I don't even know where to begin!

[DS1987]

Hi everyone! This is my first post, so first and foremost, hello!

I hope I am posting this in the right part of the forum.

I am really lost as far as my finances are concerned... both mentally lost, and also currently dealing with out of control finances. I made a lot of mistakes, and sometimes even repeated those mistakes. I am seriously trying to get my life and my finances back in order, but there are many things that I am not really sure about, and i'm not really comfortable talking about with my friends and family. Luckily, I am in a position to turn things around. I want to be able to get married, have kids, and also live financially free. I am tired of being tied down by this. Anyway, here is my current situation. Sorry for the long post!

Income: $55,000.00 per year. I take home about $800 per week, and $3,200 per month, plus occasional overtime.

Debt: Student loans: $8,000. These are paid on time and in good standing. I also have credit card debt from a few years ago. I currently have about 13k in total CC debt. A few years back I had major problems (lack of job being the major one). Anyway, I all but stopped paying my CC's. Needless to say, I destroyed my credit, and I have been regretting it ever since. This leads me to my first few questions: is it worth it at this point to pay them back? Is there a statute of limitations on these debts? Will paying them back even help my credit? (I am ashamed to even ask this)

Monthly Bills: Currently, I have about $1,600.00 in fixed bills per month (not including any CC payments, obv). April 1st, this total will drop to $1,150.00. In 11 months, my car will be paid, freeing up another $200.00 per month, making my month expenses $950.00.

Savings, Investments, 401k: Currently, I have about $1,700.00 in mutual funds, $2,500 in my 401k, and about $300.00 in an Orange Savings account. Other than that, I am terrible with my money. I have poor habits that I am working on changing, and eventually eliminating. Quite honestly, I don't even know where the rest of my money goes. I do know that I don't want to live like this anymore.

Ultimately, I would like to save as much money as possible. I think my income allows for this, but this CC debt is really hanging over my head.

How much of my money should I be investing into my 401k? (No match, sucks I know)
How much should I be investing into a Roth IRA? Stocks, or Mutual funds?
How much should I be keeping in a savings account?
How much should I keep in an emergency account? (Car repair, Hospital visits, etc)
And again, What do I do with the CC debt?

Again, sorry for long post, and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read and offer their advice. I am tired of being irresponsible, and I am tired of being held back by my poor choices.

[Bades]

CC:If you ever want credit again in your life, you'll need to pay that CC off. I'm not knowledgeable on debt consolidation or anything, but chances are because of your high income, I'm not sure how forgiving they'll be?

Emergency Funds I would also consider this your savings account...Rule of thumb, 6 months of expenses so that's around 9k for. That's a lot and in my opinion I wouldn't save up to 9k if I had 11k in CC debt. If you can get a few thousand saved up, I would throw the rest of my savings at the CC debt.

Again someone else can answer the CC problem better than I can. I'm assuming they still charge you interest and late fees to this day on the CCs?

Student Loans and Auto Loan: keep paying these off.

Do whatever you can to bring your monthly expenses down and save more! What are some of these poor spending habits?

[Bob B.]

BTW, two and a half years ago, I was in a very similar situations. I've been slowly digging myself out since.

The standard advice for Emergency Fund is 3-6 months spending. Unless you're paying off high interest credit cards. Then, fund your EF with $1,000, then start attacking those credit cards.

There are two schools of thought on attacking CC debt. The first, and most commonly supported in this forum is by interest rate, highest to lowest. So, make minimum monthly payments on all your cards except one, the one with the highest interest rate. On that one, sock as much money as you can each and every month. Go on a bare bones budget. No cable, no eating out, no gym memberships, no vacations - you get my point.

The other method of paying off CCs is to attack lowest to highest balance. Same as above - pay minimum on all cards except the one with the lowest balance. The key with either method is - once you get that first card paid off - send that monthly payment to the next card in line. So, you'll be paying the same amount each month as you pay your cards off. Once your second card is paid off, send the big payment to third in line, repeat until they're all gone.

Paying highest to lowest rate means you'll end up paying less in interest. That's the way I attacked my CC debt.

[breathemusic]

The credit card debt is money that you spent, no matter how long ago that was. So if you're in a financial position now that you can afford to make payments, you should since it's your obligation. And given that you take home quite a bit more than you actually need to live on, I think you could get rid of that debt pretty fast.

I assume your fixed bills don't include groceries, transportation (gas) and other expenses, so the first thing you probably need to do is make yourself a budget for those expenses to see where you can trim your current spending levels and get a better idea of just how much extra money you'll have each month to put toward paying off your debt. And since your savings is very small right now, I'd split your extra money between the debt and the savings until you have at the bare minimum, a month of living expenses, but ideally 2. Then you can at least put a little less in savings and more toward the debt until that is paid off.

[bjl584]

First you need to sit down and make a detailed budget. Find out where each and every dollar is going. Without knowing that it will be hard to make a plan to fix it.

[Wino]

First you need to sit down and make a detailed budget. Find out where each and every dollar is going. Without knowing that it will be hard to make a plan to fix it.

Firstly, write everything down as bjl said.

I also second the fact that you spent the CC money, so you are morally obligated to pay it back. It may not feel like theft in your mind to not pay it back, but I can think of no other adequate description for "took money with an agreement to pay it back but never paid it back." OK... "Theft" may be slightly severe, but morally, it's right next door.

I would not yet put anything toward debt beyond minimum payments. You need to put some money into an account for emergencies. The amount should be whatever level you're comfortable having FOR EMERGENCIES. This means it isn't for eating out, bar hopping, date night, or making up for end-of-paycheck before end-of-month. It is for unforeseen payments you cannot avoid.

Once you have a fund in a savings account as above, start whittling away at your debts by any method you consider to be "the best." Yes, this forum goes for the "debt tsunami" of paying highest interest first, but other methods include "lowest debt first," and there is one that is "pay off the debts in the order you either hate or like the lender." That last means you want to "get Bank of Whatever" out of you life completely, so you pay them off first (hate), or you pay off the $500 your mom loaned you in tough times (like). Emotionally, the last method might be the most effective for some people.

Anyway, without knowing any of the details, I can tell you that getting out of debt is not an exercise in math or finances. It is an exercise in self-restraint and will only happen if you change your way of doing things. In particular, you have to start spending only money you have, and not borrowing money to get things before you can afford them. That means used cars (beaters), old clothes, bag lunches, Keystone beer at home, no cable TV, having no iPhone8T (or whatever model and version you "need" to buy when it comes out)... basically, it means not spending unless you must, and paying off debt first, then saving, and - eventually - buying stuff you CAN afford because you want it and can afford it.

[jpg7n16]

I currently have about 13k in total CC debt. -- is it worth it at this point to pay them back? Is there a statute of limitations on these debts? Will paying them back even help my credit? (I am ashamed to even ask this)

IMO - you borrowed the money, and used it on yourself in that time. You owe the money you borrowed.

So whether or not it helps your credit, I believe you should pay back what you borrowed. $13k given your current income, should be gone in no time once you get serious about it.

We can help with that

Oh and for what it's worth, if you still have a car payment, you also have a car loan -- which is debt.

What's the rate on your SLs?

Savings, Investments, 401k: Currently, I have about $1,700.00 in mutual funds

Are those in a standard taxable account? If so, sell them today and use it to pay down on your CC debt.

If it's in an IRA, then nevermind.

$2,500 in my 401k

How old are you?
At what age do you see yourself retiring?
What do you want your lifestyle to be like at that time?
How old do people in your family tend to live? (ie. how long do we need to make this retirement money last?)

In addition to your 401k, do you have any sort of pension?

Quite honestly, I don't even know where the rest of my money goes. I do know that I don't want to live like this anymore.

https://www.mint.com

Again, sorry for long post, and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read and offer their advice. I am tired of being irresponsible, and I am tired of being held back by my poor choices.

Here are some steps I think you should take. In order.

1) Keep about $2-3k cash on hand
2) Pay off CC debt
3) Pay off car (if not already gone by that time)
4) Build up to 3-6 months expenses on hand for EF
5) Start making a determined effort to save for your future

You'll notice that step 5, comes after steps 1-4.


In order to figure out how much you should be saving at that time, we'd need more info about you.

[josetann]

One of the first steps I'd do, is look into bankruptcy laws. Even if you have no intention of actually filing, I'm a big advocate of being fully informed. So know what would happen, what would get wiped out (most unsecured debt), what would stick around (student loan debt), affect on credit, future employment, etc. etc. Heck, I'd advise this to pretty much anyone, even if they're currently in great financial shape (so if things go to crap and you're about to raid your 401k and do some other potentially stupid moves, you'll stop and say "wait, this could be a bad move, let me rethink this before I make any drastic choices"). I think your income is probably too high (especially if you're single; if you have a family of six and you're the only income earner, that's a different story), and your unsecured debt is too low (why file for $13k when that can easily be knocked out within a year?).

Moving on, I'll assume you choose not to file bankruptcy. Yes, there is a statute of limitations on credit card debt, it varies by state. Once a debt is past the SOL you shouldn't be sued for it, but that doesn't mean a collector won't "accidentally" not notice and try to sue anyways (and get a default judgement when you don't show up, and garnish wages, and cause lots of headaches). Basically it means if someone sues you, you get to show up to court and say "this debt is past the statute of limitations" and THAT'S IT. If you so much as acknowledge that you owe the debt (which includes things such as saying "Yes, I owe it BUT...", or making a payment), you reset the clock.

Here's the kicker. If you decide to pay off your debts, it'll hurt your credit score right now. Because if you haven't paid a debt for four years, that's pretty old, and doesn't have as much weight on your score as your recent history. But as soon as you pay off a collection, it's a recent bad debt (paid off, true...but still recent). Do some research on credit forums that deal with these kinds of issues. If you decide to pay them off, I'd probably look into what's called a "pay to delete"; you don't acknowledge oweing the debt but agree to pay them if they'll remove the item from your credit report.

If you start paying them off, I wouldn't just resume making minimum payments. Damage is already done. I'd put aside the money that you would be putting on the credit cards, and once you have around 50% (so, about $7k) I'd start calling them and making the offers to pay off the debt. Start with the biggest. Offer a lowball figure (I dunno, 10%?), be happy with anything under 50%. Once you start settling and the info hits your credit report, the other companies will catch wind and may play hardball (because they figure you have money now, and perhaps there's a reason you're trying to clean up your credit, such as a new home purchase). So that's why I'd try to negotiate with all of them in a short period of time, and start with the largest debt.

As far as morals...that's up to you. Pay the full amount if you want. Or figure up the actual amount you charged and subtract all the interest charged. Or whatever. Note that once it's gone to collections, they probably paid pennies on the dollar, so even paying 30% of the debt means they just made a big return on their investment. Do whatever makes you sleep better at night.

And make sure you don't get into this situation again (barring something totally unforeseen, such as a really expensive medical condition that costs hundreds of thousands in medical bills, despite you having what was assumed to be a "Cadillac" insurance plan). Have a budget, don't spend more than you earn, save up for the inevitable emergency (both real emergencies, and the "crap the car needs a new transmission, which every car ever made is going to need some repair at some point, so this shouldn't be a total surprise" emergency), etc.

[DS1987]

Wow.. I got a lot more responses so far than I anticipated. Thank you all so much.

CC:If you ever want credit again in your life, you'll need to pay that CC off. I'm not knowledgeable on debt consolidation or anything, but chances are because of your high income, I'm not sure how forgiving they'll be?

Emergency Funds I would also consider this your savings account...Rule of thumb, 6 months of expenses so that's around 9k for. That's a lot and in my opinion I wouldn't save up to 9k if I had 11k in CC debt. If you can get a few thousand saved up, I would throw the rest of my savings at the CC debt.

Again someone else can answer the CC problem better than I can. I'm assuming they still charge you interest and late fees to this day on the CCs?

Student Loans and Auto Loan: keep paying these off.

Do whatever you can to bring your monthly expenses down and save more! What are some of these poor spending habits?

I do eventually want credit again. There is a part of me that feels that credit=temptation, so right now, I don't mind not having it : ) I am trying to spin my situation as a positive learning experience, so that I don't get into this mess again.

My poor spending habits are that I eat out a lot, and make many small impulse purchases that clearly are adding up.

BTW, two and a half years ago, I was in a very similar situations. I've been slowly digging myself out since.

The standard advice for Emergency Fund is 3-6 months spending. Unless you're paying off high interest credit cards. Then, fund your EF with $1,000, then start attacking those credit cards.

There are two schools of thought on attacking CC debt. The first, and most commonly supported in this forum is by interest rate, highest to lowest. So, make minimum monthly payments on all your cards except one, the one with the highest interest rate. On that one, sock as much money as you can each and every month. Go on a bare bones budget. No cable, no eating out, no gym memberships, no vacations - you get my point.

The other method of paying off CCs is to attack lowest to highest balance. Same as above - pay minimum on all cards except the one with the lowest balance. The key with either method is - once you get that first card paid off - send that monthly payment to the next card in line. So, you'll be paying the same amount each month as you pay your cards off. Once your second card is paid off, send the big payment to third in line, repeat until they're all gone.

Paying highest to lowest rate means you'll end up paying less in interest. That's the way I attacked my CC debt.

I remember reading this in Dave Ramseys book. I am the type of guy that doesn't feel comfortable only having $1,000 as an emergency budget, especially given that my credit is in the dumps right now. I'd imagine I could use this strategy, and maybe save up a slightly bigger EF. My biggest debt is $11,000, which also carries the highest interest. I have four other cards that carry balances of approximately $500. Would you suggest getting rid of these smaller ones first, despite them having lower interest rates? I think mentally it would help me stress less that only owe one company.

The credit card debt is money that you spent, no matter how long ago that was. So if you're in a financial position now that you can afford to make payments, you should since it's your obligation. And given that you take home quite a bit more than you actually need to live on, I think you could get rid of that debt pretty fast.

I assume your fixed bills don't include groceries, transportation (gas) and other expenses, so the first thing you probably need to do is make yourself a budget for those expenses to see where you can trim your current spending levels and get a better idea of just how much extra money you'll have each month to put toward paying off your debt. And since your savings is very small right now, I'd split your extra money between the debt and the savings until you have at the bare minimum, a month of living expenses, but ideally 2. Then you can at least put a little less in savings and more toward the debt until that is paid off.

I know, I do feel obligated to pay back what I owe. I just think the system is flawed in the sense that I feel my only incentive to pay them back is my moral obligation to do so. If I were to pay back all my debts so that I literally owe nothing, would that make it easier for me to secure a car loan, mortgage, or even an apartment despite my bad credit? I'd imagine that bad credit with no debt is much better than bad credit with substantial outstanding debt.

My fixed bills do not include those expenses. I have done a rough budget, and I estimate that I should be able to put $1,000.00 towards my debts quite easily. I like the idea of building a savings and paying debts at the same time.

Firstly, write everything down as bjl said.

I also second the fact that you spent the CC money, so you are morally obligated to pay it back. It may not feel like theft in your mind to not pay it back, but I can think of no other adequate description for "took money with an agreement to pay it back but never paid it back." OK... "Theft" may be slightly severe, but morally, it's right next door.

I would not yet put anything toward debt beyond minimum payments. You need to put some money into an account for emergencies. The amount should be whatever level you're comfortable having FOR EMERGENCIES. This means it isn't for eating out, bar hopping, date night, or making up for end-of-paycheck before end-of-month. It is for unforeseen payments you cannot avoid.

Once you have a fund in a savings account as above, start whittling away at your debts by any method you consider to be "the best." Yes, this forum goes for the "debt tsunami" of paying highest interest first, but other methods include "lowest debt first," and there is one that is "pay off the debts in the order you either hate or like the lender." That last means you want to "get Bank of Whatever" out of you life completely, so you pay them off first (hate), or you pay off the $500 your mom loaned you in tough times (like). Emotionally, the last method might be the most effective for some people.

Anyway, without knowing any of the details, I can tell you that getting out of debt is not an exercise in math or finances. It is an exercise in self-restraint and will only happen if you change your way of doing things. In particular, you have to start spending only money you have, and not borrowing money to get things before you can afford them. That means used cars (beaters), old clothes, bag lunches, Keystone beer at home, no cable TV, having no iPhone8T (or whatever model and version you "need" to buy when it comes out)... basically, it means not spending unless you must, and paying off debt first, then saving, and - eventually - buying stuff you CAN afford because you want it and can afford it.

So for the time being, you are recommending not paying any debts until my emergency fund is set up? Should I at least pay something in the meantime??

IMO - you borrowed the money, and used it on yourself in that time. You owe the money you borrowed.

So whether or not it helps your credit, I believe you should pay back what you borrowed. $13k given your current income, should be gone in no time once you get serious about it.

We can help with that

Oh and for what it's worth, if you still have a car payment, you also have a car loan -- which is debt.

What's the rate on your SLs?


Are those in a standard taxable account? If so, sell them today and use it to pay down on your CC debt.

If it's in an IRA, then nevermind.


How old are you?
At what age do you see yourself retiring?
What do you want your lifestyle to be like at that time?
How old do people in your family tend to live? (ie. how long do we need to make this retirement money last?)

In addition to your 401k, do you have any sort of pension?






Here are some steps I think you should take. In order.

1) Keep about $2-3k cash on hand
2) Pay off CC debt
3) Pay off car (if not already gone by that time)
4) Build up to 3-6 months expenses on hand for EF
5) Start making a determined effort to save for your future

You'll notice that step 5, comes after steps 1-4.


In order to figure out how much you should be saving at that time, we'd need more info about you.

Thanks for the awesome response. I am 25 years old, and I would like to retire by 60 (if I am lucky) obviously the earlier the better. I want to be able to live a stress free lifestyle with stability. If I have kids and grandchildren, I just want to be able to provide for them, without worrying about finances. I don't really know, that question is tough for me to answer! Most of my grandparents lived well into their 80's. One is still alive, and my grandmother passed away last year at 97.

my SL interest rates are about 3.5%? Somewhere in that ballpark. The $1,700.00 is in a standard taxable account.

No pension

One of the first steps I'd do, is look into bankruptcy laws. Even if you have no intention of actually filing, I'm a big advocate of being fully informed. So know what would happen, what would get wiped out (most unsecured debt), what would stick around (student loan debt), affect on credit, future employment, etc. etc. Heck, I'd advise this to pretty much anyone, even if they're currently in great financial shape (so if things go to crap and you're about to raid your 401k and do some other potentially stupid moves, you'll stop and say "wait, this could be a bad move, let me rethink this before I make any drastic choices"). I think your income is probably too high (especially if you're single; if you have a family of six and you're the only income earner, that's a different story), and your unsecured debt is too low (why file for $13k when that can easily be knocked out within a year?).

Moving on, I'll assume you choose not to file bankruptcy. Yes, there is a statute of limitations on credit card debt, it varies by state. Once a debt is past the SOL you shouldn't be sued for it, but that doesn't mean a collector won't "accidentally" not notice and try to sue anyways (and get a default judgement when you don't show up, and garnish wages, and cause lots of headaches). Basically it means if someone sues you, you get to show up to court and say "this debt is past the statute of limitations" and THAT'S IT. If you so much as acknowledge that you owe the debt (which includes things such as saying "Yes, I owe it BUT...", or making a payment), you reset the clock.

Here's the kicker. If you decide to pay off your debts, it'll hurt your credit score right now. Because if you haven't paid a debt for four years, that's pretty old, and doesn't have as much weight on your score as your recent history. But as soon as you pay off a collection, it's a recent bad debt (paid off, true...but still recent). Do some research on credit forums that deal with these kinds of issues. If you decide to pay them off, I'd probably look into what's called a "pay to delete"; you don't acknowledge oweing the debt but agree to pay them if they'll remove the item from your credit report.

If you start paying them off, I wouldn't just resume making minimum payments. Damage is already done. I'd put aside the money that you would be putting on the credit cards, and once you have around 50% (so, about $7k) I'd start calling them and making the offers to pay off the debt. Start with the biggest. Offer a lowball figure (I dunno, 10%?), be happy with anything under 50%. Once you start settling and the info hits your credit report, the other companies will catch wind and may play hardball (because they figure you have money now, and perhaps there's a reason you're trying to clean up your credit, such as a new home purchase). So that's why I'd try to negotiate with all of them in a short period of time, and start with the largest debt.

As far as morals...that's up to you. Pay the full amount if you want. Or figure up the actual amount you charged and subtract all the interest charged. Or whatever. Note that once it's gone to collections, they probably paid pennies on the dollar, so even paying 30% of the debt means they just made a bit return on their investment. Do whatever makes you sleep better at night.

And make sure you don't get into this situation again (barring something totally unforeseen, such as a really expensive medical condition that costs hundreds of thousands in medical bills, despite you having what was assumed to be a "Cadillac" insurance plan). Have a budget, don't spend more than you earn, save up for the inevitable emergency (both real emergencies, and the "crap the car needs a new transmission, which every car ever made is going to need some repair at some point, so this shouldn't be a total surprise" emergency), etc.

I like the idea of offering a "settlement." As long as it came off my report just the same.

[josetann]

I do eventually want credit again. There is a part of me that feels that credit=temptation, so right now, I don't mind not having it : ) I am trying to spin my situation as a positive learning experience, so that I don't get into this mess again.

Just a quick note, you'll get credit again even if you never pay another dime to the credit card companies. I think it takes about seven or so years for old information (good or bad) to fall off your credit report. This is from the date of last activity though, so if the last payment sent was four years ago, you have three to go; if the last payment was sent yesterday, then you have seven more years to go. BUT...even if the info falls off the credit reports, the companies themselves may keep you on a blacklist indefinitely. I.e. if you default with Capital One, seven years later you may have an 800 credit score but Capital One could still choose to deny you.

My poor spending habits are that I eat out a lot, and make many small impulse purchases that clearly are adding up.

Need to fix this ASAP. This is a pretty good forum for getting ideas, there's others that may be better for you, just depends on what exactly you need. Nevertheless, get a grasp on where your money is going, and where you WANT it to be going.

I know, I do feel obligated to pay back what I owe. I just think the system is flawed in the sense that I feel my only incentive to pay them back is my moral obligation to do so. If I were to pay back all my debts so that I literally owe nothing, would that make it easier for me to secure a car loan, mortgage, or even an apartment despite my bad credit? I'd imagine that bad credit with no debt is much better than bad credit with substantial outstanding debt.

Or, would it be easier to secure the car loan with bad-ish credit and $13k in the bank so you can just PAY CASH for that new car (whether or not a new car is a foolish decision is another matter entirely). And RECENT bad credit is worse than OLD bad credit. Paying off old debts that haven't been paid on for years will do just that, it'll cause OLD bad credit to become RECENT bad credit (if you've been paying off and on for the past several years, then it's already RECENT bad credit...basically, when was the last payment made?). A mortgage, I dunno. An apartment, again I can't say but if it's either RECENT bad credit vs OLD bad credit with a wad of cash to prepay the first year of rent...no guarantees, but if I was a landlord I'd probably pick the person with OLD bad credit with a year's rent paid up front.

I like the idea of offering a "settlement." As long as it came off my report just the same.

Just know that I haven't personally tried a pay to delete, and the company does not have to agree to such a requirement (and if they do, make sure it is in writing...cause they'll conveniently forget and report it anyways). But even if they don't agree to that condition, I can't see how paying 50% will have a big detrimental affect on your credit vs paying the entire 100% (yes, there may be a different notation that mentions it was a settlement, and if so it will have a slightly worse affect on your credit than simply paying it in full, but either way you have bad marks on your credit file which will have less of an affect as the years go by).

Quick disclaimer: Any advice I make, pretend it's preceded with "I'm no expert and don't pretend to be, but here's an idea you might want to run by an expert/lawyer/financial guru/etc."

[DS1987]

Just a quick note, you'll get credit again even if you never pay another dime to the credit card companies. I think it takes about seven or so years for old information (good or bad) to fall off your credit report. This is from the date of last activity though, so if the last payment sent was four years ago, you have three to go; if the last payment was sent yesterday, then you have seven more years to go. BUT...even if the info falls off the credit reports, the companies themselves may keep you on a blacklist indefinitely. I.e. if you default with Capital One, seven years later you may have an 800 credit score but Capital One could still choose to deny you.



Need to fix this ASAP. This is a pretty good forum for getting ideas, there's others that may be better for you, just depends on what exactly you need. Nevertheless, get a grasp on where your money is going, and where you WANT it to be going.



Or, would it be easier to secure the car loan with bad-ish credit and $13k in the bank so you can just PAY CASH for that new car (whether or not a new car is a foolish decision is another matter entirely). And RECENT bad credit is worse than OLD bad credit. Paying off old debts that haven't been paid on for years will do just that, it'll cause OLD bad credit to become RECENT bad credit (if you've been paying off and on for the past several years, then it's already RECENT bad credit...basically, when was the last payment made?). A mortgage, I dunno. An apartment, again I can't say but if it's either RECENT bad credit vs OLD bad credit with a wad of cash to prepay the first year of rent...no guarantees, but if I was a landlord I'd probably pick the person with OLD bad credit with a year's rent paid up front.



Just know that I haven't personally tried a pay to delete, and the company does not have to agree to such a requirement (and if they do, make sure it is in writing...cause they'll conveniently forget and report it anyways). But even if they don't agree to that condition, I can't see how paying 50% will have a big detrimental affect on your credit vs paying the entire 100% (yes, there may be a different notation that mentions it was a settlement, and if so it will have a slightly worse affect on your credit than simply paying it in full, but either way you have bad marks on your credit file which will have less of an affect as the years go by).

Quick disclaimer: Any advice I make, pretend it's preceded with "I'm no expert and don't pretend to be, but here's an idea you might want to run by an expert/lawyer/financial guru/etc."

Obviously cash is king, or so the saying goes. So I think that without a doubt, any landlord would not deny me residency with a years worth of rent on hand. I could be wrong, but there is essentially no risk to them. The problem becomes always having substantial cash on hand at all times for situations similar to this.

[elfen lied]

The given information in your post is really very good. Good information and very good job done by you guys