Credit Card Debt.

[Gruntina]

I'm not canceling my trip. So what if husband can't go.

Maybe not cancel your trip but postpone it and put aside less for it and more of it towards debts? Just imagine how fast you would save for your trip after you pay off your 4500 debt. A lot more freedom and relaxing thoughts while on the trip knowing you paid cash for it and debt free at the same time.

It seems like you have more of a “roommate set-up” rather than a partnership with your husband regarding finances. Is there any way you can encourage him to slowly save along with you for a trip? But truth is I do not know if he is interested going on a trip or not so it might be a moot point.

[fruitbowlk]

Credit counseling is a very common form of online debt consolidation. It is also known as credit card consolidation. Currently rising interest rates and mounting credit card debt is prompting many consumers to look for ways to consolidate their credit card bills and so credit card counseling gained recognition among people.

Credit counseling helps to make one payment directly to them, which then they distributes to your creditors. Most times, a credit counseling agency will be able to lower your monthly payments by getting interest rate concessions from your creditors by contacting your credit card companies and negotiating for lower interest rate on your behalf. You can usually expect to pay back your entire balance on the debt that you owe and anywhere between six and twelve percent of the interest. This is about half of what your normal interest would be currently.

On average, most online credit counseling programs take around five years. As such, credit card consolidation does not affect your credit rating. In fact, the results of consolidation are often positive simply because it's easier to manage and you pay less interest.

This wouldn't be for me because I only have one debt and I have no problem paying it.

[cashing_in]

CC debt is the worse than asset based loan. I would try to clear off my CC debt as soon as possible and start saving.

[glock35ipsc]

In fact, you might want to consider liquidating your emergency fund to pay your credit card and keep one card in the short term as your emergency fund.

I think this is bad advise. You are telling a person who is trying to get rid of CC debt that in an emergency, use a CC to "take care of" the emergency, at the precise time that they do not want or need to take on any more debt.

And I would run away from debt consolidation. All that does is transfer the debt somewhere else, not really taking care of the problem. Debt consolidation makes the debt seem more "manageable" with the smaller payment, but you only get the smaller payment by staying in debt longer. And the longer you are in debt to them, the more money they make.

There is absolutely no reason to use debt consolidation companies, unless one likes making others rich. Run away, run far, far away!

Keep your emergency fund in tact. You seem hell bent on taking the trip, so divert all other extra money you can come up with towards your debt. $4500 could be erased on less than 6 months if you work hard at it. Sell stuff on Craigslist, eBay, the local paper. When is your trip? Challenge yourself to have it paid off before you leave for your trip.

Once it is paid off, and the trip is nothing more than memories on photo paper, then build up your emergency fund to cover 3-6 months expenses. After that, you should never need a credit card for anything ever again.

You said something about a payment plan, what is that? I'm apparently not familiar with it. Is it something different than just the normal monthly statements/billing cycle?

[glock35ipsc]

On average, most online credit counseling programs take around five years. As such, credit card consolidation does not affect your credit rating. In fact, the results of consolidation are often positive simply because it's easier to manage and you pay less interest.

And you pay longer (to get the low payment), making the debt consolidation company rich, and keeping you in debt longer.

Don't fall for this junk. If a person is SERIOUS about getting out of debt, they won't need these guys. I paid off $33K in less than 18 months. I sure didn't need a debt consolidation company to do that. If I had went through one of them, I would still be in debt, making monthly payments to them.

[fruitbowlk]

I think this is bad advise. You are telling a person who is trying to get rid of CC debt that in an emergency, use a CC to "take care of" the emergency, at the precise time that they do not want or need to take on any more debt.

And I would run away from debt consolidation. All that does is transfer the debt somewhere else, not really taking care of the problem. Debt consolidation makes the debt seem more "manageable" with the smaller payment, but you only get the smaller payment by staying in debt longer. And the longer you are in debt to them, the more money they make.

There is absolutely no reason to use debt consolidation companies, unless one likes making others rich. Run away, run far, far away!

Keep your emergency fund in tact. You seem hell bent on taking the trip, so divert all other extra money you can come up with towards your debt. $4500 could be erased on less than 6 months if you work hard at it. Sell stuff on Craigslist, eBay, the local paper.

When is your trip?

Challenge yourself to have it paid off before you leave for your trip.

Once it is paid off, and the trip is nothing more than memories on photo paper, then build up your emergency fund to cover 3-6 months expenses. After that, you should never need a credit card for anything ever again.

You said something about a payment plan, what is that? I'm apparently not familiar with it. Is it something different than just the normal monthly statements/billing cycle?

When is your trip? Dec

I am very much decated to paying off my debt as soon as possible because my next step is to start saving for a house. I don't have anything to sell except my dd old clothes which I hope one of my pregnant friends take.

I'm on a payment plan with the cc company because paying off this cc debt wasn't always my prioity. So I have to pay 135.00 a month but because I want it payed off asap I'm paying two addition payment of 135.00 to get the debt payed off quicker. Which would be 405.00 a month.

[glock35ipsc]

I would pull out all the stops to have it paid off by the time you leave for your trip. That would give you such a high to start your vacation, and have peace the entire time you are soaking up the sun! Imagine laying out on that lounge chair thinking to yourself that you have no debt..........

So, with this payment plan, you can make extra payments and not be penalized, is that correct? If so, that's good! I didn't think I had anything to sell at first either, but once I say the light at the end of the tunnel, I found stuff. So much so that the kids got nervous that they were next to go!

Good luck, and keep punching your way though it!

[fruitbowlk]

I would pull out all the stops to have it paid off by the time you leave for your trip. That would give you such a high to start your vacation, and have peace the entire time you are soaking up the sun! Imagine laying out on that lounge chair thinking to yourself that you have no debt..........

So, with this payment plan, you can make extra payments and not be penalized, is that correct? If so, that's good! I didn't think I had anything to sell at first either, but once I say the light at the end of the tunnel, I found stuff. So much so that the kids got nervous that they were next to go!

Good luck, and keep punching your way though it!

So, with this payment plan, you can make extra payments and not be penalized, is that correct?

You know what i don't know but I'm calling them now to find out.

I'm able to send in as many extra payment as I can without any penalty.