BamaTanya Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Ugh. We have too many credit cards. I don't have a system. With Mom on hospice care and all the other life stuff that's taken place over the past half year, I've had a hit-or-miss with bill-paying and filing. It's my fault. Every once in a while I would get online and pay everything. At least I thought I did. SOMEHOW the ONE card that we owed the MOST on wouldn't get paid on time. I don't know how I overlooked it. (I wonder if they changed the due date every month!) It doesn't matter. It's my responsibility. And now the card that we owe the MOST on has had MULTIPLE late fees and interest rate increases. Of course. Murphy's Law, right? I'm sure I couldn't keep my voice steady if I called them and said, "Hey, my mom had cancer and now she's dead and my kid was diagnosed with autism and another was in the hospital with salmonella poisoning and now another one's had back surgery for scoliosis and I'm TRYING to get finished with school so I can go to work and pay this crap off . . ." Would they think I was lying? We got the tax thingy and my student loan for the fall . . . should we pay the bill OFF and then put my tuition on another card? Or would it be better, credit wise, to keep on paying on it slowly at this exorbitant rate? Or should I take one of the deals from another card and transfer the balance over and just close this account? Ugh. When it rains, it pours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenLihos Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Oh, I'm am so sorry you are under this much stress. I don't have a lot of detailed advice, just "hope" that there is a peace to be found on the other side of debt. DH and I have done stupid with money as well, but as of last month, we are debt free (praise God!) and will never go back! (Lord willing...) We owe all of it to hard work and lots of knowledge from Dave Ramsey. http://www.daveramsey.com You don't need to buy anything from his sight to still get great info. (Although Financial Peace University is worth every penny.) I love to listen to his radio show every day, and I still cry when I hear stories of people calling in and yelling, "WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!!" You can also find his books at the library. On an emergency basis, he has great advice on how to deal with credit collectors. (only talking to then every two weeks, not letting them ever be rude to you, know that they lie every time they talk to you, making sure you are paying for your necessities first - not your credit card bill, working deals for pennies on the dollar, NEVER giving them you checking account information, etc...) You have my love and I know you can have a completely different financial reality in the near future. :grouphug: Also, thanks for being so honest about your money. I think the fact that we don't talk about it honestly and openly is one of the reasons so many of us get into trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Lynx Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 If you can get a balance transfer at a different rate, do it. Do whatever is possible to get your debt down to a lower interest rate. But do make sure you close the original account, once you've got things transferred over. And :grouphug: I so understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in CA Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 I {heart} Dave Ramsey! Really, it's ok...my dh knows all about my feelings for Dave.......actually, he loves him too, or at least what he's done for our personal finances! :D You could check out one of his books from the library, or look up where to listen to his radio show (or do both). There really is hope, and a way out of this, and he's really good imo at helping you find peace while you work on it. Don't stress--you'll feel *so* much better when you have a plan! Blessings, Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wide eyes & laughter Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 lost your mom and are having such difficulites w/dc health issues.... Sorry you're going through this very hard time. Prayers, Cheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in the Kootenays Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 :grouphug: Be gentle with yourself. It's easy to get in these situations when life is tough. Perhaps you could consolidate all the debt so you only have one payment and then destroy the extra cards. I pay my bills using the computer and postdate payments in the minute they come in because I'm paranoid about missing those dates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyinTN Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 :grouphug: Life happens...don't be to hard on yourself...you've got a full plate. I agree Dave Ramsey is awesome!! You've got excellent advice here! Hang in there!:grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheezie Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 I suggest Dave too. So sorry to hear about all the bad things that seem to keep happening. When my son died, we pretty much were so numb that bills, everything just took a back seat to our grief. I did eventually call the creditors and explain what happened, and I actually did have some success w/ some of them getting to drop fees, etc. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st_claire Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Yeah, best thing to do would be to take out a lower interest loan to cover the debt. Check with your bank. If you own your home, you can get a secured line of credit for a pretty low rate. Otherwise, a unsecured loan can do. Also think about a student loan since you said you are a student. But the lower the interest rate the better. Then use the money from the loan to pay off all your other bills. Then you only have to make one payment (less likely to forget about it), and you are paying a lower interest rate, so a lot more is going towards your debt than the interest. Then cut up ALL your credit cards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Absolutely pay off the card that has the highest rates, especially if they are much higher than your other cards. If you're up for it, call them and see if they'll waive some of the late fees if you pay off your balance, you might be lucky. Don't be too hard on yourself, it's very hard to stay on top of everything when you've got so much turmoil in your life. I hope that things settle down for you and you can get back into a more normal routine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarleneW Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 If your going to pay it off make sure you call and ask them what they will take to close it. Alot of companies will significantly lower your balance if you pay it off. They will probably get rid of some of the fees. FTR- Alot of hospitals will too. We found this out when my parents passed away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 When we moved here we were paying our mortgage in ME and rent here plus everything else and we got really behind on our CCs. Once we sold the house and things settled down, I called every creditor and explained what was happening and told them we intended to pay every dime back, but that we didn't have enough to pay off the late fees and over the limit fees and every month they added more late and more over the limit and we got further behind. I needed them to stop the fees and start me on a payment plan that we could afford. Every single creditor worked with me. All but one ( Bank of America) took away the fees and cut the interest rates to 1-2% for X period. We are now current on all our bills and have payments we can afford. So I highly recommend calling them and explaining your situtation. I am sorry you are going through this and I am sorry about your mom :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 It won't hurt anything but your pride to call the credit card company and ask for a reduction of fees. Prepare before the phone call. Jot down what you want to say. Stay calm. You don't even have to go into specific details. When you call, tell the person that due to family medical reasons, you got behind in your payments. You want to catch up and are prepared to make a good faith payment, and can they help you out by reducing the late fees and lowering your interest rate. Also say you have another card with a different company that has a lower interest rate and you were thinking about transferring your current balance to the other card AND canceling your account. That usually gets their attention. I suggest you stop using the credit cards if at all possible. Since you have your stimulus check and financial aid check, subtract the amount of your tuition and books and whatever is left over should go towards the good faith payment you're willing to make to that one credit card. Dave Ramsey makes it all easy to see and understand. I also recommend you get his book from the library. He'll have you paying off your lowest balance first because the powerful feeling of I DID IT really keeps you motivated to pay off the others. Don't feel bad about getting into the mess. So many of us are either in one too or have been there done that. Just take a stand for yourself that you're going to get the debt under control. It will take some work, but it is very possible to get back in control! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Yeah, best thing to do would be to take out a lower interest loan to cover the debt. Check with your bank. If you own your home, you can get a secured line of credit for a pretty low rate. Otherwise, a unsecured loan can do. Then use the money from the loan to pay off all your other bills. Then you only have to make one payment (less likely to forget about it), and you are paying a lower interest rate, so a lot more is going towards your debt than the interest. Dave Ramsey does NOT suggest using your home to consolidate bills and neither do it LOL. If something else were to happen, you could lose your home. Call your creditors and see if they can work wiht you. If they wont, see if you can surf the amounts over to 0% cards and work the Dave Ramsey plan to pay them off that way. Visit and join this Dave Ramsey board ( it's free)http://www.livinglikenooneelse.com/forum/index.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Oh, I forgot to talk about the online payments. I tried doing that and found it was too easy to forget to check for payments due, and would fall behind in my payments. I heartily recommend you have paper bills sent to your home so you have a visible paper trail to follow. Here's how I do bills: When a bill comes in, I open it and write the due date on the outside of the envelope. I keep my checks, stamps, address labels, calculator, and bills all in one basket. I keep the bills standing up in the basket in chronological due date order. My DH gets paid twice a month. When he gets paid, I sit down with the basket to balance the checkbook and write out all the bills that I can pay with that current paycheck. Nothing gets forgotten because it's all contained in one place. For the few automatic online payments I have set up, I keep a post-it note on my check register with the date and amount of the payments. When I'm writing checks, I look at the post-it note to see what online payments will also be going through during the current paycheck period and record them in my register. I keep the basket near a filing box where I have hanging folders for every account we pay on, i.e. electricity/gas, visa, dentist bills, telephone, cable, etc. When I pay a bill, I write the date on my part of the stub along with the check number and drop it into the file. Because everything is in one place, it's fairly easy to keep up with all of it. Now, if I could just stop spending so much! :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmgconner Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Do you need another Dave Ramsey recommendation? :D I love him! Cancel the card saying that you wish to opt out of the interest rate hike. You may still be stuck with the late fees, but you shouldn't have to also accept the rate hike. Then work on paying off the credit card using the Dave Ramsey system. Do NOT use a home equity loan. That's moving unsecured debt to secured - you could lose your home. If you follow Dave's advice, you pay of the smallest amount of debt first. This is not about math. As Dave says, if you were good at math, you wouldn't be in this situation. It's about making a change in your thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krista in LA Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 It won't hurt anything but your pride to call the credit card company and ask for a reduction of fees. Prepare before the phone call. Jot down what you want to say. Stay calm. You don't even have to go into specific details. When you call, tell the person that due to family medical reasons, you got behind in your payments. You want to catch up and are prepared to make a good faith payment, and can they help you out by reducing the late fees and lowering your interest rate. Also say you have another card with a different company that has a lower interest rate and you were thinking about transferring your current balance to the other card AND canceling your account. That usually gets their attention. I suggest you stop using the credit cards if at all possible. Since you have your stimulus check and financial aid check, subtract the amount of your tuition and books and whatever is left over should go towards the good faith payment you're willing to make to that one credit card. :iagree: I was also going to say that if they don't get the rate down low enough, then transfer it to another card. However, if the balance transfer rate is higher than the regular rate on another card, keep in mind that any payments will go towards the balance with the lowest rate. And I also have the same bill paying method as Night Elf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 We got the tax thingy and my student loan for the fall . . . should we pay the bill OFF and then put my tuition on another card? Or would it be better, credit wise, to keep on paying on it slowly at this exorbitant rate? Or should I take one of the deals from another card and transfer the balance over and just close this account? Ugh. When it rains, it pours. Pay that bill off and put your tuition on a separate card or get a student loan. Interest on your college loans is tax deductible; you don't have to use a student loan, but you do have to use a loan or credit card where the only debt is your tuition and fees. If tuition and fees are commingled with other expenses, none of the interest is tax-deductible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 Visit and join this Dave Ramsey board ( it's free)http://www.livinglikenooneelse.com/forum/index.php I second this. The forum is great. You can go on there, post detailed info and they will spit out a plan of action for you. They will encourage you to post a budget and they will help you with the specifics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in Appalachia Posted June 30, 2008 Share Posted June 30, 2008 You don't have to give them every detail, but tell them that you've have a long continuing medical crisis and somehow missed paying their bill. They may drop the late fees. It's worth trying. If you know you can pay it off, then I would transfer to another card that was offering lower fees. Cut up all or almost all of your current credit cards to avoid increasing your debt until everything is paid off credit cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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