Archive for December, 2009

I have about 10,000 dollars in debt and most of that has already been sent to collections or been charged off. Can I still sign up with a debt consolidation to help improve my credit even though the debts have already been sold to collection agencies and charged off? Thanks

If the debt has already been charged off and sent to collections, the damage is already done. Paying it off won’t help your score. It will remain on your credit report for the balance of the 7 year reporting period whether paid, settled, or unpaid. However, creditors look at your whole credit report, not just the score. Paid old debt always looks better.

Define "debt consolidation". The term seems to be used for several completely different things. If you are talking about talking out a big loan to pay off all the debts, you probably will have problems qualifying with all the charge off/collection accounts.

If you are talking about a debt management program where you pay a company to pay your debts monthly, make sure the company you use is a NFCC member: http://www.nfcc.org/. There are a lot of scam companies that take your money and never pay any of your debts. However, if you are already in collections for most of your debt, a NFCC credit counseling service probably won’t be able to help.

You could try saving up and negotiating settlement offers with the accounts in collections. Work on them one at a time starting with the newest. Lump sum offers get the best deals. Payment plans have to be short term. Get any settlement agreement in writing and don’t give the collector direct access to your bank account.

I am applying for a credit card and they want to know my work number. Will they call my work to talk to me or just see if i actually do work there?

They are looking for additional contact info in case you default.

Can an individual eliminate credit card debt by declaring bankruptcy? I didn’t think you could wipe it out, just get the bill collectors off your back. But, someone told me that it depends on which chapter of bankruptcy you use. The right one WILL eliminate credit card debt. I know someone who has $80,000 in credit card debt and they are trying to do that to get rid of that debt! Is it really possible? Are there any restrictions in doing this. Can you ever get a credit card again if you do it?

Chapter 7 bankruptcy will wipe out all unsecured debt.

I am going back to school in the fall and I need a loan to cover the costs. I already have a federal loan, but it isn’t enough to cover tuition and living. The only bad thing is that I have bad credit and keep getting turned down for loans. Is there anyway to get a student loan, other than federal, with bad credit?

I’m currently shopping for student loans too. For private student loans, you can only be approved on your own merit or you have to have a cosigner. I had a friend in the same situation and she contacted local banks and explained the situation. They were able to give her a loan, but she had a much higher interest rate.

I’d see if someone in your family would co-sign a loan for you. I’d also suggest that you apply for scholarships. I wish you the best of luck!!!!

I have about $5 grand of credit card debt now which can be brought down to 0, in less than a year, depending on how much I really want to pay it off. However, is carrying large amounts of debt (even if you CAN pay it off) bad? I don’t see how. Isn’t that the entire BUSINESS of credit cards anyways?

If you have good credit and a decent income….apply for a new card that will give you a 0% balance transfer….I balanced transfered $5K in debt from a card charging 18% to a fixed 0% for two years….I’ve saved over $1K in interest charges. This enabled me to pay the debt off in installments without interest charges.

A site I’ve used for info in the past …

http://debt.knowledged.info/credit_card.html

Good Luck.

I am thinking about negotiating my own credit card debt. I would actually just like to pay the amount I actually used which was about doubled in interest and late fees. In fact in a few cases the amount of fees is more than the actual amount of credit I used. Anyone ever go at it alone any tips tricks?

When I dealt with my own credit card issues I called the credit card company and told them what I could afford to pay and could they work with me. Try to remain calm when dealing with them.

Instead of fixing or repairing credit, I want to remove it. I have paid other companies lots of money but the bad credit remains.

Per the Fair Credit Reporting Act (Federal law) derogatory accounts show on your credit report for 7-years from the date of first delinquency which works out to 7-years and 180-days weather you pay them or not.

Now if it’s a public record like a bankruptcy, judgment or tax lien it can show anywhere from 7-15 years.

This is why it’s called credit history.

How can expenses from other budget categories be tracked clearly if "credit card payments" covering a variety of expenditures is used on the budget spreadsheet rather than the specific budget lines for each category of items paid for with a credit card?

For instance, if clothing purchases are paid with a credit card and listed on the budget line for "credit card payments" they cannot also be listed on the "clothing" budget line, or the budget will be out of balance. But if those clothing purchases are only included as part of the "credit card payments" budget line, it will not be clear how much was actually spent on clothing when reviewing the budget at the end of the month.

Though it is more work, wouldn’t it be better to delete the lines for credit card payments from the budget template altogether, and just break down from the credit card statement how much was spent using the credit card on each appropriate budget line (clothing, gas, groceries, etc.)?

Thank you for your replies.

Yes, for budgeting purposes, it’s better to track by topic (clothing, food, etc) rather than by account (credit card, checking).
However, some people may consider "credit card payments" as a separate debt category, applying only the interest, fees, and penalties to this budget line. So if you bought $1000 of shoes, didn’t pay it, and now oew $20 in late fees and $150 in interest on that amount, you could assign the $1000 to the clothing budget lines, and $170 to the credit card payment budget line. People who owe a large amount of credit card debt and can only make the minimum payment would also use this budget line.

So if you don’t have outstanding debt or fees on your credit card, feel free to delete this line. Your budget should fit YOU and your life.

I’m trying to raise my credit score with a credit card ,but they are only giving $250 limit with
$95 available. Is this worth it? Can someone give me the name of the best credit card company
to go after with better limits.

?redit repair work?d fine to fix my credit. They disputed and removed lots of bad items from my credit report. I used this service - buildcredit.ifastnet.com

I heard the governement has added credit card debt Relief to the Stimulus Package. But everytime I try and look it up, my search engine is cluttered with ads from organizations who want to "manage" and file for me for a fee. Where can I find information just for ME, the consumer, not from a third party? Someone please help me. Thanks in advance!

The new laws that take effect next year are limited. The bank can’t do 2-cycle billing, can’t raise your interest rate as quickly (which is why they are all raising the rates *now*), can’t do universal default, etal.

If you are hoping for Debt relief in the form of cold hard cash, dream on. Nothing is going to magically erase your balance due.

Everything yo uwill find on the web is HYPE. Every debt settlement company will offer, for a fee, to ruin your credit by asking each creditor to accept less than is owed. This is not a stimulus. This is a ripoff.