$18K on one card and the interest is tripling

[lenbevy]

Two pieces of advice - first run a budget. then get payofflive dot com - their service is great and will help you understand how long it will take you to get out of debt and even tell you how much to pay and when to pay it.

once you have figured some things out, call your credit company and see if they can help you out by lowering the rate or negotiating the balance.

[davecc]

I hope you can get out of that. I think you should consider a career change or maybe getting a second job, temporarily. Good luck!

[Radiance]

Originally Posted by BTC

If it's an option, you might consider consolidating the debt onto a lower interest card, or bank loan.

Thas is what I did! I took a personal bank loan with the purpose of debt consolidation, they gave me 12% at 6 years to pay, no pre pay penalties.

I did it through my credit union. Give your bank or your local credit union a call and see what they can do.

Most importantly, is your current budget setup so you won't need to use your credit cards anymore?

All the best!

And, guys?, the conversation on whether the banks should be allowed to do this or that sounds like highjacking addicted.to.music's post. I think it is or should be covered somewhere else... just my two cents.

[wnlbutterfly]

The main problem with Inkstains theory about when times are tough then the risk is higher to credit card companies is that knowing a lot of people are struggling right now and then increase the rates, which I assume will also increase their payments (if not then the balance is going to start ballooning), is that you are risking having even MORE customers default, just as KG101 is suggesting.

We haven't had any interest hikes because our credit cards were already crazy high. Making progress on paying them off though.