1. I have 5 thousand dollars of credit card debt.
Compared to other 27 year olds, do you think I have an outrageous amount of credit card debt?
I live at home. I do not have a car payment. I have no idea where my money has been going. Anyway, what % of my paycheck should go to these credit cards?
PEZ
#1 by Gilvan1 on July 4, 2009 - 3:49 am
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Pay the 5 grand in bills…thats the best way
#2 by jp8 on July 6, 2009 - 12:09 am
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Pay $200-$300 a month on each card.
#3 by tdhraf@sbcglobal.net on July 8, 2009 - 6:35 am
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check out Dave Ramsey
#4 by Catwoman on July 8, 2009 - 4:07 pm
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Whatever amount they bill you plus some extra. Since you are living at home and have no idea where your money is going, you must have no bills other than credit cards and you should try to pay them now while you are still not saddled with other responsibilities such as rent, utilities, etc all by yourself or later on with a wife. So don’t wait. Pay as much as you can.
#5 by bornkit56 on July 8, 2009 - 6:04 pm
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You shouldn’t be having any problem paying off $5,000 in credit card debt if you live at home, but you need not go any higher with your debt. You should pay as much OVER the minimum payment you can every month to pay this off. And, I find it hard to believe a 27 year old person has no idea where their money goes if they still live at home. Think about it. You need to carry a pocket memo pad and mark down every penny you spend, when you spend it, if you have no idea where your money goes.
#6 by materialgrl_99 on July 11, 2009 - 1:34 pm
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If you have no car payment, and feasibly no rent, then you should devote as much as possible to paying down that debt. I wouldn’t say it’s outrageous amount of debt, but that is no way to start out life. You need to sit down and LOOK at where your money is going. Check out this website, Suze Orman gives GREAT advice for people our age. She helped me out with my CC debt. Check out her “Young, Fabulous and Broke” book. It took a lot of the confusion and terminology out of managing your finances. She makes personal finance digestible and seem less overwhelming, and puts things in terms that matter to a 20-something, and gives you hope that it is not the end of the world…you will get out of debt if you change the way you manage your money. Good luck to you.
#7 by skcs11 on July 14, 2009 - 3:01 am
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stop charging, and start paying
#8 by spacityb on July 14, 2009 - 9:00 am
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Considering your age that’s not a lot of debt, you want to figure in other debts to this as well, student loans, paying your parents, etc, etc. What you want to do and if you can if pay off your high interest cards first or consolidate them all to one low interest bearing credit card if you can, but whatever you do if you can make sure you are paying more then the minimum due that usually just covers the interest and nothing goes toward the principle in this case whatever you are willing to pay make sure you add enough to cover the interest so the rest go the principle.
#9 by Doug M on July 15, 2009 - 7:29 am
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As much as you can possibly stand.
First things first, though, get your spending under control. If you have no idea how you built up $5k in debt, then it will happen again unless you fix your budgeting problem.
I’d recommend you cut up your credit cards and don’t use them again. Give yourself a fixed amount of cash each day to live on; try to save up for anything you wish to buy. But make a point of driving down that debt as quickly as you can — credit card debt prevents you from being in control of your own life, financially.
Two things: (1) you might consider consolidating your loan(s) to get a lower interest rate, and (2) you’ll want to continue making your 401k or 403b contributions (such that you still get your company match on your contributions).
Good luck to you,
Doug
#10 by robert W on July 16, 2009 - 1:34 pm
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I would recommend, as someone as mentioned, put the cards away — is giving them to you parents a sound or likely option?? — Give them the guidelines for what reasons you may give them for them to give them back to you — and how many of them at any given time.
next — set up a budget — list the sources of income and the average monthly amounts and places your monies go…. without placing a bind on your other needs, how much do you have left after expenses???
When you get all the cards next statements, hold on to them and go to the Debt Reduction Plan offered by Quicken ( they are the people that bring us Turbo-Tax, Quick Books, etc) listed below. Plug in the names of each creditor, that % rate you pay on each, current balances, the minimum payment as well as the amount you normally pay to each, monthly.
it continues by asking — can you cut something out of your budget to add to your payments — either on a one time or on a monthly basis — and will give you the next years’ plan for paying each card — each month — to get you debt-free in the shortest possible time
they do this by paying off the highest interest rate card ( or car loan, mortgage, etc. ) first and then the second highest and so on. Add the total of the last months payments in order to do it for year two. For example — in 2008, you want to do it again for the second year, if need be and, lets say for examples’ sake, you’ve been paying $800.00 a month this year, make sure you are paying at least that amount ( adjust it with an updated budget ) as a total in next year plans… Best Wishes!!
#11 by Nicole on July 19, 2009 - 12:03 am
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Yeah, that sounds like a lot of unsecured debt.
Because you don’t have to pay rent or a car payment, you should be just fine.
My personal advice is to pay off the smallest bill first- get it out of the way. The best way to get rid of debt is to pay just the minimum on all of your bills except one- on which you will pay as much as you can. You will see more progress if you do this instead of paying, say an extra ten on each.
Also, if you get paid twice a month, make payments twice a month. You should be able to pay online as often as you want, or mail extra payments to the address you send your payment and coupon to.
This way you don’t spend the money you’ve set aside before you receive your next bill.
Good luck by the way- We’re in the same boat. I have $9,000 in credit card debt, plus we have two car payments. But we don’t pay rent.
Just remember- any amount of debt is doable, even if you have to get a second job to pay it. It’s better than being a wimp and declaring bankruptcy.
#12 by Richard S. from Vermont on July 20, 2009 - 8:17 pm
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Simple. Stop buying things you don’t need. Only buy things you need to survive.