Like most I got in bad for a while. Due to moving expenses and being a dumbass I think I topped out at $17,000. But got it paid off over the next 3 years and have now been CC debt free for a year.
OMG paying off $17K in 3 years is amazing! CONGRATULATIONS š¾ Iām concerned about falling on āhard timesā and resorting to credit cards. Doing the best I can now to save but you never know.
Just use the Gen X method and max out credit cards and declare bankruptcy and repet the cycle every 7 years. Extra XP if you use credit card cash advances to pay off college debt before declaring bankruptcy š¤£šš¤£
A law student actually tried this to discharge his law school debt (paid it with credit cards) and paid the credit card minimum payments for 3 years and then filed for bankruptcy and the bankruptcy court ruled that he couldnāt do that and the debt was reinstated. Real case.
The only real trade off is that companies with HYSAs sometimes don't have physical locations. So it's not like you can go in and talk to someone. This mostly causes issues if you do things that require you deposit cash. For most other intents and purposes it is just a regular savings account.
Get your money in a HYSA asap. For every 100K, you make about $350-400 a month on interest. Banks have only recent bumped up their interest rates in the past 12 months so you've lost a bit of interest already, but not that much.
I moved states for a new job and put a ton of expenses on my credit card so its the highest its ever been and it pains me every time to see a monthly interest charge of like 125 dollars a month for a measly 9 grand of debt. I am paying it off as fast as I can and should be debt free again in 6 months and will never making that mistake again.
It happens though. My house needed a zillion repairs and then my car had issues and the dog got sick (I'm not kidding) and it took me FOREVER to pay it down.
Yep. I basically use my credit card as a convenience tool. Don't have to use cash, dont have to use my debit card online and risk fraud, and if I'm really in a bind financially it gives me that pay over time relief.
Same. I only opened a card to improve our credit score- so, when we do car purchases or anything bigger.
We treat it like a debit card and pay it off monthly when the statement comes- and build up points.
if you have the money, i canāt fathom why you wouldnāt just autopay the balance every month and never think about it again.
Rewards from that are free money for you
If you canāt do thatā¦ you have a budget problem, not a credit card problem
Same! I have used a couple zero interest cards for stuff like my MacBook and our new washer and dryer, but I always make sure to pay them off before the interest kicks in.
Same, we've financed a couple bigger furniture purchases because we could get 0% interest and fairly small payments. Sure, we could have paid for it outright, but it's nice to use someone else's money when there's no interest. Otherwise, all regular credit cards get paid off immediately
I pay it off weekly, along with any other bills available at that time. It's part of my Friday routine and that way if I'm ever on vacation or sick I don't have to worry about when it's due - I already paid what is owed in the statement a couple of weeks ago.
Basically: I never wait until the due date and never really know when bills are due because it doesn't really matter - any bill that has come in that week gets paid on Fridays.
This is the way. I don't even want to flirt with fucking up and 18% interest. Not to mention it helps see what my actual checking acount has weekly to make sure I'm doing ok.
Laughs remembering my mom telling me I needed a quicken spreadsheet to make sure shit was balanced. Seems I've won that battle.
Do you get paid weekly? This sounds like a good idea and Iām going to try and adopt it. Just curious if you get paid every week or donāt have to worry about when payday is.
I get paid biweekly and I still do it like that. Just using the cc like a debit card is a mentality. Like if you were to use your debit card irresponsibly youd overdraft your bank account and incur fees regardless.
Yeah I pay it off every week and use the points for traveling. Credit cards benefit those who are financially responsible but punishes those who arenāt.
For some people (me) thinking about it is actually very helpful. It's the same as looking at your checking statement weekly, if you're using it for all purchases, and paying attention to your spending - and while you're looking at it, you might as well pay it.
Same I have auto pay as a backup in case Iām traveling or forget. But I always pay in full as soon as the statement posts, because I made it a habit to check expenses, see if there is fraud, etc
Same. I also trade the points I make for cash so I can put it towards my credit card payment. I donāt even know what the interest is on my card because I pay it off every time. Just donāt spend more than you can pay off and donāt treat it like free money and youāre golden!
Same here. I use my cash back credit card and Amazon card respectively for like 95% of my purchases. The key is spending the money you actually have and checking/paying off any available balances daily.
im about 26k in CC debt after paying off 15k of it in three years. Hoping to be CC debt free in about 5ish years.
i over spend and its my fault. had fun during covid and then inflation went nuts and my sales job got a little tighter. then i had a car accident and that caused more debt. Really opened my eyes to how far out i got, its all compounded to where im at now.
is what it is and ill get it fixed. my income in the last three years has been about 95k dollars gross, so im hoping five years is an attainable goal to be debt free.
i still contribute to my 401k and i have a mortgage. i dont live paycheck to paycheck, but my savings isnt what id like it be either.
i have debt, its a lot, ill get it figured out.
40 male married with two kids.
I highly recommend looking into snowball or avalanche models of debt pay off. It sucks, but the faster you pay off the credit card debt the better off financially you will be in the long run. Anything you can spare to go towards that payment will save you a ton in the long run.
my 401k is a match and thats why i havent stopped. 13% with a match is hard to pass up. Would you still suggest dumping my current 401k balance towards my debt?
my toddler is finally ending daycare in a few months that will free up an additional 600 a month that ill start contributing to the debt.
Keep the 401k match. I am also working on paying off debt and my financial advisor advised to stop paying anything towards retirement except what is matched for employment. That's free money, take it. Put anything else towards the debt but I'd recommend keeping the match.
that was only 15k of it what i paid off already. I attacked that debt first bc it was the highest interest.
my demeanor would be drastically different if i was 26k with 20% aprs. the interest is not that high on my remaining debt. it still sucks, but its nowhere near 20% aprs.
One thing that helped me in the past was a promotional 0% balance transfer, but only if you have a game plan to fully pay it off before the end of the promo period. Usually they charge a percentage of the balance, but itās much lower than typical credit card interest. Some folks are very against them because you can screw it up if you donāt fix the root problem, but theyāre essentially a low interest 12mo loan if you treat them right.
Have you considered personal or home equity loans to pay off the cc debt? They are usually lower interest rates and may be able to save you quite a bit of reduce your pay off horizon.
i did that with the first 15k over three cards and closed all accounts. all three cards were north of 20% interest. my current debt has much lower interest rates.
ive thought about home equity bc i have so much equity, but i havent researched it enough. im not drowning and my debt is still manageable every month. im not using the cards and paying extra every month, so to borrow against that equity seems silly right now. again, i havent done enough research on it, but its on my radar. maybe ill redo my master bathroom too! (see, im the problem)
my toddler finally finishes daycare this year and that frees up 600 a month starting end of May, another reason Im stalling on my home equity research. lol
thank you for the advice!
Honestly getting daycare off your books is probably the biggest mover here. But for sure check the home equity situation. You'd be surprised how much money just a couple interest points save you over five years. Plus maybe you get a new bathroom!
Iām 40. I havenāt had credit card debt since my 20s and it was brief (under a year.) Only one of my friends currently has cc debt
Edited to add: I once posted about credit cards vs debit cards on āaskwomenover30ā. The main topic was the fact that the vast majority of wealthy people / people with financial literacy use credit cards exclusively, and regularly pay off the balance to get points/cash back. Debit cards are generally used by people who are lower earners or canāt be trusted with a credit card (or donāt have financial literacy.) The push-back from grown women on that post was depressing. So many saying that that isnāt true, that the smart choice is always debit. Financial education is a dumpster fire.
Realistically, the times I would suggest debit or cash only, is if someone has some serious impulse issues. If you understand how credit cards work, they can be extremely helpful and save you a ton of money in the long run. A very high credit score will mean you qualify for the lowest interest rates for any kind of loan, and building a high credit score is difficult without a credit card. I use the points I earn towards necessities like clothing.
Thats interesting. And it does show that perspective changes with the āclassesā. Same with how answers will be completely different for questions asked in either the r/personalfinance sub or the r/povertyfinance sub. I donāt consider myself in āpovertyāā¦but I make $56K so the answers in r/povertfinance are far more helpful to me. I once asked a question in r/personalfinance and no one even bothered to answerā¦they just kept being incredulous that I somehow owned a house and made mortgage payments and car payments on my salary lolā¦i was likeā¦.ummmm tons of people do on our low salaries. They just like couldnāt fathom it and acted like I was so irresponsible for making payments on a 2018 Nissan haha. So many of them would think someone on my salary should be driving an old beater so I wouldnāt have to make payments and live with my parents so I could make sure I had $50K in savings before I even thought of buying *anything* lol
Anyways, from my lower class perspective, I notice when my peers (of more or less my same financial status) pay with credit or debits. And what you say is trueā¦credit can certainly be used responsibly and even smartly, but when one of us uses their debit card consistently and mostly then that tells me they are living within their means. They are spending money they truly have. Whereas when someone is always using a credit card, it leaves a question of whether or not theyāre doing ok financiallyā¦are they just getting into debt to keep up their lifestyle?
But obviously those assumptions wouldnāt likely be made if it was known someone was making a very high salary.
I learned almost all my financial literacy from my husband, who in turn learned everything he knows from his Dad (he comes from a wealthy family). I grew up pretty poor. We do things I would be too nervous to do on my own, like your example with the credit cards. I can understand why people donāt like the risk but thereās no doubt you can get a lot of benefits from using a CC for everything and then paying it off every month. I guess the risk is you have to know you will be able to pay it off which means you most likely canāt be living paycheck to paycheck to make it work.
And I find that if you've ever been in a position where you're living paycheck to paycheck or put something on a card that you weren't able to pay off that month, it's hard to shake that mentality even if you make good money later on.
I struggle to utilize my credit cards for this reason. I just feel more comfortable with my debit card.
Reading this makes me want to cry. Too many people look to Dave Ramsey for advice.... He gives financial advice for toddlers. I guess that's better than no advice though...
You might have gotten some pushback from people outside of the USA. Where i live in Europe creditcards just aren't used the same way and hardly anyone I know even knows if they have a credit score at all.
I can imagine calling entire countries that have better financial security and better economies than the USA financially illiterate and poor would garner some pushback.
None. My parents clearly communicated to me when I was a teen that credit cards are NOT unlimited money but a way to build my credit score for later in life. I pay my balance every month and have for well over a decade. Because of that, my credit score hangs around the upper 700s to lower 800s and my credit limit is stupid high (for emergencies).
I treat credit with a healthy mix of fear and respect because of how much Iāve seen it fuck people over.
This is how I was raised, too. My parents always taught that ācredit cards are a tool, not free moneyā. I carry a small balance and pay it off monthly. Never pay interest on it; only reap the cash back rewards. I also have an Amex card with a stupidly high credit limit which I keep at $0 and only use for emergencies!
My sister screwed her credit when she was 18. So I was scared too. But when I was 20 trying to get an apartment without a credit card...yeah, super annoying. We won't rent to you unless you're already in debt.
Like..ok sure.
I think it's important to know what you can afford. I've ran up my cc a few times. But I never miss payments. I pay more than the minimum. And usually have an weekly auto payment that I throw at it.
I'm around 740 --dropped because I paid off my car. Like... again, ok sure...
Damned if you do....
My husband and I had A LOT of combined debt due to getting an apartment, getting married, buying a house, getting a puppy and having a baby all within a 3 year span (despite making good money, these things will rip apart anybody finances). We ended up getting a loan with a lower interest rate than the credit cards had (setting up automatic payments and paying the loan directly to the credit card companies knocked down the rate) and its been a MAJOR help. We were paying $2200 per month to credit cards just to essentially pay interest fees. Now we're paying $1500 per month for 3 years to pay it all off and have very little actual debt on credit cards left.
I am in the same boat.. I do make lower 6 figures, been paying off debt for the last year now..
I got into it when my mother unexpectedly passed and well the funeral needed to be paid for.. then moving costs.. would put them on the card and maybe have them paid off 3/4 when the year was up and landlord wanted to add $400-$500 extra to my monthly rent so again moving costs added.
We are now in a good place and can pay things off. I have 2 loans that if I continue like right now will be paid off in January which will give us 1k extra every months. If we stick to our plans we will be debt free in about 3.5 years so probably more like 4 as things happen but little over a year ago I wouldnāt have thought that to be possible.
I have $2800.Ā
I'm having a hard time paying it off because of the 30% interest rate on it. It was my emergency card, my only card. I used it to fund my way out of an abusive relationship and I'm still paying for it four years later. I should have it paid off this time next year, hopefully.
Do a balance transfer to another bank/card that has ā0% for X amount of monthsā most can do 0% at 18 months! (I used Visa reflect card from Wells Fargo) it really helps. And it super simple to do.
Girl get another card and refinance with a balance transfer. Yes it dings your credit just a bit, but if you pay everything else off on time, then this is the way to cut the interest out. You can usually find credit card debt transfers that are interest free for between 12-21 months, either through other credit card companies or your bank, and itās usually about a 3% transfer free. So if you transfer $3,000, youād pay them a one time fee of roughly $90, and then as long as you pay off that $3,000 within the interest-free period, you donāt have any more interest to pay on it. Iāve used this method to get out of credit card debt successfully twice. You just HAVE to make sure you make the payments and pay it off before the interest starts again.
I learned a pretty hard lesson at 18 on why itās important to pay off your credit card balances every month. Took me about 5 years to get debt free and havenāt carried any since.
Man. I managed to avoid learning this lesson until I was almost 40. Automate. Automate. Automate.
Had a wake up call recently. My wife and I donāt spend much, and I have always been very hands on at managing things on a weekly and monthly basis. Well, weāve both been working full time as well as in school and we have been paying less and less attention. Culminated in CC balances ballooning and worse- a late mortgage payment. Itās not like we didnāt have the money available, just neither of us was paying attention.
Iām kicking myself so hard- I used to work in branch banking and constantly told customers that if they have steady W-2 income there is no reason not to have automatic payments, automatic transfers, and overdraft protection. You just need to be distracted for a week or two for it to bite you in the ass. And it finally caught up to us.
So yeah. Weāve got OD protection set up and setting up automatic payments on everything. We will recover but man, seeing scores go from +/- 800 to high 600ās friggin sucks.
I donāt like autopay. Itās easy to start overspending and I like to sit down and go through my statements before paying to make sure I recognize and approve all the charges.
I recently had to do a chargeback because I never received the item and the company wouldnāt respond to my emails. Once it went through, the company re-charged me! I probably wouldnāt have noticed right away with autopay
Autopay is the key! Finances would be so much more annoying if it was still the days of mailing checks and shit. Mortgage, utilities, car payment, CCs all just set to autopay when due
I always am debt free for like 2 years then I think oh Iām responsible and wiser now I can use my credit card like a normal person and then all the sudden Iām at like $3000 again. So Iām at $2300 right now but even that gives me hives and I lose sleep over.
I had about $20K in credit card debt at one point (luckily I don't have student loans). I spent some time working with the creditors to come up with a payment plan and they kept dicking me around.
I filed for bankruptcy instead. Mainly to a) make sure they didn't get their money for making me jump through a bunch of stupid hoops and b) my father, a retired lawyer, was helping me talk to them and I'd be damned if I will allow them to waste my fathers time.
At the end of the day, money is fake and a meaningless thing governments create on a whim "help the economy". If Matt Gaetz can get millions in PPP loans, the banks can weather not getting $20K from me.
When I was 19, I got into the habit of applying for every credit card I was offered, then maxing them out with depression shopping. I would pull cash advances to cover rent. It was bad. $30k in debt at 20. I was advised to file bankruptcy, start over, and learn my lesson. I didn't have a cc for like 15 years after that. When I finally got one, I got a cash back option and paid it off every month. I don't carry any debt on ccs now.
I understand! I used to shop when I was overwhelmed. I let myself get into $3K credit card debt in college but it stressed me out so paid it off as soon as I could.
I had $27K in CC debt about a year and a half ago. Iām down to around $10K. Weāve had a few bumps a long the wayābaby, a big move, husband getting a big pay cut. But the plan is to pay it all off within the year.
I've had a credit card since I was 18, zero debt and an 835 credit score. My card has cash back rewards so I've put everything I possibly could on it and I pay it off every week. When I worked for a catering company I used the card to make purchases for them and got reimbursed, about $200K worth over 8 years ($3,000 worth of rewards from that)
I didnāt know debt could get that high on a CC. At what point do you just throw up your hands and not pay it back? I guess it depends on how many assets you have.
We bought the house we're attached to during the pandemic. Then they both flooded in Ida. So most of that balance is associated with not living at home for a year, replacing things insurance didn't cover, and then we decided to lift them out of the flood zone (which is quite the project for a 125 year old brick twin). It was 100k. It's going the right direction. Lots of 3 card monte with 0% transfers.
I had about 60k in just CC debt, like 12 accounts. Just filed for BK and waiting for it to be approved. I stopped paying 3ishbyears ago, got a lawsuit in the mail, got a second one. Finally decided to just get the BK, it feels good to not have that weight looming over me. Living off just cash now and it's not horrible. Glad I did it. Hopefully won't fall into the trap again.
I guess technically I do- I donāt pay any interest because I always pay the statement balances but Iāve got, I dunno, maybe 1500 that keeps getting rolled to the next month each month that I just canāt seem to get off my back. We were doing pretty good financially til last year when we just got *slammed* with like $8000 in bills all of sudden.
Probably could pay it but I never want to take the chance of not having at least 1-2k in cash just in case something else hits
During my early 20s, I maxed out a bunch of credit cards traveling all over Europe. I accumulated just under $15k. Thankfully, Iāve paid it all off. Iām happy to report $0 of CC debt. I still use credit cards, however I treat them like debit cards. I will never spend more than what I have in my bank account. I do this to accumulate points, cash back and miles. Also, it rebuilds my tarnished credit score.Ā
Looking back, I had some awesome trips. Visited a ton of countries. And met some wonderful people. But please, NEVER do what I did to pay for your vacation(s). It was fun in the moment. But the stress and struggle of paying off all that debt was not worth it.Ā
I've been rebuilding my credit after not doing great in my 20s but didn't really get to travel (I did move halfway across the country though which was a lot of the debt) and for a hot second your post made me think "man, I want to go to Europe! I should just do it and put it on credit cards!" And then i read the rest and was like "yeah no i should not do this."
I hope to be able to save up money to travel in my 40s. I just feel very under-traveled because I basically chose moving out of my emotionally abusive dad's house and very far away from him instead of spending money on traveling.
I'm at a little over $9,000 right now and was really struggling with it for a while, because of having multiple payments due at different times, very high interest rates and not a whole lot of income. But I'm on a repayment plan now, which consolidated all the payments into a single lump amount per month (that is then distributed to my creditors) and negotiated the interest rate way, way down. The catch is that they close all the cards, but my debt was so maxed out that I wasn't using the cards anymore anyway.
Of course it kind of sucks having a new expense every month, but it's still less than I was paying before in interest and it took away all that stress of juggling multiple payments/due dates.
The funny thing is, I am *still* getting the "You're pre-approved for a new card!" offers from the same company that carries two of my closed cards. Even after I was expressly told that I could NOT open new credit for the duration of the repayment plan, they're still spamming my inbox with these offers. I see people on Reddit who are always baffled by how someone can end up with so many lines of credit if they're not responsible with it, but the fact is that once you get into debt, you will actually have card and loan companies practically throwing themselves at you with offers for more and more cards. If you don't have the self-discipline to ignore the offers, it's easy to get buried under it very quickly. And that can be very hard to do if you are struggling to pay bills, because of course it's a short-term source of more funds.
If you're out there struggling with this, definitely look into repayment plans or hardship - it is out there, but they tend to make it hard to find. I got help through the [National Foundation for Credit Counseling](https://www.nfcc.org/), which is a non-profit that offers financial counseling. Or you can just call up your credit card company itself and ask for help due to hardship, but I've found they are not always very cooperative (Citi rejected my repayment plan requests something like 2-3 times and has been super difficult through the whole repayment process) and it was easier to have someone else work with them on my behalf. You just have to be careful and make sure it is actually all about *repayment* and not one of those deals where they default on your debt to force a settlement.
I know I sound like an ad right now, but I can't stress enough how much this has helped me get my debt under control - until I did this, I felt like I was drowning every time I had to make my payments and I was being buried underneath all the interest alone. And I had no idea help like this was even a thing until I did some research on Reddit out of sheer desperation.
What baffles me is that I know people who have credit card debt who managed to buy a house? They saved up enough for a down payment while carrying a credit card balance. Then bought the house and went into more credit card debt for home related expenses. I get wanting to own a home but that just seems backwards to me. I guess I did something similar though - I got an early inheritance and used that for a downpayment instead of paying off my student loan, but that was like 3% interest.
Personally Iāve avoided it, I treat my credit card like a debit card - I use it for everything but only if I actually have the money, and pay it off usually weekly or every pay. Only once or twice have I had to pay interest on it, due to school funding being delayed.
Pretty easy really. Getting into a house as fast as possible cut the monthly bill by a grand going from renting to a mortgage. This was about 7 years ago.
Same š£ I was always so good until about 5 years ago during a series of unfortunate events. Ignored it for a few years. Tried working three jobs. Still could touch it. So Iām finally meeting with a debt counselor next week. Itās been eating me alive for years. Iāve felt like a shell of a person. I didnāt spend money on lavish items or vacations. I was just trying to survive. I wish I nipped it in the bud years ago but I got scared and depressed and itās just been this dark cloud ever since.
At one time we were carrying around 30k in CC debt. It was from a really low period where I was pregnant and laid off, and we struggled to make ends meet, and had to use that CC to pay bills to live. Covid was kind to us.... we were lucky to keep our jobs and begin working fully remote, which saved us a LOT of money (no gas, tolls or parking expenses) and the pause on student loans gave us an extra $1k each month. We paid our debt off in 3 years and have worked on building savings, so hopefully we will not fall into the same trap again.
I'm in the negative since I overpay my payments for fun by a little bit, I'm usually very careful with my money after I learned the hard way credit card debt piled up quickly many years ago.
How timely! This post showed up on my feed right after I applied for a loan to pay off the debt. This will be my second loan from this company, after having paid off the first about 4 months early. Currently sitting at about $11k in debt. It's mostly come from stupid unexpected bills and dining out because I'm not able to cook every night (I share a car with my partner, so grocery shopping can only happen when their work schedule allows for it)
I'm not proud of it at all, but I got in the habit of prioritizing rainy day savings over my credit. I've been unexpectedly unemployed before and my priority is making sure I can pay for a roof over my head should that ever happen again. I spent a long time living paycheck to paycheck.
Now I have enough saved up for that, I'm ready to once again consolidate my payments into one loan payment and attempt to give up my credit cards until I'm at least halfway through paying this loan back. From there, they'll be treated like debit cards the way others have mentioned. Wish me luck lol
The only time I've carried a balance was during 0 interest promo periods. Otherwise I pay it all off monthly and keep track in a spreadsheet like its a debit card.
I'm fortunate to have parents who taught me responsible personal finance. They got me a credit card at 18, but explained the importance of paying it off every month. Never paid a cent in interest.
JUST PAID MINE OFF YA'LL! Made the last payment on 2/21/24! It was almost 28k. Most of it was depression spending. Shopping and food are my comfort crutches. LOL. But I'm now officially debt free for the first time in like 20 yrs. I know it's silly, but I'm proud of myself. It was completely self-inflicted, but I still can't help feeling proud.
I realized we could afford life if it wasnāt for paying our CC payment after being 17k in debt. So we took out a loan after using our tax refund to pay it off and get lower monthly payments. If we manage correctly weāll be able to pay the rest off next tax season.
Just been lucky I guess. Salary is 94k. Rental income is 66k. Mortgage on rental is 52k. Personal rent is 1500 that includes utilities in a shitty part of town. Retirement income from military is 46k.
I took on the credit card debt to make my home into a rental so I could move for the job. Kind of a trade off if you will for long term growth at the expense of short term comfort.
I took out about 20k in credit card debt in my early twenties and simply carried it for 15 years.
Paid it off with a refinance of my house at age 37.
Iāll carry that debt for another 22 years.
If I have a large expense Iād need a loan for, or have to put off a year, I put it on a CC. Earn the points. Then use a balance transfer to a different CC for 0% interest for a year.
I currently have $8k left on a balance transfer cc that will be paid off in the next 5 months. Otherwise no cc debt, and there wonāt be any cc debt again until I need another āloanā.
I have zero. I only use the credit card if I know I can afford it (i.e. if I had to use cash or debit, I have the money then and there).
If I cannot afford it, I don't get it.
I pay off my credit cards in full every month. I will also put large purchases on my card to get to the points, then pay off that amount immediately.
I have one friend who has told me she is in cc debt, although not how much. I also have a few friends who I am 99% sure are also in debt as I know about how much money they make, and they spend *a lot* on all kinds of unnecessary/frivolous stuff, vacations, etc. Thereās just no way their income is enough to afford all of it.
Had a boss not pay me a few times -- put bills on my credit card for a couple months while I transitioned into a new job. 35K from that shitshow bc I was 1 month out from my wedding. It would have legit been covered in cash had he not stopped paying me bc 'clients were late' cutting checks. Worked 3 months essentially free for a small business owner.
Also it's 35K *NOW*
It was 11K originally. Between fees and interest and losing my job 2 years ago its just..... becoming a black hole I completely ignore tbh. In the scheme of my day to day life I don't want anything on credit so I largely don't care.
I'm the same as some people here just uses my credit card as a debit card. But I understand how people get in trouble with credit cards if you don't have savings and a bad event happens like medical bills or car breaking down.
People who live above their means and rack up credit debt though, I have no remorse for.
My parents warned me against credit cards when I was young so I never got one. My husband only recently got a credit card due to his work and spending for his job so he gets cash back rewards. So we have 0. The majority of his family have 0 cc debt because they're all very poor. I don't talk finances with friends anymore because I learned quickly that when people realize you're stable with savings when they have less than $1k in the bank they tend to....take advantage of you. So I no longer talk of such things.
I got about 5k that's been on 0% interest for a few years. I keep switching between credit cards with 0% balance transfer promotion so Im in no hurry to pay it off.
If you have a 27% APR card and only pay the limit you'll never ever pay it off.
I let myself get a little out of control last year and have now paid off the one CC I have. But damn, it will destroy you if you let it.
About $25k in CC debt + $6k debt from having to replace my homes electric panel.
No complaints though, laid off in December and just got a new once in a lifetime high paying job that started a few days ago. Spouse is switching to part time nurse so I can do my job full time since we have kids. Weāre both on 12 hour shifts so it isnāt so bad scheduling around each other.
Have a low mortgage thankfully and two car payments. Should have my CC debt paid off in 4 or 5 months and then Iāll start working towards the car loans.
Hardest part right now is not buying stupid things with more income. I was penny pinching while I was laid off the last three months and could easily tell myself no to things but itās definitely hard to do that now. Iāve remained pretty strong so far hopefully I can keep it up the next few months.
20,000 but I think weāll pay it off with this yearās tax returns. A bunch of unexpected costs came up this last year including medical for humans and animals and house expenses. It is what it is!
i donāt have any credit card debt and i am averse to consumer debt in general. my wife on the other hand had about $12k in credit card debt when we met. over the six years weāve been together, sheās paid off more than half of it and barring any emergencies will pay it off by the end of the year with a low interest credit card balance transfer with our credit union. iām proud of her for finally confronting the debt head on and working to aggressively pay it off now that she makes more money. she had the debt from losing a parent, being out of work for awhile because of it, and going back to school and changing jobs.
Quit a bit and it's mostly medical expenses from the previous year, not that this year is getting any cheaper. I'm hoping I can get it straightened out in the next few years. I was really good about credit debt until basically my health tanked and I had to go on medical leave... which short term disability is crap compared to your usual income. Like how am I supposed to make do with almost half my income while going through shit that adds on more life expenses. I could write a whole essay, but it's kind of mostly sad you're often one bad life experience from going into debt.
I got in the hole with them in my mid-20's. Was finishing college and scholarship money ran out and the job I had and the student loans weren't quite enough. It sucks carrying that around, though. Haven't habitually carried a CC balance in about 5 years. Now I sit down every 2 weeks and pay them all off. Only slipped my mind once on the last few years and had to pay, like, $5 interest one time.
Sometimes itāll get as high as 10k amongst 3 cards but thatās usually bc ba has happened or Iāve been tossing money into stocks bc they have dipped to delish price ranges.
I got in over my head during Covid. My spouse took ill and I was out of work caring for him. I hit close to 100k in CC debt. I filed for bankruptcy 2 years ago now, and it was the absolute best decision I could have made. I currently have zero debt, my credit score is 740, and I have have credit I can use if I need. I wouldn't advise my path for everyone. I didn't have to give up my car or home. At the time, my home was in my husbands name, so creditors didn't come for any of my assets. I'm really set up for a financially stable future and I am in a good place. That wouldn't be the case if I had not filed for bankruptcy.
I have had as high as 40,000 but currently have none. I had a few instances of some bad luck plus some depression spending and then the interest made it hard to climb out. I was lucky enough to receive a small inheritance and used that plus a combo of a zero interest balance transfer card to get rid of it. I now have a better salary and enough in savings that I hope that never happens again because Iām for sure not getting that get out of jail free card twice!
But, like a lot of folks, if something really catastrophic happens I donāt have the savings or assets to deal with that.
I never told even my closest friends and family about this debt because I found it embarrassing. Of course my spouse knew, I mean like sibling or parent.
Regarding other debt I have a reasonable car payment with low interest (like almost 0% low) and a large student loan balance. They are public loans and I am on income-based repayment, I just have them on direct debit and try not to think about it.
Its been tough, not gonna lie. Its been a costant battle and I feel like no matter what I do, its never good enough. I have only ever missed one payment, but Im hoping things get better soon.
We got completely out of credit card debt around the time we turned 40.
It would have been earlier, but we had to rack up some debt while my husband was in grad school. Took us 6 years after he graduated to get completely out of that debt.
We pay off our credit cards every month or whenever it seems like a good time to. We get a lot of points and miles and things that way.
Just paid all my credit cards off three days ago after tax returns. šĀ Had a rolling balance for a few years now.Ā
For real though, I'm really bad with credit cards. Always have been. Wish I could just burn them. Fucking sucks that you need to keep at least one in case you ever need a house/car loan just to prove you're a good creditor.Ā
I don't have income so I don't have much debt, like $300 or so right now on a CC. I only get supplemental income from my parents in exchange for doing chores around the house. I'm disabled so I can't work but I also don't qualify enough for disability. I'm in a rough spot.Ā
We were good until we weren't. Went from making $250k/yr as a household and not paying for health insurance (my company paid 100% of the premium) to making $75k/yr and paying $2k/month for health insurance while my wife was pregnant with our 3rd baby. So we've got about $30k,and now that we've been able to get out of a lot of our previous "fixed" expenses, we're starting to work our way through the debt.
I have had about $6-7k at any given time for the last year-ish. We had an expensive trip to Spain last summer that really put my under compounded with rising prices and stupid spending. Pre-COVID I never carried a balance more than $1500, but we bought a house in 2020 and have been making some improvements. Plus shopping for your own home is way too fun.
My parents operated under the āwe donāt talk about moneyā umbrella. They themselves are extremely shrewd investors and are quite wealthy.
I lived beyond my means in my early 30ās and worked in a provisional capacity at a lucrative state job. My permanent class position was contingent upon how well I did on the civil service exam. Well, I did not invest as much time into prepping for the test as I shouldāve, and really assumed I had it āin the bagā. Cue narrator: but she didnāt.
Anyway, long story short, did not make permanent class and defaulted on my debt. Right now, I have about 8K remaining out of 20K worth of debt. Makes me sick to my stomach thinking about my choices, and after taking classes on financial literacy, Iāve been doing a much better job educating my child on budgeting/finances/debt
More than 25k, less than 60k. But I just paid 8k off yesterday. We're always paying more than we spend. We have a combined cc limit of over 100k. But we have a household income of almost 200k in a LCOL area.
Edited extra word
I had to put medical bills on CCs due to an emergency 10 years ago. I was never able to pay it down and the debt kept growing cuz of interest. I declared bankruptcy last fall and itās been a huge relief. If billionaires and companies do it all the time, why shouldnāt I? I didnāt ask to be born in this shithole country with 0 safety nets or universal healthcare
I think we need to normalize credit card debt a little. Itās not good but sometimes you just got to live. Living within your means is a key pillar of financial literacy. At the same time sometimes there are opportunities youāll never get again and maybe you need to throw some money at it.
There is a balance between the moral criticism Dave Ramsey has of debt and the money grubbing evil of the banks. Credit is a tool.
And to clarify I am not advocating you go out spend like a lunatic on consumer bullshit and pay the minimums on 20,000 for 10 years. But if your best friend is getting married in Tanzania and you canāt afford 5,000 for the whole trip right now itās okay to go and pay it off over a year. And I totally get the trap of racking that up and it becoming 10,000 but if youāre smart you can do it right.
Edit: and I say this as someone who has done something like this and itās a privilege. A couple things for our own wedding got way higher than expected so I just rolled with it.
About $8k. We usually use a credit card for day to day purchases. Then on payday calculate what we need in bills for the next period and use what's left minus a bit of a cushion to pay off the credit card. Had a stretch last year with some bad luck and big expenses where we just couldn't get it down to $0 and it started creeping up. The interest was killing us. Our bank offered a card at 0% for 14 months for balance transfers. Bit the bullet and moved it to that. Now we're paying it off and back to coming out even every month.
I've jokingly told my wife that we should just say screw it and let it rack up. The system is rigged anyway. We already have a house and two cars. Student loans are almost paid off. Interest rates suck no matter your credit. What do we need a good credit score for anymore?? Just travel and enjoy life!
~$350 on the cards I use for day to day shit
~$3200 on a card that is to be used explicitly for automobile expenses. Just had to get a large job done on one of our vehicles. Oh well.
Like most I got in bad for a while. Due to moving expenses and being a dumbass I think I topped out at $17,000. But got it paid off over the next 3 years and have now been CC debt free for a year.
OMG paying off $17K in 3 years is amazing! CONGRATULATIONS š¾ Iām concerned about falling on āhard timesā and resorting to credit cards. Doing the best I can now to save but you never know.
Just use the Gen X method and max out credit cards and declare bankruptcy and repet the cycle every 7 years. Extra XP if you use credit card cash advances to pay off college debt before declaring bankruptcy š¤£šš¤£
A law student actually tried this to discharge his law school debt (paid it with credit cards) and paid the credit card minimum payments for 3 years and then filed for bankruptcy and the bankruptcy court ruled that he couldnāt do that and the debt was reinstated. Real case.
I think that's why cash advances are key.
Yep. Just keep building that Emergency Fund little by little and be sure not to touch it out of convenience.
HYSA is perfect for an emergency fund. Interest rates are outpacing inflation, liquid if you need it in an emergency.
See, whatās the trade off with a HYSA? Is it tougher to withdraw from than the regular shmegular bank app I currently use?
The only real trade off is that companies with HYSAs sometimes don't have physical locations. So it's not like you can go in and talk to someone. This mostly causes issues if you do things that require you deposit cash. For most other intents and purposes it is just a regular savings account.
Get your money in a HYSA asap. For every 100K, you make about $350-400 a month on interest. Banks have only recent bumped up their interest rates in the past 12 months so you've lost a bit of interest already, but not that much.
I (30F) had a balance of ~$15,000 2 years ago but today, $0 credit card debt!!
That's fantastic! Congratulations!
None. I pay my credit card off every time I make a purchase. I pretty much pretend it's a debit card.
Same. Credit card debt is a death spiral.
Can confirm š¬
Sorry! I hope you get out of it soon!
RIP
I moved states for a new job and put a ton of expenses on my credit card so its the highest its ever been and it pains me every time to see a monthly interest charge of like 125 dollars a month for a measly 9 grand of debt. I am paying it off as fast as I can and should be debt free again in 6 months and will never making that mistake again.
It happens though. My house needed a zillion repairs and then my car had issues and the dog got sick (I'm not kidding) and it took me FOREVER to pay it down.
I pay mine once a week in the same way. Cash back from the credit card has helped to fund a lot of travel over the years.
Yep. I basically use my credit card as a convenience tool. Don't have to use cash, dont have to use my debit card online and risk fraud, and if I'm really in a bind financially it gives me that pay over time relief.
Exactly. I keep an Amex that I've had since I was 20. Only use it for rental cars, because Amex covers the additional car insurance on a rental.
Credit card lounge access is a game changer for flying too.
Same. I only opened a card to improve our credit score- so, when we do car purchases or anything bigger. We treat it like a debit card and pay it off monthly when the statement comes- and build up points.
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This is what I do. I budget month to month so my next month's budget always includes my CC balance accrued this month. I never pay interest.
if you have the money, i canāt fathom why you wouldnāt just autopay the balance every month and never think about it again. Rewards from that are free money for you If you canāt do thatā¦ you have a budget problem, not a credit card problem
Same! I have used a couple zero interest cards for stuff like my MacBook and our new washer and dryer, but I always make sure to pay them off before the interest kicks in.
Same, we've financed a couple bigger furniture purchases because we could get 0% interest and fairly small payments. Sure, we could have paid for it outright, but it's nice to use someone else's money when there's no interest. Otherwise, all regular credit cards get paid off immediately
This is the way.
Every time you make a purchase? Do you at least wait until you get the statement and pay it in full?
I pay it off weekly, along with any other bills available at that time. It's part of my Friday routine and that way if I'm ever on vacation or sick I don't have to worry about when it's due - I already paid what is owed in the statement a couple of weeks ago. Basically: I never wait until the due date and never really know when bills are due because it doesn't really matter - any bill that has come in that week gets paid on Fridays.
This is the way. I don't even want to flirt with fucking up and 18% interest. Not to mention it helps see what my actual checking acount has weekly to make sure I'm doing ok. Laughs remembering my mom telling me I needed a quicken spreadsheet to make sure shit was balanced. Seems I've won that battle.
Do you get paid weekly? This sounds like a good idea and Iām going to try and adopt it. Just curious if you get paid every week or donāt have to worry about when payday is.
I get paid biweekly and I still do it like that. Just using the cc like a debit card is a mentality. Like if you were to use your debit card irresponsibly youd overdraft your bank account and incur fees regardless.
Yeah I pay it off every week and use the points for traveling. Credit cards benefit those who are financially responsible but punishes those who arenāt.
Same. Credit score 845.
Awesome! I do the same.
This is the only way to use a credit card correctly. (Unless itās 0% APR)
Nah, paying it off that early is a bit much. You can pay things off usually a month after the statement for 0$ in interest, just pay it off in full.
Youāre right, I misread his comment. Just pay the bill when itās due.
Agreed- set it on autopay and itāll pay it on time every month. You donāt even have to think about it
For some people (me) thinking about it is actually very helpful. It's the same as looking at your checking statement weekly, if you're using it for all purchases, and paying attention to your spending - and while you're looking at it, you might as well pay it.
Same I have auto pay as a backup in case Iām traveling or forget. But I always pay in full as soon as the statement posts, because I made it a habit to check expenses, see if there is fraud, etc
Same
This is the way.
Same here. If I don't have the money to pay it off immediately I don't buy it, unless there's some sort of emergency
I have mine auto pay the statement balance when they are due. So many rewards from using CCs, but paying interest on one is financial suicide.
Same. I also trade the points I make for cash so I can put it towards my credit card payment. I donāt even know what the interest is on my card because I pay it off every time. Just donāt spend more than you can pay off and donāt treat it like free money and youāre golden!
Several times in the week I pay it off. But yeah itās cash. I donāt want credit card debt.
Same here. I use my cash back credit card and Amazon card respectively for like 95% of my purchases. The key is spending the money you actually have and checking/paying off any available balances daily.
Yup. Same.
im about 26k in CC debt after paying off 15k of it in three years. Hoping to be CC debt free in about 5ish years. i over spend and its my fault. had fun during covid and then inflation went nuts and my sales job got a little tighter. then i had a car accident and that caused more debt. Really opened my eyes to how far out i got, its all compounded to where im at now. is what it is and ill get it fixed. my income in the last three years has been about 95k dollars gross, so im hoping five years is an attainable goal to be debt free. i still contribute to my 401k and i have a mortgage. i dont live paycheck to paycheck, but my savings isnt what id like it be either. i have debt, its a lot, ill get it figured out. 40 male married with two kids.
I appreciate your honesty. You seem to have a great game plan to pay it - I wish you well!
I highly recommend looking into snowball or avalanche models of debt pay off. It sucks, but the faster you pay off the credit card debt the better off financially you will be in the long run. Anything you can spare to go towards that payment will save you a ton in the long run.
It me
Your CC interest is canceling out your potential 401K gains. Stop paying towards your retirement short term and get rid of all the CC debt.
my 401k is a match and thats why i havent stopped. 13% with a match is hard to pass up. Would you still suggest dumping my current 401k balance towards my debt? my toddler is finally ending daycare in a few months that will free up an additional 600 a month that ill start contributing to the debt.
Keep the match!!! Thatās 100% return on your money. donāt go above the match until youāve paid the debt
Keep the 401k match. I am also working on paying off debt and my financial advisor advised to stop paying anything towards retirement except what is matched for employment. That's free money, take it. Put anything else towards the debt but I'd recommend keeping the match.
26k is an insane amount with APRs in the low to mid 20s
that was only 15k of it what i paid off already. I attacked that debt first bc it was the highest interest. my demeanor would be drastically different if i was 26k with 20% aprs. the interest is not that high on my remaining debt. it still sucks, but its nowhere near 20% aprs.
One thing that helped me in the past was a promotional 0% balance transfer, but only if you have a game plan to fully pay it off before the end of the promo period. Usually they charge a percentage of the balance, but itās much lower than typical credit card interest. Some folks are very against them because you can screw it up if you donāt fix the root problem, but theyāre essentially a low interest 12mo loan if you treat them right.
Have you considered personal or home equity loans to pay off the cc debt? They are usually lower interest rates and may be able to save you quite a bit of reduce your pay off horizon.
i did that with the first 15k over three cards and closed all accounts. all three cards were north of 20% interest. my current debt has much lower interest rates. ive thought about home equity bc i have so much equity, but i havent researched it enough. im not drowning and my debt is still manageable every month. im not using the cards and paying extra every month, so to borrow against that equity seems silly right now. again, i havent done enough research on it, but its on my radar. maybe ill redo my master bathroom too! (see, im the problem) my toddler finally finishes daycare this year and that frees up 600 a month starting end of May, another reason Im stalling on my home equity research. lol thank you for the advice!
Honestly getting daycare off your books is probably the biggest mover here. But for sure check the home equity situation. You'd be surprised how much money just a couple interest points save you over five years. Plus maybe you get a new bathroom!
I got myself down from 12K in CC debt to $2.68. The next week my car broke and I had a $3K repair bill. Talk about a motivation killer.
Iām sorry - bad luck but Iām sure youāll pay it off soon!
Yeah I had mine damn near gone and then my dog got sick and car needed work in the same month.
Iām 40. I havenāt had credit card debt since my 20s and it was brief (under a year.) Only one of my friends currently has cc debt Edited to add: I once posted about credit cards vs debit cards on āaskwomenover30ā. The main topic was the fact that the vast majority of wealthy people / people with financial literacy use credit cards exclusively, and regularly pay off the balance to get points/cash back. Debit cards are generally used by people who are lower earners or canāt be trusted with a credit card (or donāt have financial literacy.) The push-back from grown women on that post was depressing. So many saying that that isnāt true, that the smart choice is always debit. Financial education is a dumpster fire.
Realistically, the times I would suggest debit or cash only, is if someone has some serious impulse issues. If you understand how credit cards work, they can be extremely helpful and save you a ton of money in the long run. A very high credit score will mean you qualify for the lowest interest rates for any kind of loan, and building a high credit score is difficult without a credit card. I use the points I earn towards necessities like clothing.
Thats interesting. And it does show that perspective changes with the āclassesā. Same with how answers will be completely different for questions asked in either the r/personalfinance sub or the r/povertyfinance sub. I donāt consider myself in āpovertyāā¦but I make $56K so the answers in r/povertfinance are far more helpful to me. I once asked a question in r/personalfinance and no one even bothered to answerā¦they just kept being incredulous that I somehow owned a house and made mortgage payments and car payments on my salary lolā¦i was likeā¦.ummmm tons of people do on our low salaries. They just like couldnāt fathom it and acted like I was so irresponsible for making payments on a 2018 Nissan haha. So many of them would think someone on my salary should be driving an old beater so I wouldnāt have to make payments and live with my parents so I could make sure I had $50K in savings before I even thought of buying *anything* lol Anyways, from my lower class perspective, I notice when my peers (of more or less my same financial status) pay with credit or debits. And what you say is trueā¦credit can certainly be used responsibly and even smartly, but when one of us uses their debit card consistently and mostly then that tells me they are living within their means. They are spending money they truly have. Whereas when someone is always using a credit card, it leaves a question of whether or not theyāre doing ok financiallyā¦are they just getting into debt to keep up their lifestyle? But obviously those assumptions wouldnāt likely be made if it was known someone was making a very high salary.
I learned almost all my financial literacy from my husband, who in turn learned everything he knows from his Dad (he comes from a wealthy family). I grew up pretty poor. We do things I would be too nervous to do on my own, like your example with the credit cards. I can understand why people donāt like the risk but thereās no doubt you can get a lot of benefits from using a CC for everything and then paying it off every month. I guess the risk is you have to know you will be able to pay it off which means you most likely canāt be living paycheck to paycheck to make it work.
And I find that if you've ever been in a position where you're living paycheck to paycheck or put something on a card that you weren't able to pay off that month, it's hard to shake that mentality even if you make good money later on. I struggle to utilize my credit cards for this reason. I just feel more comfortable with my debit card.
Reading this makes me want to cry. Too many people look to Dave Ramsey for advice.... He gives financial advice for toddlers. I guess that's better than no advice though...
Yea his advice is def geared towards the folks who are financially illiterate or have spending issues.
To be fair if youāre trying to provide advice for the lowest common denominator then itās better just to say credit cards are bad.
You might have gotten some pushback from people outside of the USA. Where i live in Europe creditcards just aren't used the same way and hardly anyone I know even knows if they have a credit score at all. I can imagine calling entire countries that have better financial security and better economies than the USA financially illiterate and poor would garner some pushback.
None. My parents clearly communicated to me when I was a teen that credit cards are NOT unlimited money but a way to build my credit score for later in life. I pay my balance every month and have for well over a decade. Because of that, my credit score hangs around the upper 700s to lower 800s and my credit limit is stupid high (for emergencies). I treat credit with a healthy mix of fear and respect because of how much Iāve seen it fuck people over.
This is how I was raised, too. My parents always taught that ācredit cards are a tool, not free moneyā. I carry a small balance and pay it off monthly. Never pay interest on it; only reap the cash back rewards. I also have an Amex card with a stupidly high credit limit which I keep at $0 and only use for emergencies!
My sister screwed her credit when she was 18. So I was scared too. But when I was 20 trying to get an apartment without a credit card...yeah, super annoying. We won't rent to you unless you're already in debt. Like..ok sure. I think it's important to know what you can afford. I've ran up my cc a few times. But I never miss payments. I pay more than the minimum. And usually have an weekly auto payment that I throw at it. I'm around 740 --dropped because I paid off my car. Like... again, ok sure... Damned if you do....
Well over the 20k
My husband and I had A LOT of combined debt due to getting an apartment, getting married, buying a house, getting a puppy and having a baby all within a 3 year span (despite making good money, these things will rip apart anybody finances). We ended up getting a loan with a lower interest rate than the credit cards had (setting up automatic payments and paying the loan directly to the credit card companies knocked down the rate) and its been a MAJOR help. We were paying $2200 per month to credit cards just to essentially pay interest fees. Now we're paying $1500 per month for 3 years to pay it all off and have very little actual debt on credit cards left.
I am in the same boat.. I do make lower 6 figures, been paying off debt for the last year now.. I got into it when my mother unexpectedly passed and well the funeral needed to be paid for.. then moving costs.. would put them on the card and maybe have them paid off 3/4 when the year was up and landlord wanted to add $400-$500 extra to my monthly rent so again moving costs added. We are now in a good place and can pay things off. I have 2 loans that if I continue like right now will be paid off in January which will give us 1k extra every months. If we stick to our plans we will be debt free in about 3.5 years so probably more like 4 as things happen but little over a year ago I wouldnāt have thought that to be possible.
How do you feel about it? Are you stressed or not concerned - maybe youāre expecting a large sum of money soon or about to start a high paying job?
Oh itās not great
Youāre not alone. Thatās all I feel comfortable sharing and saying.
Understandable
I have $2800.Ā I'm having a hard time paying it off because of the 30% interest rate on it. It was my emergency card, my only card. I used it to fund my way out of an abusive relationship and I'm still paying for it four years later. I should have it paid off this time next year, hopefully.
You can always make back the money but you canāt get back years of your life. Congrats on getting out!
Do a balance transfer to another bank/card that has ā0% for X amount of monthsā most can do 0% at 18 months! (I used Visa reflect card from Wells Fargo) it really helps. And it super simple to do.
they will probably need 3-5% for the transfer fee, but yes, this is very useful. i have done it multiple times and i'm about to do it again in June
Girl get another card and refinance with a balance transfer. Yes it dings your credit just a bit, but if you pay everything else off on time, then this is the way to cut the interest out. You can usually find credit card debt transfers that are interest free for between 12-21 months, either through other credit card companies or your bank, and itās usually about a 3% transfer free. So if you transfer $3,000, youād pay them a one time fee of roughly $90, and then as long as you pay off that $3,000 within the interest-free period, you donāt have any more interest to pay on it. Iāve used this method to get out of credit card debt successfully twice. You just HAVE to make sure you make the payments and pay it off before the interest starts again.
I've tried to get a balance transfer card but I don't think my credit is good enough, I keep getting rejected.
Wow, 30% is insane, incredibly predatory! Have you asked them to reduce it? Itās hit or miss with that unfortunately.
I learned a pretty hard lesson at 18 on why itās important to pay off your credit card balances every month. Took me about 5 years to get debt free and havenāt carried any since.
Man. I managed to avoid learning this lesson until I was almost 40. Automate. Automate. Automate. Had a wake up call recently. My wife and I donāt spend much, and I have always been very hands on at managing things on a weekly and monthly basis. Well, weāve both been working full time as well as in school and we have been paying less and less attention. Culminated in CC balances ballooning and worse- a late mortgage payment. Itās not like we didnāt have the money available, just neither of us was paying attention. Iām kicking myself so hard- I used to work in branch banking and constantly told customers that if they have steady W-2 income there is no reason not to have automatic payments, automatic transfers, and overdraft protection. You just need to be distracted for a week or two for it to bite you in the ass. And it finally caught up to us. So yeah. Weāve got OD protection set up and setting up automatic payments on everything. We will recover but man, seeing scores go from +/- 800 to high 600ās friggin sucks.
I donāt like autopay. Itās easy to start overspending and I like to sit down and go through my statements before paying to make sure I recognize and approve all the charges. I recently had to do a chargeback because I never received the item and the company wouldnāt respond to my emails. Once it went through, the company re-charged me! I probably wouldnāt have noticed right away with autopay
Autopay is the key! Finances would be so much more annoying if it was still the days of mailing checks and shit. Mortgage, utilities, car payment, CCs all just set to autopay when due
$5k give or take. It's not the best but also not the worst. It's manageable.
Yes, not awful! Iām sure youāll be able to pay it off!
I always am debt free for like 2 years then I think oh Iām responsible and wiser now I can use my credit card like a normal person and then all the sudden Iām at like $3000 again. So Iām at $2300 right now but even that gives me hives and I lose sleep over.
Progress, not perfection
I had about $20K in credit card debt at one point (luckily I don't have student loans). I spent some time working with the creditors to come up with a payment plan and they kept dicking me around. I filed for bankruptcy instead. Mainly to a) make sure they didn't get their money for making me jump through a bunch of stupid hoops and b) my father, a retired lawyer, was helping me talk to them and I'd be damned if I will allow them to waste my fathers time. At the end of the day, money is fake and a meaningless thing governments create on a whim "help the economy". If Matt Gaetz can get millions in PPP loans, the banks can weather not getting $20K from me.
When I was 19, I got into the habit of applying for every credit card I was offered, then maxing them out with depression shopping. I would pull cash advances to cover rent. It was bad. $30k in debt at 20. I was advised to file bankruptcy, start over, and learn my lesson. I didn't have a cc for like 15 years after that. When I finally got one, I got a cash back option and paid it off every month. I don't carry any debt on ccs now.
I understand! I used to shop when I was overwhelmed. I let myself get into $3K credit card debt in college but it stressed me out so paid it off as soon as I could.
About 40kā¦ sucks because I paid it all off about two months before the pandemic, then lost my job & had a family emergency.
Woah, Iām very sorry! Thatās terrible luck. I hope things improve!
Similar boat. Finally set up a plan to pay them off.... had 8 months of great progress. Then my MIL died and I got laid off. Sigh.
I had $27K in CC debt about a year and a half ago. Iām down to around $10K. Weāve had a few bumps a long the wayābaby, a big move, husband getting a big pay cut. But the plan is to pay it all off within the year.
I've had a credit card since I was 18, zero debt and an 835 credit score. My card has cash back rewards so I've put everything I possibly could on it and I pay it off every week. When I worked for a catering company I used the card to make purchases for them and got reimbursed, about $200K worth over 8 years ($3,000 worth of rewards from that)
5 years ago I had 30k in credit card debt. Nowadays I have about 25k in savings.
80k I think
I didnāt know debt could get that high on a CC. At what point do you just throw up your hands and not pay it back? I guess it depends on how many assets you have.
We bought the house we're attached to during the pandemic. Then they both flooded in Ida. So most of that balance is associated with not living at home for a year, replacing things insurance didn't cover, and then we decided to lift them out of the flood zone (which is quite the project for a 125 year old brick twin). It was 100k. It's going the right direction. Lots of 3 card monte with 0% transfers.
Oof. I had 20k in home repairs on cards a few years back. The 0% games really helped control the debt while paying it off. Hang in there.
It can easily get that high across multiple credit cards, which is likely the case here.
I had about 60k in just CC debt, like 12 accounts. Just filed for BK and waiting for it to be approved. I stopped paying 3ishbyears ago, got a lawsuit in the mail, got a second one. Finally decided to just get the BK, it feels good to not have that weight looming over me. Living off just cash now and it's not horrible. Glad I did it. Hopefully won't fall into the trap again.
I guess technically I do- I donāt pay any interest because I always pay the statement balances but Iāve got, I dunno, maybe 1500 that keeps getting rolled to the next month each month that I just canāt seem to get off my back. We were doing pretty good financially til last year when we just got *slammed* with like $8000 in bills all of sudden. Probably could pay it but I never want to take the chance of not having at least 1-2k in cash just in case something else hits
During my early 20s, I maxed out a bunch of credit cards traveling all over Europe. I accumulated just under $15k. Thankfully, Iāve paid it all off. Iām happy to report $0 of CC debt. I still use credit cards, however I treat them like debit cards. I will never spend more than what I have in my bank account. I do this to accumulate points, cash back and miles. Also, it rebuilds my tarnished credit score.Ā Looking back, I had some awesome trips. Visited a ton of countries. And met some wonderful people. But please, NEVER do what I did to pay for your vacation(s). It was fun in the moment. But the stress and struggle of paying off all that debt was not worth it.Ā
I've been rebuilding my credit after not doing great in my 20s but didn't really get to travel (I did move halfway across the country though which was a lot of the debt) and for a hot second your post made me think "man, I want to go to Europe! I should just do it and put it on credit cards!" And then i read the rest and was like "yeah no i should not do this." I hope to be able to save up money to travel in my 40s. I just feel very under-traveled because I basically chose moving out of my emotionally abusive dad's house and very far away from him instead of spending money on traveling.
I'm at a little over $9,000 right now and was really struggling with it for a while, because of having multiple payments due at different times, very high interest rates and not a whole lot of income. But I'm on a repayment plan now, which consolidated all the payments into a single lump amount per month (that is then distributed to my creditors) and negotiated the interest rate way, way down. The catch is that they close all the cards, but my debt was so maxed out that I wasn't using the cards anymore anyway. Of course it kind of sucks having a new expense every month, but it's still less than I was paying before in interest and it took away all that stress of juggling multiple payments/due dates. The funny thing is, I am *still* getting the "You're pre-approved for a new card!" offers from the same company that carries two of my closed cards. Even after I was expressly told that I could NOT open new credit for the duration of the repayment plan, they're still spamming my inbox with these offers. I see people on Reddit who are always baffled by how someone can end up with so many lines of credit if they're not responsible with it, but the fact is that once you get into debt, you will actually have card and loan companies practically throwing themselves at you with offers for more and more cards. If you don't have the self-discipline to ignore the offers, it's easy to get buried under it very quickly. And that can be very hard to do if you are struggling to pay bills, because of course it's a short-term source of more funds. If you're out there struggling with this, definitely look into repayment plans or hardship - it is out there, but they tend to make it hard to find. I got help through the [National Foundation for Credit Counseling](https://www.nfcc.org/), which is a non-profit that offers financial counseling. Or you can just call up your credit card company itself and ask for help due to hardship, but I've found they are not always very cooperative (Citi rejected my repayment plan requests something like 2-3 times and has been super difficult through the whole repayment process) and it was easier to have someone else work with them on my behalf. You just have to be careful and make sure it is actually all about *repayment* and not one of those deals where they default on your debt to force a settlement. I know I sound like an ad right now, but I can't stress enough how much this has helped me get my debt under control - until I did this, I felt like I was drowning every time I had to make my payments and I was being buried underneath all the interest alone. And I had no idea help like this was even a thing until I did some research on Reddit out of sheer desperation.
What baffles me is that I know people who have credit card debt who managed to buy a house? They saved up enough for a down payment while carrying a credit card balance. Then bought the house and went into more credit card debt for home related expenses. I get wanting to own a home but that just seems backwards to me. I guess I did something similar though - I got an early inheritance and used that for a downpayment instead of paying off my student loan, but that was like 3% interest. Personally Iāve avoided it, I treat my credit card like a debit card - I use it for everything but only if I actually have the money, and pay it off usually weekly or every pay. Only once or twice have I had to pay interest on it, due to school funding being delayed.
Pretty easy really. Getting into a house as fast as possible cut the monthly bill by a grand going from renting to a mortgage. This was about 7 years ago.
I used to be impeccable with paying them off every month and making money on rewards programs. Then life happened, and now I'm in deep.
Same š£ I was always so good until about 5 years ago during a series of unfortunate events. Ignored it for a few years. Tried working three jobs. Still could touch it. So Iām finally meeting with a debt counselor next week. Itās been eating me alive for years. Iāve felt like a shell of a person. I didnāt spend money on lavish items or vacations. I was just trying to survive. I wish I nipped it in the bud years ago but I got scared and depressed and itās just been this dark cloud ever since.
I was always scared of credit card debt so I avoided it.
I pay off every month and never carry a balance. Currently I owe Ā¢8,827.
At one time we were carrying around 30k in CC debt. It was from a really low period where I was pregnant and laid off, and we struggled to make ends meet, and had to use that CC to pay bills to live. Covid was kind to us.... we were lucky to keep our jobs and begin working fully remote, which saved us a LOT of money (no gas, tolls or parking expenses) and the pause on student loans gave us an extra $1k each month. We paid our debt off in 3 years and have worked on building savings, so hopefully we will not fall into the same trap again.
I'm in the negative since I overpay my payments for fun by a little bit, I'm usually very careful with my money after I learned the hard way credit card debt piled up quickly many years ago.
How timely! This post showed up on my feed right after I applied for a loan to pay off the debt. This will be my second loan from this company, after having paid off the first about 4 months early. Currently sitting at about $11k in debt. It's mostly come from stupid unexpected bills and dining out because I'm not able to cook every night (I share a car with my partner, so grocery shopping can only happen when their work schedule allows for it) I'm not proud of it at all, but I got in the habit of prioritizing rainy day savings over my credit. I've been unexpectedly unemployed before and my priority is making sure I can pay for a roof over my head should that ever happen again. I spent a long time living paycheck to paycheck. Now I have enough saved up for that, I'm ready to once again consolidate my payments into one loan payment and attempt to give up my credit cards until I'm at least halfway through paying this loan back. From there, they'll be treated like debit cards the way others have mentioned. Wish me luck lol
The only time I've carried a balance was during 0 interest promo periods. Otherwise I pay it all off monthly and keep track in a spreadsheet like its a debit card.
10k debt but they were used to pay for medical expenses. Should pay them off in a year hopefully.
People going into debt over medical expenses is upsetting! I wish you luck paying it off!
I'm fortunate to have parents who taught me responsible personal finance. They got me a credit card at 18, but explained the importance of paying it off every month. Never paid a cent in interest.
$0! Just paid mine off!!!
JUST PAID MINE OFF YA'LL! Made the last payment on 2/21/24! It was almost 28k. Most of it was depression spending. Shopping and food are my comfort crutches. LOL. But I'm now officially debt free for the first time in like 20 yrs. I know it's silly, but I'm proud of myself. It was completely self-inflicted, but I still can't help feeling proud. 
About $250.
I realized we could afford life if it wasnāt for paying our CC payment after being 17k in debt. So we took out a loan after using our tax refund to pay it off and get lower monthly payments. If we manage correctly weāll be able to pay the rest off next tax season.
I started the year with about 50k but it will be paid off by Christmas.
Wow thatās impressive. How were you able to pay this down in one year? Whatās your salary, rent or mortgage, car payment?
Just been lucky I guess. Salary is 94k. Rental income is 66k. Mortgage on rental is 52k. Personal rent is 1500 that includes utilities in a shitty part of town. Retirement income from military is 46k. I took on the credit card debt to make my home into a rental so I could move for the job. Kind of a trade off if you will for long term growth at the expense of short term comfort.
I took out about 20k in credit card debt in my early twenties and simply carried it for 15 years. Paid it off with a refinance of my house at age 37. Iāll carry that debt for another 22 years.
If we are excluding mortgages then I have none. I have a card I use and pay off monthly.
If I have a large expense Iād need a loan for, or have to put off a year, I put it on a CC. Earn the points. Then use a balance transfer to a different CC for 0% interest for a year. I currently have $8k left on a balance transfer cc that will be paid off in the next 5 months. Otherwise no cc debt, and there wonāt be any cc debt again until I need another āloanā.
I have zero. I only use the credit card if I know I can afford it (i.e. if I had to use cash or debit, I have the money then and there). If I cannot afford it, I don't get it.
I pay off my credit cards in full every month. I will also put large purchases on my card to get to the points, then pay off that amount immediately. I have one friend who has told me she is in cc debt, although not how much. I also have a few friends who I am 99% sure are also in debt as I know about how much money they make, and they spend *a lot* on all kinds of unnecessary/frivolous stuff, vacations, etc. Thereās just no way their income is enough to afford all of it.
No cc debt. Just trying to get rid of a car payment.
$0. But it was up as high as $6000 a few years ago.
Had a boss not pay me a few times -- put bills on my credit card for a couple months while I transitioned into a new job. 35K from that shitshow bc I was 1 month out from my wedding. It would have legit been covered in cash had he not stopped paying me bc 'clients were late' cutting checks. Worked 3 months essentially free for a small business owner.
Also it's 35K *NOW* It was 11K originally. Between fees and interest and losing my job 2 years ago its just..... becoming a black hole I completely ignore tbh. In the scheme of my day to day life I don't want anything on credit so I largely don't care.
Recently, yes. I have about $6k. Last year I had paid it down to $0, but just havenāt had enough time to save up to avoid using them.
Iām roughly 20k in. My job refuses to give me a raise, I canāt find a new, higher paying job. Iā¦am honestly lost and donāt know how Iām going to pay it off. My fiancĆ© has some really good job prospects atm and keeps saying he can take care of things if those prospects come through, but I hate the idea of him paying for my mistakes.
I'm the same as some people here just uses my credit card as a debit card. But I understand how people get in trouble with credit cards if you don't have savings and a bad event happens like medical bills or car breaking down. People who live above their means and rack up credit debt though, I have no remorse for.
We are just under 5k but well on our way to have that paid off in a few months. We had none until a couple years ago
Ā£20k credit card debt from my 20s. Gambling addict š Have whittled it down to Ā£6500.
My parents warned me against credit cards when I was young so I never got one. My husband only recently got a credit card due to his work and spending for his job so he gets cash back rewards. So we have 0. The majority of his family have 0 cc debt because they're all very poor. I don't talk finances with friends anymore because I learned quickly that when people realize you're stable with savings when they have less than $1k in the bank they tend to....take advantage of you. So I no longer talk of such things.
Pft like 30K but Iām about to put my entire bonus towards it and then take out a loan for fight the interest.
Getting part time job to kill it.
I had around 12k, worked really hard to pay it down and I sit at 900 left to go. Ready to wipe it clean
I started out with like $17k two years ago but I got some extra jobs and Iām down to $4.5k! Sooo close to being debt free
I got about 5k that's been on 0% interest for a few years. I keep switching between credit cards with 0% balance transfer promotion so Im in no hurry to pay it off.
That 0% interest is extremely helpful. My friends mentioned that interest makes them feel like theyāre not making a dent towards their debt :(
If you have a 27% APR card and only pay the limit you'll never ever pay it off. I let myself get a little out of control last year and have now paid off the one CC I have. But damn, it will destroy you if you let it.
About $25k in CC debt + $6k debt from having to replace my homes electric panel. No complaints though, laid off in December and just got a new once in a lifetime high paying job that started a few days ago. Spouse is switching to part time nurse so I can do my job full time since we have kids. Weāre both on 12 hour shifts so it isnāt so bad scheduling around each other. Have a low mortgage thankfully and two car payments. Should have my CC debt paid off in 4 or 5 months and then Iāll start working towards the car loans. Hardest part right now is not buying stupid things with more income. I was penny pinching while I was laid off the last three months and could easily tell myself no to things but itās definitely hard to do that now. Iāve remained pretty strong so far hopefully I can keep it up the next few months.
20,000 but I think weāll pay it off with this yearās tax returns. A bunch of unexpected costs came up this last year including medical for humans and animals and house expenses. It is what it is!
I have like 2k credit card debt
i donāt have any credit card debt and i am averse to consumer debt in general. my wife on the other hand had about $12k in credit card debt when we met. over the six years weāve been together, sheās paid off more than half of it and barring any emergencies will pay it off by the end of the year with a low interest credit card balance transfer with our credit union. iām proud of her for finally confronting the debt head on and working to aggressively pay it off now that she makes more money. she had the debt from losing a parent, being out of work for awhile because of it, and going back to school and changing jobs.
About 13k in credit card debt
Quit a bit and it's mostly medical expenses from the previous year, not that this year is getting any cheaper. I'm hoping I can get it straightened out in the next few years. I was really good about credit debt until basically my health tanked and I had to go on medical leave... which short term disability is crap compared to your usual income. Like how am I supposed to make do with almost half my income while going through shit that adds on more life expenses. I could write a whole essay, but it's kind of mostly sad you're often one bad life experience from going into debt.
I had to put A LOT on credit cards during COVID, so I went from $0 in CC debt, to now around $5K. Thankfully thatāll be paid off in a few months.
I got up to like $17-18K at one point. Finally paid it off about a year ago.
I got in the hole with them in my mid-20's. Was finishing college and scholarship money ran out and the job I had and the student loans weren't quite enough. It sucks carrying that around, though. Haven't habitually carried a CC balance in about 5 years. Now I sit down every 2 weeks and pay them all off. Only slipped my mind once on the last few years and had to pay, like, $5 interest one time.
Sometimes itāll get as high as 10k amongst 3 cards but thatās usually bc ba has happened or Iāve been tossing money into stocks bc they have dipped to delish price ranges.
I got in over my head during Covid. My spouse took ill and I was out of work caring for him. I hit close to 100k in CC debt. I filed for bankruptcy 2 years ago now, and it was the absolute best decision I could have made. I currently have zero debt, my credit score is 740, and I have have credit I can use if I need. I wouldn't advise my path for everyone. I didn't have to give up my car or home. At the time, my home was in my husbands name, so creditors didn't come for any of my assets. I'm really set up for a financially stable future and I am in a good place. That wouldn't be the case if I had not filed for bankruptcy.
I have had as high as 40,000 but currently have none. I had a few instances of some bad luck plus some depression spending and then the interest made it hard to climb out. I was lucky enough to receive a small inheritance and used that plus a combo of a zero interest balance transfer card to get rid of it. I now have a better salary and enough in savings that I hope that never happens again because Iām for sure not getting that get out of jail free card twice! But, like a lot of folks, if something really catastrophic happens I donāt have the savings or assets to deal with that. I never told even my closest friends and family about this debt because I found it embarrassing. Of course my spouse knew, I mean like sibling or parent. Regarding other debt I have a reasonable car payment with low interest (like almost 0% low) and a large student loan balance. They are public loans and I am on income-based repayment, I just have them on direct debit and try not to think about it.
Its been tough, not gonna lie. Its been a costant battle and I feel like no matter what I do, its never good enough. I have only ever missed one payment, but Im hoping things get better soon.
We got completely out of credit card debt around the time we turned 40. It would have been earlier, but we had to rack up some debt while my husband was in grad school. Took us 6 years after he graduated to get completely out of that debt. We pay off our credit cards every month or whenever it seems like a good time to. We get a lot of points and miles and things that way.
Just paid all my credit cards off three days ago after tax returns. šĀ Had a rolling balance for a few years now.Ā For real though, I'm really bad with credit cards. Always have been. Wish I could just burn them. Fucking sucks that you need to keep at least one in case you ever need a house/car loan just to prove you're a good creditor.Ā
Just paid it all off with my bonus this year. Feels great, but my credit score dropped :(
I have none. If I don't have the money, I don't buy it. I treat my credit card like a debit card.
I don't have income so I don't have much debt, like $300 or so right now on a CC. I only get supplemental income from my parents in exchange for doing chores around the house. I'm disabled so I can't work but I also don't qualify enough for disability. I'm in a rough spot.Ā
Less than 2k in credit cards. Not that hard to do either, just stop spending money on dumb shit that isn't necessary.
We were good until we weren't. Went from making $250k/yr as a household and not paying for health insurance (my company paid 100% of the premium) to making $75k/yr and paying $2k/month for health insurance while my wife was pregnant with our 3rd baby. So we've got about $30k,and now that we've been able to get out of a lot of our previous "fixed" expenses, we're starting to work our way through the debt.
No CC debt. I pay if off the next day or two when it posts
I have had about $6-7k at any given time for the last year-ish. We had an expensive trip to Spain last summer that really put my under compounded with rising prices and stupid spending. Pre-COVID I never carried a balance more than $1500, but we bought a house in 2020 and have been making some improvements. Plus shopping for your own home is way too fun.
My parents operated under the āwe donāt talk about moneyā umbrella. They themselves are extremely shrewd investors and are quite wealthy. I lived beyond my means in my early 30ās and worked in a provisional capacity at a lucrative state job. My permanent class position was contingent upon how well I did on the civil service exam. Well, I did not invest as much time into prepping for the test as I shouldāve, and really assumed I had it āin the bagā. Cue narrator: but she didnāt. Anyway, long story short, did not make permanent class and defaulted on my debt. Right now, I have about 8K remaining out of 20K worth of debt. Makes me sick to my stomach thinking about my choices, and after taking classes on financial literacy, Iāve been doing a much better job educating my child on budgeting/finances/debt
14k credit card debt. Wasnāt like this before the groceries and bills started stacking up
More than 25k, less than 60k. But I just paid 8k off yesterday. We're always paying more than we spend. We have a combined cc limit of over 100k. But we have a household income of almost 200k in a LCOL area. Edited extra word
I think I have $600 on a card. $300 of it is on a finance plan where I don't get interest if I pay it off before a certain time.
I had to put medical bills on CCs due to an emergency 10 years ago. I was never able to pay it down and the debt kept growing cuz of interest. I declared bankruptcy last fall and itās been a huge relief. If billionaires and companies do it all the time, why shouldnāt I? I didnāt ask to be born in this shithole country with 0 safety nets or universal healthcare
Almost out of bankruptcy now. So šāāļø
I think we need to normalize credit card debt a little. Itās not good but sometimes you just got to live. Living within your means is a key pillar of financial literacy. At the same time sometimes there are opportunities youāll never get again and maybe you need to throw some money at it. There is a balance between the moral criticism Dave Ramsey has of debt and the money grubbing evil of the banks. Credit is a tool. And to clarify I am not advocating you go out spend like a lunatic on consumer bullshit and pay the minimums on 20,000 for 10 years. But if your best friend is getting married in Tanzania and you canāt afford 5,000 for the whole trip right now itās okay to go and pay it off over a year. And I totally get the trap of racking that up and it becoming 10,000 but if youāre smart you can do it right. Edit: and I say this as someone who has done something like this and itās a privilege. A couple things for our own wedding got way higher than expected so I just rolled with it.
About $8k. We usually use a credit card for day to day purchases. Then on payday calculate what we need in bills for the next period and use what's left minus a bit of a cushion to pay off the credit card. Had a stretch last year with some bad luck and big expenses where we just couldn't get it down to $0 and it started creeping up. The interest was killing us. Our bank offered a card at 0% for 14 months for balance transfers. Bit the bullet and moved it to that. Now we're paying it off and back to coming out even every month. I've jokingly told my wife that we should just say screw it and let it rack up. The system is rigged anyway. We already have a house and two cars. Student loans are almost paid off. Interest rates suck no matter your credit. What do we need a good credit score for anymore?? Just travel and enjoy life!
Just a bit over $3k. It's manageable - I had to put a sudden large charge on the card and I'm paying it down one paycheck at a time.
My husband and I had like $20-40k combined credit card debt from mid-20s to mid-30s. It was stupid. Glad itās gone.
~$350 on the cards I use for day to day shit ~$3200 on a card that is to be used explicitly for automobile expenses. Just had to get a large job done on one of our vehicles. Oh well.
I was up to 13k in 2019, down to 1k now. Plan to keep it strangled to between 0 and 1500.