Massive credit card debt!!
lucy2222
16 years ago
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zone_8grandma
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agolucy
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Home Equity Loan to Pay Credit Card Debt
Comments (12)One of the biggest problems with any scheme to pay off credit cards by using more credit is most people do NOT change their spending habits. The average consumer will take out a home equity loan to pay off outstanding balances and then only 2 or 3 years later find themselves with a home equity loan and credit cards at their max again. That doesn't solve the problem; it makes it worse. Plus there is the potential to lose you home if you fail to make payments on the home equity loan. In my humble opinion, this is not the best solution to your problem unless you and your significant other make some changes in your spending habits. Switching from one low/no interest credit card can be very damaging to your credit score. One of the components of a credit score is how long your current accounts have been open. Longer is better. New credit cards every 6 months will lower your score which means you pay higher rates or cannot qualify for those "teaser" rates. Also, be aware that the teaser rates will escalate very rapidly if you are ever late with a payment. The solution that I suggest to the personal financial management classses I teach is to stop using credit cards for any daily expenses. Save them for emergencies (a death in the family, an earthquake destroys your house, a hurricane is coming and you have to evacuate). Concentrate on paying off one card by paying extra on that card every month but continue to make the minimum payments on every card you have. When that card is paid off, apply that payment to the next card until it is paid off. If you have trouble avoiding temptation with credit cards, put them in a ziplock bag and seal it. Put that bag in another bag and fill it with water. Put both bags in the freezer and leave it there. Anytime you need a card it is available, but you have to wait to thaw it out to use it which means you have time to think about whether or not you really, really NEED what you plan to purchase with credit. While it sounds "dorky" and simplistic, it does work. Good luck...See MoreNeed No-Scam Credit Card/Debt Mgmt. Sites
Comments (9)Hi Katclaw~ I just wanted to say that I totally agree with Lindamarie. You should most definitely check out Dave Ramsey's site (link below). I honestly believe that through Dave Ramsey, God has TOTALLY changed our lives, saved our marriage and helped make our family's financial future brighter than ever. Now, while almost everyone else is looking around wondering what the heck they are possibly going to do, we are finally sitting back and breathing easy for the first time in our 18 1/2 years of marriage! It is such an incredible and liberating feeling! We are finally debt free except for our mortgage, which we just got last year when my husband finished building our dream home. However, we fully expect to have it paid off in just a few years!! Dave has an awesome book called 'The Total Money Makeover'. It is available at Amazon, Wal*Mart and on Dave's site. It is a super easy read and it is the very first step toward finding your financial peace and freedom! Dave also has a program called 'Financial Peace University'. This is a life-changing 13-week program/class that teaches you how to make the right decisions with your money. In addition to teaching you so many amazing ways to financial freedom, Dave has many, many resources available to you on his website, including what you are specifically looking for at this time, financial counselors. Plus, if you are like me and the website looks a bit overwhelming, you can call them toll-free at 1-888-227-3223 and explain your situation. One of their counselors will be happy to help you get on the right track and show you how to handle those creditors. (Just remember, FOOD, SHELTER, TRANSPORTATION and CLOTHING must come FIRST! Everyone else can wait, including credit cards. If that dings your credit, then so be it, but those 4 things must come before anything.) Also available through his website are what he refers to as 'Endorsed Local Providers' (ELPs). ELPs are providers such as Lenders, Real Estate Agents, CPAs, Insurance Agents, Tax Preparers, Attorneys, etc. who are all endorsed by Dave. They are only recommended after being very carefully screened by Dave and his staff. My husband and I have been very pleased with a couple of these who have been recommended to us. Remarkably, so far we have not had to pay one red cent for any of the advice they have provided! However, if we should need the type of service they provide in the future, we would not hesitate to use them or recommend them to our family and friends. I hope and pray this has helped you, or someone else, in some way. I'm telling you, my husband finding Dave on the radio is the best thing that ever happened to our finances and to our marriage. Just try it! What do you have to lose??? Here is a link that might be useful: DAVE RAMSEY...See MoreCredit card debt after someone dies
Comments (12)"The CC company will increase the fees to the merchants, who will increase their prices, which you pay to get the product. Everyone ends up paying for the person who doesn't pay off their own debts." True, but don't forget that everyone also winds up paying for all the people who charge their purchases on credit cards, including cash purchasers. Merchants who offer cash discounts are fairly rare. All the purchasers also pay for the bad judgment CC companies make in extending credit to people who can't afford to repay. Also for the very large profit margins CC companies have enjoyed for the last few decades. And so on and so on. You do realize, all of you, that it's quite likely you will die with CC debt, don't you? Even if you religiously pay the entire balance every month, there will still be the outstanding charges you accrued during the billing cycle you happen to die in. So, everyone, keep those cards charged up because you never know, do you? This could be YOUR billing cycle and you could come out ahead in a big way! But to answer the question at hand, heirs are not personally responsible for the debts of the estate. If someone "dies without estate," the CC companies can try to pressure the heirs into paying them, but they have no legal recourse if the heirs decide not to, which is what I imagine usually happens. So they will be written off in most cases, thereby incrementally increasing the cost of living for all of us who still enjoy that status....See MoreShould I liquidate assets to pay off my Credit Card debt.
Comments (5)Here goes with my financial advice. I believe it's simpler than it sounds and just requires you to get your interest rates from all of your accounts in order to make your choices. First suggestion: do as celticmoon suggests and fix that $515K first mortgage immediately! As I'm sure you're aware, the fixed variable rates of now are worse than a year or two ago, but much better than the 12-19% that they were in the past. In my opinion, fix it now and pay for any closing costs out of your savings, which is presumably earning the worst interest rate. Speaking of....what savings rate is your $15K earning? If it's less than 9% (almost a sure bet), and you have liquidatable cash in assets (which you say you do) to cover an emergency fund, then using that cash to invest in your house is giving you a 9% rate of return in your house investment, which is far better than the 3-4% of a typical savings account. If you choose not to do that, then I present my second suggestion (which I still think you should consider, w/ or w/o the $15K in the equation) DH and I just went through a similar process, although with one house, and we paid off a motorcycle and a timeshare (each at ~9%), rather than CC debt. This plan mirrors our own, with different dollar amounts: Roll both HELOCs into one and LOCK your rate up now. In my opinion, it's only going to go up. You should be able to get a much better rate with a higher consolidation balance (we got 7.5% by consolidating our two loans along with our original HELOC). 65K + 30K = 95K = 11.9% of the first house or 19% of the second house. If you keep your loan:value ratio below 20%, you'll get a better deal on rates. You may even ben required to keep it below 20%; I'm not sure. Keep thinking about that. The next option is to add the 25K of CC debt into the HELOC figure, for a total of 65K + 30K + 25K = 120K = 15% of the first house. Close that loan and pay off the CC debt immediately. You're now transferring the 8.9% of wasted CC interest into an investment into your house, in addition to the tax writeoff. The last think to consider is to stick with the 95K HELOC option and pay off the CC bill with your assets. Are any of your stock or mutual funds giving you returns better than 9%? If so, then keep them where they are and do the 120K HELOC option. If they're earning less than 9%, then I refer you back to the concept of my second paragraph. If you take your mutual fund money that is earning less than 9% and pay down your worst mortgage/HELOC/CC rate with that, you're making a huge investment in your house. Now, if you want to sit on your stocks, that's understandable. I hope that my advice not confusing, and that it's helpful to you. Lindsay...See Moremyfask
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agojlhug
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