Debt

[addy 0]

Have you ever been in deep debt? How did you get out of it? I need help.

[Marilyn. 340]

hubby and I are still in debt... not much by most people's standards probably but for me it is high... not sure how we are going to get out of it yet but some of it is going to get paid off with the tax refund....

[Robor007 0]

Have you ever been in deep debt? How did you get out of it? I need help.

I was going to post some smarta$$ response like, 'you can get out of debt?', but it's not that funny considering the seriousness of this topic.

I've acquired some debt over the past 12-18 months. If I became a hermit and saved every penny I might be able to slowly crawl my way out but it would be a miserable existence until then. I'm going to do it 'the lazy way'. I own my place and I've got some equity I can play with. I'm going to extend my home equity line of credit to pay my CC debt off and do some necessary home improvements (new roof being the main one).

[brnidokiegurl 0]

Hope you get some good suggestions, i would like ideas to. For one thing i got rid of the satellite, and need to cut down on the cell to Morocco.

[Jenn! 918]

Have you ever been in deep debt? How did you get out of it? I need help.

I'm with you!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Have you ever been in deep debt? How did you get out of it? I need help.

Consumer Credit Counseling Service offers some great help for getting out of debt.

http://www.cccsintl.org/

[MHandMB 0]

Honestly, this is a good topic. One thing I can recommend is if you have credit card debt at a very high interest, check in to getting a different credit card that has one of those special "0% APR" on balance transfers. If you can transfer the balance from the high interest card to the no interest card, it will save you a good amount of money. At that point, you should cut up the old card so you won't be tempted to use it.

I have a good bit of CC debt, and I manage to pay more than the minimum on time every month. They keep raising my credit limit, but they raise the rate at the same time. I'm going to see about getting it transferred to a new card, but I want to be sure that the special 0% offer extends long enough for me to make a serious dent in the amount owed.

If you're trying to pay back some other sort of debt, I would recommend getting an online company like INGDirect to take a certain amount of money out of your banking account every week. If it's not in there to begin with, you might not notice it, and you can get a 5% return on whatever is deposited. Then, after a certain amount of time, you can transfer the money out of savings back into your bank account and use it to pay a chunk of whatever debt you owe. This will only be a good deal if the annual percentage rate of whatever debt you owe is less than the percentage rate of the savings account.

Edited January 17, 2007 by MHandMB

[Ban Hammer 13,651]

Have you ever been in deep debt? How did you get out of it? I need help.

got divorced, that was a major help

[rebeccajo 14]

Have you ever been in deep debt? How did you get out of it? I need help.

got divorced, that was a major help

OMG Charles that's what I was gonna say! You stole my line!!!!

[rebeccajo 14]

Have you ever been in deep debt? How did you get out of it? I need help.

I was going to post some smarta$$ response like, 'you can get out of debt?', but it's not that funny considering the seriousness of this topic.

I've acquired some debt over the past 12-18 months. If I became a hermit and saved every penny I might be able to slowly crawl my way out but it would be a miserable existence until then. I'm going to do it 'the lazy way'. I own my place and I've got some equity I can play with. I'm going to extend my home equity line of credit to pay my CC debt off and do some necessary home improvements (new roof being the main one).

My ex-husband and I did that kind of thing several times over a 25 year period. Until we owed three times what we paid for the house, not including all the payments made over those 25 years.

Not to mention the fact that we also owed over $150,000 on a dually, a 34 foot fifth wheel, a sport utility vehicle, a small installment loan and credit cards.

I don't know how much you owe, addy, but the time to put the brakes on it is now. If you have to go to your community Consumer Debt agency and get their help.

[Ban Hammer 13,651]

Have you ever been in deep debt? How did you get out of it? I need help.

got divorced, that was a major help

OMG Charles that's what I was gonna say! You stole my line!!!!

seriously, it did help. left me about 25k in debt, was debt free in about 9 months.

[Nikita2Charles 32]

Cut those credit cards and make more the minimum payment, and as the previous poster mentioned check with another card for a balance transfer with a a 0% closed to a year with NO FEE. That would save you some money from that interest you would have to pay. Another thing my mother always told me to do, and i Guess anybody can try it.

The next time you are about to get something and worse if you are going to charge it on your card, ask yourself this question?

DO I NEED IT?

DO I WANT IT?

Over time when you do that practice and ASK YOUR INNER SELF that question, and ANSWER YOUR INNER SELF

TRUTHFULLY>

Then you will see how the I WANT IT list start to to shrink

[sophyie 0]

I think one start would be to re-phrase and think about what money is wasted every day. By little things like too expensive internet/cellphone/cable plans, by too expensive car insurances- things like that.

The cc deals with 0% interest for a certain amount of time is a great tip, we were able to pay off a motorcycle with 0 instead of 7% over the time of a year and a half.

The one other thing that is recommended (even though it's hard): pay cash. If you really have to save money for paying off debt, don't use credit or debit cards, pay with "real" money, it usually hurts more.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Fortunately, other than the mortgage, there's no debt in our household.

[LaL 418]

i have to add here because so many suggest cutting up those credit cards. I got my 1st card in 1995 and at a very high rate, i would NEVER close this account because it gives such a long and clear picture of my credit history. I HAVE though, cut up newer credit cards to limit the amount of open accounts i have. what i do with this old, high interest card is to take advantage of the perks they offer me, for example they give promotions on all transfer balances for 1.99% APR for life of the amount due. that is the only way I use this card, and saves me alot of money.