“Dear Steve,
We make around 85k per year. I just picked up a part time job to make some extra money. We owe 33 thousand on credit cards. Making just the minimum payments of almost 900 per month is really straining our budget. At this point we are current on all card payments. We have also just started to try and pay down the balances using the debt snowball method….this will take about 3 years if we stick to the plan.
What is the best solution for us?
Alayne”
Dear Alayne,
It sounds like you’ve got things under control here. All I can offer is some fine tuning advice.
If you don’t have an emergency fund sitting in a savings account you need to focus on saving while getting out of debt. Otherwise any surprise expenses will wind up on plastic again and erode your progress.
You may want to consider looking at a fixed rate unsecured debt consolidation loan from LendingClub.com. Depending on your credit score, which you say is good, the interest rate may be significantly lower than your current card interest rates. Let me know if you apply for the LendingClub.com loan and I’ll be one of the investors in helping to fund it.
Finally, I know the goal is to get out of debt but don’t set yourself up for failure by struggling so hard to do it that you leave your finances at a breaking point. Remember the tortoise and the hare? Manageable, prudent, and steady will win this race. Not a blind sprint.
You are not alone. I'm here to help. There is no need to suffer in silence. We can get through this. Tomorrow can be better than today. Don't give up.
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