Help! -- My credit debt is nearly $50,000, my mortgage is upside down by 25% and my fiancee walked out the door a month ago. I can't make my bills. I'm trying to sort out which route to go with the credit cards. A service like CCCS? Or some other route like Credit Elimination? Please help me understand this. Thanks
posted by antipode12 on Dec 6, 2009 - 26 answers

How to negotiate with a credit card company? [more inside]
posted by digividal on Sep 18, 2009 - 9 answers

Financial filter: I recently received a very fancy mailing from a company in Florida (Trascendental Lending), offering me (due to new government regulations) to consolidate my credit card dept (35K) to a new 5% loan, with much lower payments. This sounds too good to be true so I presume it is? [more inside]
posted by digividal on Sep 11, 2009 - 9 answers

How can I get an emergency loan to pay the rent? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jun 25, 2009 - 21 answers

What are the BEST credit card offers with values like cash back and other perks? I have excellent credit now, and want to buck up on credit now as I will be losing my job in August. I pay it off monthly. It's time the banks work for ME instead of THEM. Clark Howard was not helpful.
posted by ~Sushma~ on May 28, 2009 - 15 answers

Tricky car loan situation. I'm thinking about paying off the remainder of a car loan with my credit card. Is this a bad idea? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Apr 23, 2009 - 24 answers

How do I get a loan modification without ruining my credit? I have heard many conflicting ideas that range from not paying the monthly mortgage to hiring a lawyer to sue. [more inside]
posted by ccpearce5 on Mar 23, 2009 - 3 answers

Bank Fraud Filter: A friend has just asked me to add him to my credit card as an 'authorized user' as a way to boost his credit. After doing a little research, I see that 'credit card piggybacking' is a well-known credit-repair tactic. Should I help? [more inside]
posted by shew on Mar 4, 2009 - 40 answers

I was born in the US, lived in Canada for ten years, and moved back to the States last year. While I was in Canada, I built up a solid credit rating- I had two credit cards, an unsecured line of credit with low interest (7%) and overdraft protection on my checking account up to $3,500. At one point when I was underemployed I built up some credit card debt, but I payed it off. Last year, when I moved back to the US for grad school, I got into a bad pattern of leaning on my credit cards and low-interest line of credit to pay for moving and start up expenses. This June, the world financial collapse coincided with one of my own- I was employed super part time, was making around $750 a month and was struggling to pay rent and buy $20 worth of groceries a week. I just couldn't pay my debt, and I paid very minimally, then not at all. I know I probably should have called the bank and tried to work something out, but what can I say- I panicked and froze. Currently, my total debt load is $14,000 on the line of credit, $3,700 on the overdraft and $1,400 on my Visa. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jan 13, 2009 - 6 answers

How can I lower my interest rates on my credit card and mortgage? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Oct 8, 2008 - 8 answers

I want to transfer a credit card balance to another card that would offer me a 0% interest rate for a few months. But I'm worried that the credit crunch has made it difficult or impossible to do such balance transfers. Is this the case? [more inside]
posted by jason's_planet on Oct 3, 2008 - 9 answers

I have: fair credit ( reported between 650 - 720 ). a student loan and an auto finance loan of no more than $30,000 in combination. ~$9000 in credit card debt spread between 2 cards. What is a good way to pay off my high interest credit cards? I am looking at options like small loans, debt consolidation, possibly even balance transfer to a new card (although I hear that hurts your credit score?). Any good sites that can help me budget or somehow help me get out of paying like $150+ in finance charges every month?
posted by judge.mentok.the.mindtaker on Jul 27, 2008 - 16 answers

I'm thinking of getting a credit card -is it worth it? [more inside]
posted by Flamingoroad on Jul 13, 2008 - 14 answers

A man has debt, he comes into a little bit of money... how best should he spend it? [more inside]
posted by crewshell on Jun 13, 2008 - 13 answers

Debt/collection agency help: I want to pay off my $1600 debt. What is the best way to go about doing this? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Feb 15, 2008 - 4 answers

Seattle: Please recommend a great bank or hopefully credit union [more inside]
posted by Bob Dobbs on Oct 25, 2007 - 9 answers

How to deal best with a delinquency reported by Capital One [more inside]
posted by phil on Oct 19, 2007 - 11 answers

Does this make sense? I'd like to use a credit card "convenience check" that is offering 1.99% APR for 12 months to pay down some of our home equity loan that is hovering at 8.25%. [more inside]
posted by tdabbott on Aug 26, 2007 - 10 answers

How does paying a loan off early affect your credit score? I would assume that it would make your score higher. Also I applied for a capital one personal loan. I have a credit score above 750 and reported income of 100k + w/ very little expenses. The rate they offered me was 12.99 which is the highest available from their lowest available of 6.99. What gives, I figure I should prove to be a fairly safe investment.
posted by mi6op on Jul 29, 2007 - 8 answers

I am in my 20's, have no debt and have no need for a loan; should I get one anyways to help my credit? [more inside]
posted by MrBCID on Jun 23, 2007 - 18 answers

Is there any reason NOT to apply for an Amazon Visa card? [more inside]
posted by the_arbiter on Apr 22, 2007 - 26 answers

We found an unauthorized charge of about $1,000 on our Visa statement -- from seven months ago (groan). What's our best plan for recovering these funds? [more inside]
posted by diastematic on Mar 9, 2007 - 12 answers

I've paid off all my credit cards.... now what? [more inside]
posted by weiler63 on Mar 7, 2007 - 22 answers

What credit score is a minumum requirement for an apartment in NYC? [more inside]
posted by youcancallmeal on Feb 21, 2007 - 10 answers

FirstPostFilter: Recommendations for an honest credit advisor in New York City, or someone who can fight my fight against the mean collection agency? [more inside]
posted by prophetsearcher on Feb 5, 2007 - 8 answers

Like most Americans, my wife and I are struggling with debts. I thought of a great way to eliminate them, but my wife does not agree. What do you think? [more inside]
posted by Monkey0nCrack on Oct 3, 2006 - 42 answers

How do you find and pick the right credit union? [more inside]
posted by pomegranate on Sep 8, 2006 - 5 answers

SketchyDebtCollectionsFilter: Someone calling and demanding payment on a credit card that was paid off and cancelled in 2002. Fraud? Error? What can be done? [more inside]
posted by moss on Jul 6, 2006 - 16 answers

I just realized that I had a credit card payment due on June 29th! I hadn't seen the alert in my e-mail box until tonight. I made a payment (50%+ of the balance) but I found out that it was late and the card company does not offer a grace period. What should I do? I don't want it to ruin my credit score.
posted by honorguy7 on Jul 6, 2006 - 15 answers

CreditFilter: Does co-signing for my student loans affect my parents' credit? [more inside]
posted by charmston on Jul 1, 2006 - 9 answers

I have recently acquired a commercial property. I want to obtain a line of credit against the down payment I put on the property. Obviously, I have not done this in the past. But, I envision the transaction being similar to a home equity line of credit. Is there anyone out there that can point me to the right direction. FYI, the commercial property was acquired via a new LLC of which I own 100%.
posted by yorja on Jun 2, 2006 - 3 answers

My wife and I are about to go through invitro fertilization and we think we'll need about $20,000. We have maybe half of that now and would like to get a credit card to pay the difference. We're looking for a card that has 0% for a year, preferably some rewards back (miles, cash, whatever), and obviously a somewhat high limit. Our credit is very good so we should qualify for the good deals and rates. Any recommendations for good credit cards that would fit our needs?
posted by misterdot on Apr 16, 2006 - 10 answers

How can my mom get rid of her car? It doesn't work, numerous attempts to repair it have been unsuccessful (long story), and she still owes money it. Is there some way to get rid of the car altogether without defaulting on her loan and ruining her credit? [more inside]
posted by pikachulolita on Jan 5, 2006 - 30 answers

In considering moving away from the US, I have some questions about the process of foreign credit. In European countries (and a country-by-country breakdown would be fine), how important is your US credit record to you gaining credit there? Does credit work the same way (credit cards, etc)? Can you generate credit in foreign countries with a poor credit record in the US? How would you go about this? [more inside]
posted by arimathea on Sep 30, 2005 - 10 answers

Credit Agency/Debt Collection Filter. I just received my free credit report and found that a cable company has turned me over to a collection agency. [more inside]
posted by 6:1 on Aug 27, 2005 - 11 answers

CreditFilter: Two years ago, not really understanding the importance of good credit behavior, I let a department store card slide for 180 days, twice (I KNOW!). This impacted my credit history greatly. I had previously had 4 years of good payment on two credit cards. Over the past year, to help recover and instill good habits, I pay my credit cards in full every month (read: no personal debt) and added a paid off car loan to my reports (15K). My CC limits have slowly increased but my score has remained somewhat the same (10 pt increase).

What can I do to get out of this rut? Some collegues I know have a sizable CC debt (around 15-20K) with less income than me but have great scores and could buy a house tommorrow with no problems. What am I missing and no, credit-fixing agencies are NOT an option.
posted by anonymous on Dec 12, 2004 - 11 answers

Credit Card Filter. I’m a college student on the verge of graduating this spring. I have never had a credit card. Should I have one to start to establish a good credit rating for the future? [mi] [more inside]
posted by asterisk on Oct 24, 2004 - 30 answers