Debt? Help?
So I lost my job unexpectedly last Dec. 14th. I just got a new sales job working retail last week, 02-18-07. But in those two months I encountered some debt.
My bank acct/checking is currently minus $428 and some odd cents. My bank credit card (which I’m canceling as soon as I pay it off) is at $925 and some odd cents, BUT what I owe NOW for the credit card is just my past due limit and over limits which is $225.83 and $174, totals $399.83. That’s what I owe NOW. Well I owed it weeks ago, but yeah. I just got a letter saying my checking acct been in negative for 37 days.
So I just received $423.86 in checks and cash. How should I pay this stuff off? The whole thing toward my credit card? Or $399.83 toward my credit, and $24.03 toward my checkings? Then the rest when I get paid for my job in a week and half.
I have a min. payment for my card of $91 totaling $490 for credit, but the $91 isn’t due til March 10th.
put the $$ in your checking account first. Call the creditors about your outstanding debt and work out payment plans with them.
Note that if you bounced checks…you are going to get fees from the bank and the person you wrote the check to.
Good Luck
Hello,
Use the 80% of the received amount towards your credit card because your credit card company is charging you more interest to sustain the balance then the bank. Therefore it’s best to payoff the balance with the most interest first and then gradually payoff the rest.
First off, you need to make sure you can live and get a job. Being in debt means absolutely if you stress youself out so much over it and end up in the hospital. Credit companies and debt collectors know that when people get stressed they act irrationally and change priorities. They will push and push and push, and are trained to make it sound like it will be the end of the world if you don’t make that $40 payment, until they get what they need. They don’t care about you, they care about collecting the money and getting their commissions check. To my knowledge, they can’t garnish your wages or repo anything until it’s 6 months past due….then it takes another 2-3 months to process the paperwork to do that. You’ve got time before you really have to worry about it. It’s better to lose a couple of points on your credit report than to lose your mind…
If it hasn’t gone to collections yet, call the creditors and explain your situation and ask if there they can put a note on the file that you lost your job and the payments will be late, but they are coming as your paychecks start coming in. Most companies will note that you aren’t some deadbeat avoiding bills, and just someone that is a little down on their luck for a little while.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Take the smallest debt and kill that one of first, then move on to the next one.