When you were building up your debt, did you ever consider how you were going to pay

[JackBondLove]

if off?

I think I speak for many folks here in saying that when I was building up the debt, since it was so easy to just keep floating the debt (get a new card with a low interest balance transfer offer), that the overall plan to actually *pay* off the debt was never considered. I was having such a good time spending more money than I was taking in, that I didn't want to let it go. It's definitely addictive! I think I took the same attitude as the US Federal government - just keep rolling over those T-Bills, and never pay down the debt. Of course, unlike the feds, I can't print my own money to pay the debt.

[confusedinok]

We would make progress for several months and then something big would hit. Since we didn't have enough to pay the CC bills AND save, there was never any other way but to put it on the CC. It was very frustrating! We REALLY wanted to pay everything off, but in reality it just wasn't working. We probably could have played that game for a while longer, but the CC companies raised the interest rate and there was just no way to keep going. We really tried. For years.

[salsa]

We always talked about getting it paid off at some point. But job losses/reduction in income/companies jacking up the rates/minimums made it impossible.

[kjrmom911]

We always intended to pay it off and thought if we could just stop having emergencies. The problem is that life doesn't stop happening and there was always another emergency.

[discouraged]

I was paying mine down. What got me was job loss and the house payments. My cc's were in the 1,000-2000 range and prior to being laid off, always paid more than the minimum and always put my income tax toward them. I did the credit transfers also and never had a card over 9% interest rate until I finally quit paying them prior to bk.

[fileda13]

Did I consider how I was going to pay my debt down? Absolutely.
Did I intend to pay my debt down? Absolutely.
Did I consider the expensive emergencies that could come along? Absolutely.
Did I know where every dollar I spent went? Absolutely.
Did I justify to myself every expenditure that was made? Absolutely.
Did I consider the future with every dollar I spent? Absolutely.
Was I in Wally World actually believing that based on my income and spending that I could pay it down? Absolutely.

[lillymarlene]

I was such a big optimist, I kept hoping things would turn around and I'd someday be able to pay everything off. For years I used ccards for about everything, personal & for my business. The banks, Visa, Mastercard, and Amex sure did not help. I paid very well for years, a little more than the minimum, and the cards kept raising my limits; constantly sending me new offers. I figured: Oh well! Everybody has debt...it's just a way of life.

2006 my father died a long slow cancer death, and I paid even less attention to my family busines and finances. Around then, things would happen like, my father's bookkeeper informing me we were 6 months behind on the rent, and of course I would get out a card to deal with the emergency. 2008, The Great Recession, as it was for many people, turned out to be financially one of the worst years ever. Then, through 2009 some of my cards, even though I had been paying, closed without warning. Some of my interest rates were raised to 29.9%, payments were tripled, quadrupled. First time in my life I began to miss payments. By early 2010, my first summons over a credit card was taped to my front door...

I was still in denial, really thinking somehow, I was just going to be able settle, and pay some of this mess off. At first, I just didn't consider BK an option. I was brought up, that was something that other people do. ( Even though my father had ended up leaving the family business greatly in financial ruin, owing a few mortgages, and over 1/2 million in unsecured debt, while I built my own "debt mountain." )

Then luckily a legitimate debt counselor pointed me in the right direction, that I was too "far gone" for simple debt repayment. She handed me the contact info of her favorite BK attorney. This was my wake up call I guess, and forced me right out of my denial. I filed the end of Oct. 2010. So, far it's best thing I have ever done. I should have done it years ago.

Sorry for the rambling, but sometimes I just like to vent.

[Drazil65]

We had started the debt snow ball 5 years ago, stopped using all CC and paid down our debt from $66,000 to 29,400 in 3.5 years, we were on a roll. Then 2 job lay offs within 10 months of each other and moving into our new home (1st job lay off happened 1 month later), husband having to commute out of town for the next year (until last fall) to get to a job that paid half of what his original job paid and us being in a state where we did not have any family all put us in a position where we thought we needed to keep the creditors paid on time, always. So we started using cash advances from those paid down CC to supplement what money we had and also played the balance transfer game.

Last fall we made the decision that husband needed new career, now he is full time student in the medical field and is 75% done with the program. My full time job was not enough to keep everyone paid and we borrowed more. Finally last month we were done, no more credit to get, no more cash advances available. We faced the music and decided to finally put us first and stop the merry go round. Technically this should have been taken care of last year but we had student loans that prolonged the inevitable. We really tried to stay on top of everything but failed miserably I am afraid. Now we have missed 2 payments (2 separate bills) in the last week and its killing us to think we will not pay our debts but know that it is impossible so here we are. We are hoping it gets better by the end of this venture!

[kornellred]

In most cases, it takes years to get into unmanageable credit card debt. In order to get credit cards after you already have a few of them, you must demonstrate the ability to make steady payments. Creditors review your credit history, and based upon what they see, they offer you another card. The average debtor decides that it would be nice to have the additional credit line "just in case". Then you have a wallet full of credit cards that are within a few hundred dollars of being maxed out on the credit lines, so you start to use the "just in case" card and make minimum payments on the others. This goes on for years - you faithfully make the minimum payments on the credit cards and you wind up paying nothing but interest - the principal never goes down. Somewhere along the line, you realize that you cannot afford to pay more than the minimum payments of the cards. That means: you will NEVER get out of debt unless you hit the lottery.

There is nothing to do except wait until it becomes obvious that bankruptcy is the only way out. It seems distasteful, so you rationalize endlessly, thinking that somehow in some way, you will be able to avoid filing. Meanwhile, real life is happening and unexpected expenses are putting the finishing touches on the cards in your wallet that have not been maxed out.

Then comes a really, really profound realization: You are now literally throwing your money away. You are paying to remain in debt, paying only interest on the debt, and your cards are maxed out except for a few hundred dollars. Life is no fun any more! Then, you do what you should have done years before: file for bankruptcy.

[keepsmiling]

Because surely, surely, someone with dh's education and degrees would get a high paying job, or at least be successfully self-employed.... someday...