before about the money problems having a bad effect on marriage. Do you think they sell his books in a book store like Books a Million?

 

I'm a late arrival to this thread but know exactly how you feel. Wife and I went through something similar with credit card and student loan bills. We tried the consolidation thing and found it to be a fox in the henhouse situation. Our solution was to cut out all unnecessary expenses for two years. No eating out, no movies, no vacations. Nothing. Anytime we had the urge to go to Target or shopping somewhere we would transfer $100 to our "debt recovery" account and find something else to do with our time. It was invaluable. We paid down our debts and discovered ways to entertain ourselves without spending money. We still have student loans, house and car payments but we have everything under control and feel in charge.

 

I sure they sell Dave's books. They were on the NYT bestsellers. Of course he sells them on his websight.

 

What helped me save more was keeping a daily journal of EVERYTHING I bought for 2 months and learning what to edit out. What I saw were frivolous expenditures that really added up. How I saved big time each month was doing the following:

Cable tv (I switched to hulu and Netflix) saved $80.00
All sodas/juices/starbucks ( I drink water with all my meals) saved $120.00
Dining out (this is a budget killer) saved $200.00
Sticking to the grocery list saved $40.00
Cut back my sprinklers/ watering timers $10.00

Those things alone saved me 450.00 a month. Also what helped me save was changing my online banking by opening multiple savings accounts for big ticket items instead of having just a general savings account. Well good luck to you, there is a lot of good advice in this thread!