Thoughts: Paying off credit card debts with one huge loan

Wife and I did it after we got married with some credit card debt we both brought into the marriage. It was around $15k, mostly my stupid college stuff. We were able to get a loan with an interest rate of around 12%, which was high but still lower than the credit cards. The payment was lower than the minimums of all teh cards combined. Took us two years to pay it off.


A 0% balance transfer was probably a better deal, but we didn't think we could get approved for one with a big enough credit line at the time.

quote:

---

Dude you’d be better off opening 0% interest cards for 12 months and transferring the balances and paying as much as you can to it.

---

This is the only right answer. When I got married my wife came into the marriage with over $20K of credit card debt. She complained that she couldn't get the debt paid off because All I did was apply for cards that had 0% interest no transfer fee offers, transfer the balance, and when the 12 month promotional period ended I found another card to transfer the balance over to in order to get another 0% promotional offer. I did that over a two or three year period and we eventually paid off her credit card debt.

quote:

---

This is the only right answer.

---

problem is, most of the time people in those situations don't have good enough credits to qualify for such offers.
Like I said, he should see what he's going to qualify for and just do the math. It may be worth it, it may not

Being the cards remain open after the consolidation (you don't want to close them or you'll hurt your FICO), you really have to be of the mind that those cards no longer exist or you're going to put yourself in an even worse position by potentially doubling your debt. You can keep the accounts open and just shred the cards if you worry about your self-control.

Depending on transfer fees, balances, and credit rating, consolidating to new cards may not be your best choice. If the best new card you can get has a 3% transfer fee and requires you to pay back-interest on the entire balance if you're account isn't at $0 by the time the introductory rate ends, you're better off talking to your credit union, bank, or (last resort) one of the advertised debt consolidation companies.

quote:

---

I'll never understand how ppl get into CC debt,

---

1. greed
2. bad money management
3. No savings
4. low income

and some legit

Medical bills- other emergency expenses

0% and consolidating are both good options like others have said. I've struggled with self control on the new cards.

for those wondering how you get in CC debt? quit day job spend 2 years freelancing. move across the country. piles that shite on especially now with grtting married. working through it faster than it's adding up now atleast

quote:

---

Loan consolidators aren't "paying your debts" for free.

---

The guy who started this thread also created a thread the other day where he did a balance transfer to a discover card, and was asking what he needed to do in order to pay off the original loan.

I think the theme is that he doesn't understand the mechanics of balance transfers.