My husband has a huge amount of debt (around $75,000 in unsecured). There hasn't ever taken a cash advance, no balance transfers in the last 18 months, and most of the cards haven't been used in well over a year. We're only late on a few of them, most are current. Two of the cards (there are 9 card accounts) have been used somewhat heavily in the past few months, but no luxury items. Gas, Groceries, Utility, Phone, Insurance payments have been charged. There was a $300 charge at home depot about 6 weeks ago (non luxury). There is also a charge for a procedure that my dog had to have done at the vet when he was ill. The reason for the usage is that we have absolutely no cash after we pay the minimums each month so we've had to charge everything. We had an open line of equity on our home and had been using that to pay the minimums but it ran out so we had to start charging living expenses.
We don't want to file bankruptcy, but I don't know enough about it. I'm still hoping to find a way out, perhaps by negotiating with the creditors for lower payments/lower interest. Most of the cards are at 30% interest or higher. We're getting no where with the minimum payments. I cry almost all day long and don't know what to do. I can't sleep at night, when I do fall asleep I wake up in a panic. I'm scared to death to answer the phone. We are only 9 days late on one card and they are already having collectors call. Discover started calling when we were one week late and they called about 7 or 8 times a day on the caller ID.
My husband makes very little and my previously profitable business (sole proprietorship, not incorporated) has become pretty bad. Last year, I decided to go back to school as an adult learner so I can give up the business and have a career. I've made it through the first year, but I still have another year to go. I'm considering looking for a job at Target or Walmart, but I'm thinking that probably isn't going to help much at this point.
My husband and I lived together for alot of years before we got married seven years ago (we've been together 16 years). Most of the credit cards are in his name with me as authorized user. I only have $11,000 in debt that is in my name only. There are no student loans or retirement accounts. We don't owe any tax debts. Just unsecured credit. There are no business loans as we used the personal credit cards to pay for merchandise for the business. There is no cash value insurance, only a small term policy on my husband that costs $18 a month with no cash value. We own one vehicle that we owe $15,000 on that we would like to keep, but if we have to give it up, that will be acceptable too. It's not upside down (KBB says worth $18,000) as when we bought it in 2004, we received 1.9% financing. We own a house that we purchased in 1999, a very modest 900 square foot house. We have no equity as we used it up to try to pay some credit cards. All of our furniture is at least 5 years old, as are the appliances and televisions.
We live in New York. We are well below the median income (about $33,000 a year now). I don't know what we should do. Would one of those credit card consolidation companies be a good solution for us?
Also, I was hoping to get a good job after college, will bankruptcy affect this? Seeing I don't have too much debt it my own name, would it be better for my husband to file bankruptcy and for me to get a Target job and try to pay off the $11,000 I owe? The house was purchased before we married and both the vehicle and house are in his name alone. We wanted to keep both the house and the vehicle if possible, thats why I want to consider credit counseling before bankruptcy.
We don't want to file bankruptcy, but I don't know enough about it. I'm still hoping to find a way out, perhaps by negotiating with the creditors for lower payments/lower interest. Most of the cards are at 30% interest or higher. We're getting no where with the minimum payments. I cry almost all day long and don't know what to do. I can't sleep at night, when I do fall asleep I wake up in a panic. I'm scared to death to answer the phone. We are only 9 days late on one card and they are already having collectors call. Discover started calling when we were one week late and they called about 7 or 8 times a day on the caller ID.
My husband makes very little and my previously profitable business (sole proprietorship, not incorporated) has become pretty bad. Last year, I decided to go back to school as an adult learner so I can give up the business and have a career. I've made it through the first year, but I still have another year to go. I'm considering looking for a job at Target or Walmart, but I'm thinking that probably isn't going to help much at this point.
My husband and I lived together for alot of years before we got married seven years ago (we've been together 16 years). Most of the credit cards are in his name with me as authorized user. I only have $11,000 in debt that is in my name only. There are no student loans or retirement accounts. We don't owe any tax debts. Just unsecured credit. There are no business loans as we used the personal credit cards to pay for merchandise for the business. There is no cash value insurance, only a small term policy on my husband that costs $18 a month with no cash value. We own one vehicle that we owe $15,000 on that we would like to keep, but if we have to give it up, that will be acceptable too. It's not upside down (KBB says worth $18,000) as when we bought it in 2004, we received 1.9% financing. We own a house that we purchased in 1999, a very modest 900 square foot house. We have no equity as we used it up to try to pay some credit cards. All of our furniture is at least 5 years old, as are the appliances and televisions.
We live in New York. We are well below the median income (about $33,000 a year now). I don't know what we should do. Would one of those credit card consolidation companies be a good solution for us?
Also, I was hoping to get a good job after college, will bankruptcy affect this? Seeing I don't have too much debt it my own name, would it be better for my husband to file bankruptcy and for me to get a Target job and try to pay off the $11,000 I owe? The house was purchased before we married and both the vehicle and house are in his name alone. We wanted to keep both the house and the vehicle if possible, thats why I want to consider credit counseling before bankruptcy.
This basically killed us financially. There is no way that we can keep up with the minimum payments at these rates. I just used an online calculator and plugged in the amounts of interest charged versus what is owed and it says that if we pay $2000 a month in payments, it will take 113 months to pay it off. We don't have that kind of money right now. My only hope is that my husband can find a better paying job and that the credit companies will lower our interest and payments until we can get on our feet again. Has anyone on this board been successful with this?
Ive grown much tougher skin in the last month especially. Before I was reduced to tears instantly.
forgot the date
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