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I have $100,000 credit card debt, what is my best option?*

I owe $100,000 on 3 credit cards. My minimum payments total a little over $2000 per month. I am not behind on payments yet. I am only getting charged an average of 9% APR right now. If i miss any payments the interest rate will raise to about 25%. I have enough money to pay 4 more months of these credit card bills. I'm in between jobs right now and want to know what my best option is. Bankruptcy? Leave the country forever? Pay as much as I can for 7 years? (I did the math, it should take about 7 years to pay off all 3 cards)

Answers:

1) Leaving the country is not an option. Filing bankruptcy should be a last option. I am sure you are surrounded by a lot of nice expensive things you bought with the 100 grand. My suggestion is to start selling them to payback your debt. Do what ever you can to avoid late payments. Here are more tips. http://www.badcreditfixup.com/improving-your-credit-score.php

2) I would cut my budget to the bone. 1) Nobody gets a dime until the essentials are paid: FOOD SHELTER CLOTHING TRANSPORTATION UTILITIES Continue to pay the minimums for the next two months, Start aggressively looking for a job. Even a part-time job delivering pizzas will help stretch the budget, until you get another job in your field. At least you have an emergency fund in place, that you're able to stretch this to make it work. ----------------- LONG TERM PLAN: Once you do have another job, you need to continue attacking these debts, and cutting your budget. There is NOTHING worth buying that's worth $100,000 in credit cards. If you didn't know that before, you know that now, that you're unemployed.

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4) I'll start my answer under the assumption that you wish to be honest about these debts. So..... start by examining your own assets. If you own property and there's sufficient equity, you can refinance your home and use that money to pay everything off once and for all. You can liquidate stock and/or assets. You can look into debt consolidation services and see if they can't all be combined into one balance. You may catch a price break doing it that way. See if these credit card companies will be willing to settle. If you don't mind a "SETTLED" notation on your credit report as opposed to a "PAID," then negotiate a final lump sum amount that you can have paid within 30 days. Here again, you could save yourself THOUSANDS of dollars if you're a good haggler. Bankruptcy laws are much tighter than they used to be which is to say that it's a LOT harder to get debts discharged in Bankruptcy the way you could a few years ago before the laws changed to the current and more creditor-friendly version. They may advise you to enter into a Chapter 13 where you'd pay the trustee and they'd disburse the funds accordingly. If you try to leave the country, you'll most likely get sued and a sheriff can leave a summons and complaint at your "last and usual place of abode" and consider that valid service. You don't show up to court (because you're off in Namibia or wherever) and a default judgment for the full balance is awarded to the creditor or its representatives. If you allow your debt(s) to get to the judgment level, many creditors won't negotiate nearly as readily as they would have prior to judgment because they'll be too pissed that they had to spend that extra money to hound you down to wanna play nice at that point. I don't recommend running off is I guess what I'm trying to say. Find a way to get that lump sum, try to negotiate for lower balances and put a stop to the debts. The refinance idea is by far the quickest and easiest way, but you have to do what works for YOU. Good luck. <")))><

5) Bankruptcy is usually granted when you are in over your head and show your ability to not pay. Recent changes make bankruptcy more difficult and it will stay on your credit for 10 years and will hamper you for a very long time. What you want to do is negotiate on a lower interest rate with the credit card companies. If you own a house or something, you can get a home equity line of credit and pay off your credit cards immediately and pay less APR than what you have. Talk to your bank and try coverting this revolving debt into a fixed interest loan. I assume your credit except your debt is good i.e. no late payments, charge offs and collections. A 10 year fixed interest loan at 7.5% on $100,000 will have your payment reduced to $1187 a month and for 5 years it will be $1980 a month at 7% APR! So you will get off home free in 2 less years keeping the same payments. On 100,000 you will be paying 68000 in interest on your revolving debt. Best thing is to convert this revolving debt into a fixed loan. 9% APR fixed loan for 7 years will be around $1600 a month. You save $400 a month for 7 years! http://www.mortgage-calc.com/mortgage/simple.php

6) No one here can give you good advice without digging through your financials. What you need to do is gather it all together and go talk to a bankruptcy attorney.

7) the best option is to contact the card in writing and explain your situation to them, ask that the rate be reduced to allow you to keep making your timely payments. then as soon as you can start making double and tripple payments to get rid of the debt. i was so close to bankrupt 8 years ago,but did not have enought money to file, i friend passed this on to me and it worked. cut the cards up and stop living on them. you can do this.

8) If you can manage to pay more than the minimum then do so ....pay lump sums and fast. You say 'only 9%" as if it makes which is still $9000....geesh. Not to mention the looming 25% which equates to $25,000 in interest. 1. Get a job....not in between them....get in one 2. Get in 2 jobs if you have to 3. Pay as much as you can by yourself and get a F & F loan (friends n family) as they tend to waive the interest....gotta love family 4. cut up your cards and stop using credit until you know how to use it.

9) No bankruptcy is not the right option as it will remain on your credit report for mare than 10 years and if the individual is listed as having filed for bankruptcy, it results in a 160-220 point deduction on their credit score and if a delinquent account is added to the individuals credit file, 70-120 points are subtracted. During the period of bankruptcy and after bankruptcy you would face difficulty in getting loan, purchasing and leasing and building your credit. And you have to start building your credit from scratch. Leaving country is also not the right option as you would loose you better paying job and everything. So its best to pay off your debts as not now you can expect your credit score to raise in few years. If you are not able to manage your debts you can always go for a debt consolidation company. They can help you paying off your debts by contacting your creditors and negotiating on your behalf to reduce your debts upto 50%. After that they would provide you with an affordable debt management plan wherein you have to pay only one monthly installment. Thus you can pay off your debts within few years if your debts are reduce to some amount. Here is the source of a debt consolidation company named http://ezconsolidation.com for your reference.

10) Hi, I used "Credit Solution" to settle my debt and avoid bankruptcy.They managed to reduce my debt up to 58%.I came across this company on NBC News Special Edition.Check it out here: http://urlhawk.com/29x

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