$15,000 credit card debt at 21yrs old

[vistrosv]

@mishka333 It's crazy how much alcohol can rack up expense. My monthly total for alcohol at one point (grocery and dining out) was over $200. It's saves a massive amount if you quit drinking.

Also, drinking causes you to make poor eating and other buying decisions. Drunk and don't want to cook the food you planned out and bought from grocery store? Just order $12 - $20 Chinese, pizza, take out, etc...

 

[pam4him]

@vistrosv thankfully i don’t have any habits like that. no smoking or drinking. i rarely go out too. i got no friends lmao

 

[jnredwine]

@vistrosv to that. I am not on a budget, but I should be.

 

[brittbrat]

@vistrosv Please let me know where you can get a $12 pizza (other than Costco) or Chinese dinner for $20.

 

[cblyles]

@brittbrat Lidil has a 3 for 5$ pack of frozen pizzas, 1000 cals each and pretty good. Perfect food when drunk/stoned

 

[jacobian]

@pam4him You need to give us more details. What is your monthly income? Are you renting? What expenses do you have? That’d be a good start.

 

[pam4him]

@jacobian monthly income is about 3000k a month. i’m not renting. i have a few other months expenses tho that i can’t get rid of. they are necessities.

 

[jacobian]

@pam4him You need to start budgeting and plan your weeks. If you’re not renting, then what are your biggest expenses that are eating up the $3000?

 

[%C3%ADomh%C3%A1nna_beag]

@pam4him I got in a similar situation during grad school. I went to my bank and took out a personal loan with the understanding that I was closing the credit card account (which I did). Personal loans have far lower interest rates, a defined term, and a defined monthly payment - just like a car loan. Having a definite date for when the debt would be lifted was very reassuring. It felt a little risky, in that closing the credit card meant I had no room for dealing with emergencies, but I had to take the chance. 3 years later, the debt was gone, my credit survived, and I was better off for it.

 

[biblejohnmark]

@%C3%ADomh%C3%A1nna_beag Let’s be real this kid is not qualifying for 15k personal loan carrying that kind of balance

 

[%C3%ADomh%C3%A1nna_beag]

@biblejohnmark Hey, I managed to get it. It doesn’t hurt them to try.

 

[biblejohnmark]

@%C3%ADomh%C3%A1nna_beag Hopefully.. another thing to be aware of…What I’ve seen happening is people get those loans then slowly start charging the cc again to make ends meet and now they have a 15k loan plus and 15k cc balance all over again

 

[cblyles]

@biblejohnmark Also current interest rates, lenders aren’t just throwing money at everyone rn.

 

[%C3%ADomh%C3%A1nna_beag]

@biblejohnmark Indeed. OP would be wise not to join those foolish individuals.

 

[ibjoe]

@%C3%ADomh%C3%A1nna_beag I did the exact same thing. Credit card problem solved, and my debt didn’t “creep back up again.” You’re not alone…this is definitely an option.

 

[danielkim]

@pam4him call your bank. tell them they either allow you to pay it back at a lower rate or you're going bankrupt and they'll get nothing from you. you would be surprised at how effective this is.

if you can work out a payment plan, stick to it and stop using your credit card for anything. $15,000 is a lot of money but it's definitely not too late to fix. acknowledging it is a good first step that a lot of people seem to miss.

 

[mishka333]

@danielkim does it affect credit score in this type of deal

 

[howard1959]

@mishka333 I did this to a few of my accounts, all it does is close them out if you choose the option of reducing your monthly payment, interest rate, and closure of the account. It will effect your utilization, account amount aka lines of credit, and account history.

Bankruptcy is a whole other ball game, same with debt settlement. All debt settlement does is get you into a mess with the IRS because the difference of money you agree to settle on, gets taxed on as income.

For example, you have 15k debt, but settle it for $7.5k. The other 7.5k gets absolved but it will count as taxable income.

What I did, is call them, say that you’re considering bankruptcy, but trying to avoid it. They’ll give you “hardship options”

My one account: 0% interest, $120 a month for 5 years.

My other account: 9% interest, $148 a month for 4 years.

 

[anon_47]

@howard1959 If you’re insolvent, which most people are in this situation, then the cancelled debt isn’t taxed.

 

[howard1959]

@anon_47 Thank you for the clarification! I wasn’t aware of that.