Credit Card Debt Anyone?
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I have a ton of CC debt...but that is because I was out of work for a while and everything had to go on the card to survive. Been almost 2 years and I am still struggling pretty bad. If you can avoid it, avoid it at all costs!
yup me to.
I had NO cc for years- and finally caved and got one- and for a while I managed it great- then struck on some REALLY hard times and was literally surviving off one. (for those of you judgy types- I'll ask you how you make a pay check of 500$ that comes only two times a month stretch to cover an 800$ rent and gas and groceries and your truck payment.
Please- I'm all ears)
anyway. yes- got in up to **** creek with that- did better- and then it's all been down hill. It's my biggest weakness. I need a MFP for my spending- I'm a retail therapy person- I don't do food therapy. ... I get depressed- I spend.
rough.
BF is trying to help me pull my crap together- it's rough.
Yes yes I retail therapy too!!!0 -
Didn't need this to be a bashing session...I'm 20 years old who wanted to treat my family for once rather then them spending all of their money on me.
I hope you will clear your debt, but this actually made my heart smile, OP. Good on you, for wanting to do for others!0 -
I have a ton of CC debt...but that is because I was out of work for a while and everything had to go on the card to survive. Been almost 2 years and I am still struggling pretty bad. If you can avoid it, avoid it at all costs!
yup me to.
I had NO cc for years- and finally caved and got one- and for a while I managed it great- then struck on some REALLY hard times and was literally surviving off one. (for those of you judgy types- I'll ask you how you make a pay check of 500$ that comes only two times a month stretch to cover an 800$ rent and gas and groceries and your truck payment.
Please- I'm all ears)
anyway. yes- got in up to **** creek with that- did better- and then it's all been down hill. It's my biggest weakness. I need a MFP for my spending- I'm a retail therapy person- I don't do food therapy. ... I get depressed- I spend.
rough.
BF is trying to help me pull my crap together- it's rough.
That was/is my wife (except she likes her candy too). I wish I could tell you its easy to overcome. I mainly resolved the problem it put on the family by outearning her spending. She still has the issue though and discusses how she regularly needs to stop at Sephora to get her fix when she is feeling stressed. Might need a little ACTUAL therapy...0 -
when I was younger, I dug myself into quite a hole with credit cards. I don't have any now, at all. Once it was all paid off, I got rid of the things. It has made my life much simpler.
I saved money each month in a separate account so I would have spending $$ for gifts the past couple years. It is so much more fun to shop when you don't have that nagging feeling in the back of your mind "how am I going to pay for this?"0 -
Never never never carry a balance on a credit card. I use credit cards for the cash back / travel points.
This.
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Actually carrying a small balance is good for your credit score. Keep it less than 15% of your available credit amount.
Is this the financial equivalent of broscience?0 -
Anyone else facing credit debt and how are you budgeting yourself so you can pay it off??
The way to budget the payments on a credit card is by putting any non-essential money against the debt to pay it off as fast as possible. Interest rates on cards are extremely high so you should get rid of the debt as fast as possible.
For example, I'm going to make up some numbers, but the process would look like this:
You make $3000 per month.
You pay $600 in mortgage/rent, $200 in utilities - so now you have $2200 left.
You need $500 for food - so now you have $1700 left.
You need $100 a month set aside for recurring expenses (insurance, etc.) - so you have $1600 left.
You need $400 for your other debt payments, such as a car - so now you have $1200 left.
For this example, we are going to assume that we are at the end of your list. You would then put the $1200 you have left over on your credit card. Don't save it, don't go treat yourself to something nice, etc. Pay off the credit card debt as soon as possible.
Hope this helps. Feel free to send me a PM as well if you want help working your actual numbers out. Good luck.0 -
I carry zero debt. If I can't pay for Christmas with cash, nobody gets a thing.0
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Didn't need this to be a bashing session...I'm 20 years old who wanted to treat my family for once rather then them spending all of their money on me.
Rather than bashing I think people are trying to help you understand that you are making a very big mistake by racking up debt to give gifts. At 20 years old, no one should expect extravagant gifts from you or any gifts at all for that matter. I have 20-something kids and love to give them gifts. Mostly I get them useful things that they can't afford so they don't go into debt getting them but I always tell them that I expect nothing in return.
If you can, return some of the gifts you bought for credit on the cards and get the debt down that way. Once you've done that I would encourage you to pay as much as you possibly can on these cards over the next several months and pay them off as quickly as possible. It will cost you WAY more than $2,000 in interest if you only make the minimum payments.0 -
Never never never carry a balance on a credit card. I use credit cards for the cash back / travel points.
This.
.
x2. It took me about 2 years to pay off 20k in debt, made the last payment the same month I was laid off. One less thing to worry about since it took almost a year to find another job. Have been debt-free (except for mortgage) ever since.0 -
You've heard enough of the high and mighty, so I won't add to it with the fact that I have been 100% debt free for the past six and a half years. Oh wait, just did...sorry
But seriously. I have been there, done that. I started out with 1 little store credit card at age 18 to "build my credit" and wound up amassing HUGE C/C debt that took many years to pay off.
Basically I spent my entire 20s in debt to C/C bills and stuck in a cycle of paying them down, then "needing" them again and so on. It really caused problems for me. I never missed a payment so I still had excellent credit but it is NOT fun spending as much on C/C bills as you spend on rent. Again, I've been there.
I hope you're not doing it to show how successful you are (read: pride) or pay your family back for past gifts, etc. They will love you even if you buy them each a $10 gift. They know you are young and just starting out. Please remember this!0 -
I hope you will clear your debt, but this actually made my heart smile, OP. Good on you, for wanting to do for others!
Thank you so much!!!0 -
Don't have a credit card. I have a thing called savings. Every Wednesday money it taken from my bank account & placed into a high interest savings account. Even while I was not working & could not afford to even save $10 I still had the money transfer over.
It's what normal people do.0 -
I have a ton of CC debt...but that is because I was out of work for a while and everything had to go on the card to survive. Been almost 2 years and I am still struggling pretty bad. If you can avoid it, avoid it at all costs!
yup me to.
I had NO cc for years- and finally caved and got one- and for a while I managed it great- then struck on some REALLY hard times and was literally surviving off one. (for those of you judgy types- I'll ask you how you make a pay check of 500$ that comes only two times a month stretch to cover an 800$ rent and gas and groceries and your truck payment.
Please- I'm all ears)
anyway. yes- got in up to **** creek with that- did better- and then it's all been down hill. It's my biggest weakness. I need a MFP for my spending- I'm a retail therapy person- I don't do food therapy. ... I get depressed- I spend.
rough.
BF is trying to help me pull my crap together- it's rough.
I could, but you would probably end up getting pissed off and then pissing me off in return.
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The way to budget the payments on a credit card is by putting any non-essential money against the debt to pay it off as fast as possible. Interest rates on cards are extremely high so you should get rid of the debt as fast as possible.
For example, I'm going to make up some numbers, but the process would look like this:
You make $3000 per month.
You pay $600 in mortgage/rent, $200 in utilities - so now you have $2200 left.
You need $500 for food - so now you have $1700 left.
You need $100 a month set aside for recurring expenses (insurance, etc.) - so you have $1600 left.
You need $400 for your other debt payments, such as a car - so now you have $1200 left.
For this example, we are going to assume that we are at the end of your list. You would then put the $1200 you have left over on your credit card. Don't save it, don't go treat yourself to something nice, etc. Pay off the credit card debt as soon as possible.
Hope this helps. Feel free to send me a PM as well if you want help working your actual numbers out. Good luck.
Thank you so much!0 -
If you do some deep research into this you will find that that's simply not true. You don't need to carry a balance to raise your score. You don't get extra points for interest paid. What matters are the monthly balances that creditors report to the credit bureaus. These balances can be captured at any time during your credit card cycles. These balances are weighed against your available credit, and this debt-to-credit-limit ratio, or utilization, makes up about 30 percent of your FICO score, the most widely used scoring formula.
Why would I be incentivised with a higher credit score for agreeing to the penalty billing cycle interest? Answer: You are not.
Pay you balance in full. Don't pay interest if you don't have to.
Can you cite your source because when I was in the process of rebuilding my credit not only my financial officer but TransUnion, & Experian (2 of the 3 main credit bureaus) advised this on their own websites as well when I was a member.... or has this changed over the years?0 -
Two Words.... DAVE RAMSEY. If you are 20 years old and are having this problem, use the advice everyone else gave you to pay off the credit cards and then read all about what Dave Ramsey teaches and you will have no worries about your future. You are still young, and lots of people make these mistakes when they are young. I did the same thing, Dave Ramsey changed us forever!!! Don't use credit cards either, cash for everything. If you don't have the money to pay cash, YOU DONT HAVE THE MONEY!!! I am sure your family will understand if they don't get an expensive gift for Christmas. After all, the holidays should not be about gifts, they should be about being with family and doing nice things for people and all that jazz
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I have a ton of credit card debt from college, but I didn't spend it all on presents, I spent it all on surviving and paying bills.
I'll be paying off those debts for years and end up paying multiple times what I originally spent. I would have never done that for presents that no one is expecting.0 -
I had NO cc for years- and finally caved and got one- and for a while I managed it great- then struck on some REALLY hard times and was literally surviving off one. (for those of you judgy types- I'll ask you how you make a pay check of 500$ that comes only two times a month stretch to cover an 800$ rent and gas and groceries and your truck payment.
Please- I'm all ears)
Maybe move into a cheaper apartment, sell the truck, ride the bus, and get another job?
Not that I really know your situation or anything but there are always options. It's one thing if you covered the difference for a month, but you can't live above your means forever. Your comment made it sound like you had no choice and my only point is that you always have a choice. However, it may not always be easy or convenient.0 -
I have credit card debt, but most of it came from my ex husband and I kept the debt when we divorced to make the process go more smoothly. I only use my credit card for major medical bills or things that I could not, realistically, plan for in my normal budget.
I did not add any credit card debt for Christmas shopping - I set a specific budget, set that money aside, and made sure I stayed as close as possible to within that budget. I have a boyfriend and two kids to shop for, and they are all getting decent gifts from me, but I set aside $300 total for Christmas shopping and tried to stay within that. I have one more thing to get still, so I might go just a little over budget, but not by much at all.
I am a firm believer in being responsible and living within my means. Occasional splurges happen, but I do not make a ton of money and so I don't live as if I do. I have a cheap car that gets me from Point A to Point B, comfortable but inexpensive clothes, and limited "extras" because they aren't necessary or important and it would not be responsible for me to rack up debt just because it's something I want.0 -
You've heard enough of the high and mighty, so I won't add to it with the fact that I have been 100% debt free for the past six and a half years. Oh wait, just did...sorry
But seriously. I have been there, done that. I started out with 1 little store credit card at age 18 to "build my credit" and wound up amassing HUGE C/C debt that took many years to pay off.
Basically I spent my entire 20s in debt to C/C bills and stuck in a cycle of paying them down, then "needing" them again and so on. It really caused problems for me. I never missed a payment so I still had excellent credit but it is NOT fun spending as much on C/C bills as you spend on rent. Again, I've been there.
I hope you're not doing it to show how successful you are (read: pride) or pay your family back for past gifts, etc. They will love you even if you buy them each a $10 gift. They know you are young and just starting out. Please remember this!
I'm doing it because of the reason that I really wanted to get them gifts not just one or two things...I know it sounds silly and I know they would love me if I got them nothing but I love to give...it makes me very happy to see others happy.0
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