Need help with debts

[Ryoga28]

Hi,

I'm a poor med student with $13,127 to life on for the next 8 months. My living expense for the next 8 months is $11791.04

I need some ideas to lower my payments. I have a credit score of 650 right now. I have 4 credit cards what total up to roughly $11000 and have a monthly car payment of $323.23.

I was thinking of getting some credit counseling, but I don't know what they can do for me. Any ideas...I thought I was going to get more from my school loan, but I guess there were some hidden charges (like health insurance etc), and I have some extra expenses coming up (like the Kaplan prep course for the complex step 1 exam $550).

I should've have been more careful before (college) and now I have so many problems. I can't afford to eat out and I'm eating instant noodles everyday.

What should I do?

Thanks

 

[1sty]

Sell the car, get something dirt cheap until your out of school.
Either that or take a semester or even a year off and save up some funds.

 

[Mxyzptlk]

I feel you pain. I lived on Taco bell for like 6 months before I jump to military life. What ever you do Dont drop school. Cause you wont go back. Credit counselors can work with you credit cards to lower interest, but they almost always cancel then cards.

Another option is the Air Force needs doctors. Call your local recruiter to see if they have have college loan repayments.

If your credit / money situation is so bad how did you get that car?

 

[KYMP5]

take your 11gs and pay off your cards. then find a part time job and scrape buy for a few months.

 

[Low J.]

ditch the car and get in with a not-for-profit credit counselor. They can consolidate your payments and lower your interest rates.

I hope all the other young people read this and learn a lesson. A $20k car is a shitload of debt.......and it's compounded when you put stuff on credit cards.

Note to college students:

1. don't EVER buy a new car

2. don't EVER get credit cards

Once you're a grad you can get credit cards and stuff no problem.....if you must get one just ask for a $1k credit limit and don't raise it. And don't EVER get a store credit card.....the rates are unbelievable.

 

[pingdum]

Just bite the bullet for a while. Soon you'll be a rich doctor and have a past to laugh about.

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

go to www.nfdm.org and call them It's the company i work for. They are one of the only reputable debt consolidation companies. They are a non-profit company and will help you lower your payments, interest & pay-off time.

 

[jersey_emt]

Remember that when you sign up for a credit counseling/debt consolidation program you cannot use your cards. The credit cards companies freeze your account so you can pay off your current balance without any additional interest. It's a great thing if you are really over your head in credit card debt, but unless you truly need it I wouldn't go for it.

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

it only freezes the accounts that you put on the program, you can still have open accounts.

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

if you have any ?'s please pm me and i will let you know all about debt consolidation

 

[jersey_emt]

it only freezes the accounts that you put on the program, you can still have open accounts.

Of course...that's why a lot of people keep one card off the program for emergencies.

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

there are only a couple of cc companies that require you to have all but one revolving cc on the program, the biggest being MBNA

 

[evilmonkeyMSP]

Oh, BTW if you go to the site it will re-direct you to our old site when we were known as Alternative Credit Solutions. We were always NFDM (National Foundation For Debt Management) but were doing business as ACS. Since we just got Licensed & accredited we went back to our original name since we will be working on a more "national" level

 

[laracroft]

I was going to college before I joined the military and it was hard living next to nothing for months at a time. I never had the problem of a new car, I always had a clunker growing up. The first new car I had was when I was about 23, out of the military and had a kid. I never got to finish college though and I regret that. Stay in school, take a semester off, consolidate your cc's and get a part time job if you can. Do a monthly budget, get a roomate if you live elsewhere. Possibly consider the military as a means to help paying off debt and have them sponsor you at school. Just remember, it'll all be worth it in the end. Hang in there.

 

[alexlitov]

Do you have 4 cards that add up to $11,000 in available credit or you are in debt with $11k?

 

[DSM2MSP]

DO NOT GO TO A CREDIT COUNSELING. They wont help you improve your credit at all, in fact, the first couple months your payments will not even go to your credit cards and it will even make your score go into the negative. I strongly advise you to go to this website: www.creditinfocenter.com.

I had roughly 26k in debt (no car either!) and now Im down to about 16K and in about 2 months that will be cut in half all because I did my own debt relief plan and my credit score is now pretty decent.

Mike

 

[Low J.]

DO NOT GO TO A CREDIT COUNSELING. They wont help you improve your credit at all, in fact, the first couple months your payments will not even go to your credit cards and it will even make your score go into the negative. I strongly advise you to go to this website: www.creditinfocenter.com.

I had roughly 26k in debt (no car either!) and now Im down to about 16K and in about 2 months that will be cut in half all because I did my own debt relief plan and my credit score is now pretty decent.

Mike

dood.....don't say stuff like that. If you got jacked by some service then say their name but there are many legit ones out there that help. I used to work in debt management at credit card companies and they work.....but like anything there's some scams out there. Just use the reputable ones and you'll be ok.

 

[MarkSpark]

Note to college students:

1. don't EVER buy a new car

2. don't EVER get credit cards

I did both. I had a few scares, but I think everything is okay now.

 

[mazdadan]

I agree with most of the previous posts.

-Personally I would get rid of the car and devote the amount that normally goes toward the car payment to pay off the credit cards.

-See if you can consolidate some of the credit card debt to a single 0% APR card. A lot of companies have 0% APR on balance transfers for 1 year. This takes a lot of discipline and you can NOT use the 0% card for anything except paying off the balance or else you will pay a ton of back interest.

 

[blaxer]

I should've have been more careful before (college) and now I have so many problems. I can't afford to eat out and I'm eating instant noodles everyday.

What should I do?

Thanks

Get some frozen vegetables to add to the noodles, it makes them much more tasty. It'll be rough for ya, but whatever you do, DON'T DROP OUT OF SCHOOL I'd say the car has to go, replace it with something cheap and reliable. There will be time later for cars and toys.

The suffering will end eventually. If you drop out now, it'll be tough to get out of debt without a good paying CAREER.