Credit Card is killing me

[weg]

Get a line of credit against the equity in your properties and pay your CC with it.

Personally I'd go with a straight low interest P & I loan secured against the house with equity.

The only problem with the LOC is the OP would easily be able to draw on it every time they paid off some balance - not so good if part of the original problem stemmed from poor money management.

To the OP, have a good look at your budget and work out if it's a money management issue you have and can fix, or whether you are genuinely over your head.

IMO, 85K income + 43K in rents is decent income (when you have no dependents) against your mostly deductable debt.

 

[BernieLarkham]

I dOnt think you can solve this on here. Get in touch with and see one of the brokers in person. All comes down to how much you can pay each month and how ling it would therefore take to pay off.

 

[shuggy]

Lots of good advice here but you need to get your shiite together and have some self control if you don't want it to come back and bite you , $63k ffs.

 

[billyyard]

Thanks all and yes some great suggestions and as I stated in my original post I wasn't inviting lectures but looking for practical suggestions.

This CC debt has accrued not from plasma TV's, luxury appliances and designer jeans. The vast majority is left over from a situation I found myself in post GFC when I had 2 reo's on the go and couldnt refinance lo doc. Had to sell a property then to keep my head above water.
Since then my income has been very sporadic at times and I have also completed a reno'd IP2 (was my ppor) which I did plan to sell when complete mid 2010 but that didnt eventuate. Throw in a busted relationship into the mix as well and here I find myself in this situation. Not ideal, but Ive been through worse things in life and now I am determined to get this sorted one way or the other. Am chatting to a broker from this forum as we speak. I know if I had of acted sooner I wouldnt be in this tight situation but I didnt, so ther you go.

Really appreciate all the good positive advice put forward.

Very much appreciated
Billyyard

 

[mattnz]

If your card balance is mainly from purchases (rather than cash advances), then one option is to move all your cards from those that collect loyalty points (around 21% interest), to low rate cards (approx 13.5% interest).

Each of your lenders should be able to do this easily as a like for like replacement, without credit approval on your existing cards.

 

[Jaggannath]

Am chatting to a broker from this forum as we speak. I know if I had of acted sooner I wouldnt be in this tight situation but I didnt, so ther you go.

Yeah, but if you hadn't acted now (a simple post on a forum has clearly helped you crystallise your problem) you might have lost the lot. When I read it I though "at least you have plenty of equity, you won't have to sell". You can dig yourself out, just get a redraw facility next time

 

[Adelaide]

Couple more ideas for you.

The loans should be interest only. If they are not, ring up the bank and ask them to make them interest only for 5 years if you can. That will save the principle.

If you sell, you need to consider how much tax you will be paying and you could be back in the same boat.

If you refinance to eat up some of the cc debt, you will get a lower rate.
But getting the refinance could be interesting.

Credit cards
Cut them up immediately and stop using them.
Work out the exact budget you can stick to. And follow it.
I use a spreadsheet I created and it shows me the year view, the month view and the weekly view.
You gotta know exactly where you are financially.

Have you tried doing balance transfers to a different credit card.
As soon as it transfers, close the cards the money transfered from.
I did 2 renos last year and know the pain you are in.
Here is what I have been doing.
Balance transfers for 12 months at low interest rate.
Close the cards when the balance transfers have gone across.
Every month I pay a budgeted bit off the cards and either go on the interenet or call up the bank and lower the limit.

You could probably balance transfer all the dept.
I just did ANZ for 12 months for 2.9%.
Last year, I had Suncorop and NAB for 0% for 12 months.
I have to o course pay off some principle, but thats budgeted for - as much as i can afford.
I think we are about to move into credit card season.
I look on websites like infochoice to find whats on out there.

Keep chopping down the available limit - it feels good and like you are achieving. And totally get rid of the cards.
It's too easy to keep using them.
I use debit cards now so I'm spending my own cash.

Keep working at - you can get there.

 

[Adelaide]

Also, have you put in with the ATO the form which you do online to pay less tax in your pay now so you have more cash to play with every month?

Essentially, work doesn't pay any tax for me so I get all my money every month. Still do tax returns of course and they have to be completed by March every year so in May I can put in the form for the next year.
That helps alot.

You should still be able to apply for it now.