Financial questions

[Mickeefan]

I am in a terrible position and I need to do something. I'm exploring my options regarding debt settlement, debt consolidation and bankruptcy. Does anyone have any experience with any of these that would be willing to give me some advice/pointers, without going into too many details? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[bnhasak]

We did CCCS which is a reputable (in our area) debt payment service. They talked to our debtors and got an agreed upon rate that we paid each month until it was paid off.

I honestly wish we would have just filed for bankruptcy. We struggled to pay that huge sum each month and never had any extra for savings.

We incurred debt due to my autoimmune disease about 8 years ago. Now fast forward to today and I still have my illness, we still are broke and DH now has a serious medical condition as well.

Had we just filed for bankruptcy our slate would now be clean but instead we now have horrible credit and no savings to speak of.

I wouldn't rush in to bankruptcy but I wish we would have even considered it.

I have friends who declared bankruptcy for much less "valid" reasons and are on easy street now financially. Like nothing ever happened. We however are still stressed out and broke.

I do recommend the debt management plans but in our case it wasn't the smartest choice. Live and learn I guess.

Good luck!

 

[kymmyk13]

Understand that Credit counselingf looks worse on your credit then a bankruptcy. if you file bankruptcy you can do so again for 7 years, you are a better rick then with someone who did CC and can still file bankruptcy

 

[vicki_c]

Get in touch with the legitimate Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) in your state as a first step. It is a non-profit and they receive funding from the state, federal government, etc. They will help point you in the right next direction. CCCS is the only legitimate way to get non-biased information, in my opinion.

What your credit score will look like should really be on the lower end of your concerns, getting out of your hole should be first.

 

[howlongtildisney]

I also think that you should get in touch with CCCS. I just spoke with my husband (who does grant administration for them) about PP's statement about your credit report. Just simply having credit counseling will not show up on your credit report. It is confidential. If you enter into a debt management plan, the information may or may not show up on your credit report, depending on whether your creditors decide to. Also, many of the CCCS organizations are certified to do the pre-bankruptcy counseling that is required, so you wouldn't hurt yourself by contacting them.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Try creditboards.com
They have a lot of different forums dealing with all types of financial problems.

Good luck.

 

[mom2faith]

09/10-PO French Quarter....01/10-Disneyland...12/09-Pop Century...09/09-Pop Century...5/09-Pop Century & cruise...12/08-Port Orleans Riverside...9/08-Pop Century...5/08-Pop Century...4/08-All Star Sports...1/08-Pop Century...8/07-All Star Sports (solo!)...8/07-Port Orleans Riverside...5/07-All Star Sports (solo!)...1/07-Pop Century...9/06-Pop Century...10/05-Pop Century...5/04-Off site...12/02-All Star Movies...6/00-Off site...10/00-Dixie Landings...5/99-Dolphin...10/98-All Star Music...'96-All Star Sports...10/91-Off site...'80's-several trips (can't remember)...'75-off site w/both sets of grandparents

First of all WOW!! That is a lot of trips! I am not judging, but I am trying to suggest a reality check here. Pleae do not take that as harsh as it sounds, but maybe it is what needs to be said.

1. I did the same thing as you, although not to that extreme, but I did it too. We went to Vegas in 2007 100% on Credit card. Why? No reason, we just wanted to go.

2. I WOKE UP!! It was after watching 'Til Debt Do You Part on the Slice network (Canada). You can watch episodes online and I URGE you to do so!! It will really put things into persepctive for you.

Here are my mistakes (if I am going to "judge" I will open myself up as well ) We were $65,000 in consumer debt!! $65,000!! On CRAP!! Nothing, nadda, zip, to show for it. We consolidated our debt in our mortgage. We later sold our house for double what we paid for it, but did not get to pocket any of that money, becuase it had to go pay for our crap!! Then, within 2 years we managed to rack up another $20,000 in debt. Seriously, we sucked!! We just acted like we had money that we DID NOT HAVE!!

I booked the last trip to WDW before this second wake up call. We payed over $1800 for flights for the 3 of us (again note I am in Canada). We still took the trip because I could not justify being out the $1800. (Yet, previously I could justify blowing money on crap!!).

Anyhoo, we still got real and we got a plan. So here is what we did:

• Make a REAL budget!! That menas record EVERYTHING you need to spend. I did ours in an Excell spread sheet that I would be happy to share with you.
• RECORD what you ACTUALLY spend - this means every penny!! It takes a lot of practice (and in fact I just caught DH this morning not telling me something he spent). It will take a couple of months for that budgt of yours to balance while you get real about what you are actually spending. ($1.00/day for coffee seems minimal, but go 2 x a day everyday and youa re over $60!)
• I made a Statement spreadsheet where I record weverything that is coming in this month and everything that is going out this month. I make this for 3 to 4 months in advance. I am contantly looking FORWARD to the next month now, to ensure we wil balance in the future too. This I think is the key - you have to plan ahead!! (Again, I can send you a copy if you want).
• CUT SPENDING
• MAKE MORE MONEY - this is a huge one for us. We are making extra money by sercret shopping, online surveys, extra hours...whatever it takes.
• PLAN YOUR DEBT REPAYMENT - and ensure it only takes 3 years or less. USE THE SNOWBALL METHOD and pay your highest debt first. Ours was over 2 years but we are half done now. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
• ONLY USE CASH - if you need to charge to the credit card (ex:hotel, online purchase, etc) it must be PAID to that credit card the same month!! For example - if you plan to pay $100 a month to Credit Card A and then charge $40 to it, that month you must pay $140 to credit card A. Make sense?

So, as everyone judges my signature they can see I have a trip to Hawaii planned. And, a future trip to go to the World and Pay for my Neices. This is all in our budget. We have our snowball debt repayment plan and we are sticking to it, we have our emergency fund (which we have not touched), we have some retirement savings we put away each month and we then earned extra money for vacations. 100% of the vacation must be paid for prior to departure. No "pay cheque" money can go towards vacation, it must be extra money earned. I put away $100 a month additional for the trip to take my neices to the world. Again, this is all PLANNING AHEAD. We will never charge a trip to the CC again - ever!!!

We have a little over a year left until we are debt free - yes we could cancel the trip to Hawaii, but at the same time, we have a plan, and we are sticking to it. We are not incurring any new debt at all by going on our trip.

But, as I said at the beginning - REALITY CHECK - we are not going anywhere this year, we are only going to Hawaii if we have saved the money by September 2010, we are willing to make other sacrifices to go to Hawaii, etc. Does that all make sense??

Cancel at least one of the trips. You know in your heart it is the right thing to do. You will be kicking yourself in the future if you don't, I know I am. If we had just held off on one of those trips, or if we had earned the money beforehand for just one of them - we would be debt free already. There is nothing worse than knowing you are paying for a trip for 3 years AFTER the trip is over. I know it is going to be a lot more fun to go on that trip to Hawaii and KNOW it is paid for.

Good luck!!

Amy

 

[TexasTom]

I would get a second job and eliminate unnecessary expenses.

 

[ReneeA]

Anyone you talk to is going to talk to you about changing your lifestyle to living more within your means. I would take a good look at your income and sitdown to figure out a budget and stick to it.

Plan a great big huge trip for when your debt gets paid off. You'll have earned it, and it'll feel fantastic.

 

[taythegibs]

i had a big thing typed out but basically what it said was Dave Ramsey's stuff is awesome, it has really helped out my family. Second jobs are sometimes necessary. And sometimes we all need help and bankruptcy can be of benefit to any good person who is going through hard times. Good luck, and remember that if nothing else, you have your family.

 

[iheartnmr's]

A second job goes without say. Every dime needs to go to debt repayment. Doesn't matter if it means living frugally for 10 years. You rack up the debt, you pay the price. Don't leave it to someone else to eat it.

Listen OP. if you declare bankruptcy, your credit is shot. There will be no more trip, no credit cards, no car loans, no mortgage if you do sell your condo to move to Florida. You won't get another mortgage. Look past the short-term to the long term and how that will affect you for years and years to come.

First thing to do is cut up your credit cards (I assume you have more than one). You must pay for everything via cash or debit. You cannot assume one penny more debt. Then you should consolidate your debts into one payment if possible. See a debt consolidator. If you have any equity in your condo, you should see about getting a HELOC which would have much lower interest than CC. But first and foremost, YOU CANNOT SPEND ANY MORE MONEY.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

A second job goes without say. Every dime needs to go to debt repayment. Doesn't matter if it means living frugally for 10 years. You rack up the debt, you pay the price. Don't leave it to someone else to eat it.

Listen OP. if you declare bankruptcy, your credit is shot. There will be no more trip, no credit cards, no car loans, no mortgage if you do sell your condo to move to Florida. You won't get another mortgage. Look past the short-term to the long term and how that will affect you for years and years to come.

First thing to do is cut up your credit cards (I assume you have more than one). You must pay for everything via cash or debit. You cannot assume one penny more debt. Then you should consolidate your debts into one payment if possible. See a debt consolidator. If you have any equity in your condo, you should see about getting a HELOC which would have much lower interest than CC. But first and foremost, YOU CANNOT SPEND ANY MORE MONEY.

Yes there will be credit cards. My sister had to declare bankruptcy because of her oh so wonderful ex dh and got so many credit cards later. This was a few years ago so maybe things of changed but still we couldn't believe how many she got.

 

[howlongtildisney]

Another comment after re-reading some other people's comments. CCCS organizations don't only do debt management plans. They can help you make a budget. They teach people the ins and outs of buying their first homes. They help people who are behind on their mortgages make a plan to keep their homes. There are a ton of things that CCCS does that does not get reported to your credit report in any way at all.

 

[Carl Fredricksen]

Wow, every time someone reaches out for help on this board, the same sanctimonious crowd comes out and tells the poster it's all their fault and they should be lined up in front of a firing squad. Are any of you judgmental folks close enough to the poster to know their personal situation? What if they did pay cash for "all those trips" and are suffering due to job loss or a medical situation? How do any of you know if they have been spending their time trying to work the situation, instead of changing a sig line for an already cancelled trip? None of you know anything about the specific situation, but it is easier to criticize and play judge and jury, rather than offer help or ignore the post. YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE POSTER SO EITHER OFFER CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS TO THE QUESTION ASKED OR MOVE ON! Just because your FICO is above 700 does not give you the right or require you to answer every post on this board. They are trying to figure out how to pay the debt back, and the above comments are not offering anything constructive so they can do so.

Anyone you talk to is going to talk to you about changing your lifestyle to living more within your means. I would take a good look at your income and sitdown to figure out a budget and stick to it.

Plan a great big huge trip for when your debt gets paid off. You'll have earned it, and it'll feel fantastic.

With that said, this is a good rational statement. Even if the upcoming trips are paid for through whatever means, cash or credit, you will need to revisit those and cancel and refund if possible. Whether you use a credit counselor, bankruptcy, whatever, the belt is going to have to tighten.

 

[LoraJ]

i had a big thing typed out but basically what it said was Dave Ramsey's stuff is awesome, it has really helped out my family. Second jobs are sometimes necessary. And sometimes we all need help and bankruptcy can be of benefit to any good person who is going through hard times. Good luck, and remember that if nothing else, you have your family.

While I agree that bankruptcy can help people out in tough times, I do not think it should be there for people who spend recklessly. The cost of the irresponsibility gets passed on to me. How can the OP really be having hard times if they have gone to WDW so much in the last few years as well as have trips planned in the near future. Who is really going to pay for these trips if she files?

She needs to either pick up Dave Ramsey's book and make a budget, pick up a second job and get themselves out of debt or go to a credit counseling service. Otherwise she will never learn from her mistakes.

ETA: CNBC airs 'Til Debt Do Us Part on Saturday nights.

 

[mom2faith]

You have a plan and that is what makes all the difference. You are not planning on bankruptcy as an option. You are paying back all the money the you borrowed.

Thank you!!

One thing I need to clarify that I learned was that we THOUGHT we we planning ahead and paying for the 1st and 2nd trip to Disney - and we were, sort of. But the reality is, to do so we were paying the minimum on our credit cards in order to generate "savings". It is really not "savings" if you should be putting it towards the 17% interest on a CC.

Now, I recognize that I am doing that again with the Hawaii trip, but I am now doing it KNOWING what I am doing. I am not saying that makes it OK, I am just saying that I am not being naive about it. I know we SHOULD be putting the money towards debt. I can list off a bunch of excuses, but the reality is, that this is what we have chosen based on an informed decision. We are also paying well over the minimum in order to fast track the debt repayment. That is another key to change - check out how long it will really take you to pay off that debt of you only pay the minimum, it will make you sick!!

OP that is what you need to do now - the very first step. LEARN where your money is going (mine is going to interest in order to go to Hawaii - even writing sounds ridiculous - LOL). But at least I KNOW where it is going, and i can PLAN for that.

KNOW. PLAN. RECORD. BUDGET. - those are the 4 things you NEED to do now.

I honestly think that going bankrupt before trying everything else is not the right thing to do (and I say this from an experienced background as my parents were forced to go bankrupt when I was 13). If you give my (or other's) budget suggestions and HONEST try for several months and it is still spiralling out of control, then it is time to start considering your other options. But you cannot go from a Spending Frenzy straight to Bankruptcy - you will not learn anything (I am not saying you are on a spending frenzy, I am just saying you have to give budgetting a chance in order to learn for yourself where your oney is going).

Good Luck!!

 

[taythegibs]

While I agree that bankruptcy can help people out in tough times, I do not think it should be there for people who spend recklessly. The cost of the irresponsibility gets passed on to me. How can the OP really be having hard times if they have gone to WDW so much in the last few years as well as have trips planned in the near future. Who is really going to pay for these trips if she files?

She needs to either pick up Dave Ramsey's book and make a budget, pick up a second job and get themselves out of debt or go to a credit counseling service. Otherwise she will never learn from her mistakes.

ETA: CNBC airs 'Til Debt Do Us Part on Saturday nights.

I didnt mean for it to seem like Bankruptcy was the thing to do. I think that it should be an absolute last resort and unfortunately my dads brother has gone bankrupt twice and is now living with his family in a basement. It is up to the consumer to learn how to adjust their expenditures to be able to live within their means within acceptable levels of what i have been brought up to call "acceptable debt" things such as mortgages. The list posted on a previous page is a great thing to try and do. I am currently taking on Freelance graphics jobs, although i am making very little it is aa source of income that i can do in my spare time.

 

[QVCshopper]

I am in a terrible position and I need to do something. I'm exploring my options regarding debt settlement, debt consolidation and bankruptcy. Does anyone have any experience with any of these that would be willing to give me some advice/pointers, without going into too many details? Thanks in advance for your help.

Unfortunately, without knowing details, there's not much any of us can do for you. I do suggest watching a show that's on Saturday nights after Suze Orman on CNBC called Till Debt Do Us Part. There are people on that show in massive debt and they get plans set for paying off their debt in record amounts of time. Also, you may want to join the April No Buy Thread or do Dave Ramsey's cash plan--but I'm not too familiar with that. I'd start with lowering my credit card rates if possible. Good luck.

 

[deerhart]

Listen OP. if you declare bankruptcy, your credit is shot. There will be no more trip, no credit cards, no car loans, no mortgage if you do sell your condo to move to Florida. You won't get another mortgage. Look past the short-term to the long term and how that will affect you for years and years to come.

.

So not true, and no you don't have to get secured credit cards either. It may take some time, but generally people who declare bankruptcy are back to normal credit within 18-24 months, getting car loans, mortgages, and yes credit cards (if not sooner)

 

[Cooky]

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