Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with loans and creditcards

Drowning in debt

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:02:46 -0800

How do I know if I should be considering bankruptcy? My spouse and I have somewhere around $15,000 in credit card debt, and we each have student loans. Between rent, bills (utilities and such), card payments, student loans, gas, groceries, etc. we are getting by paycheck to paycheck. Most bills are paid somewhat late, depending on when paydays fall, which means we end up with late fees, making it even harder to pay, and it's an endless cycle.

I don't want to sound like I just racked up a bunch of debt and want out of it (which isn't the case - due to being laid off, I lived off my cards for awhile, and we moved to a different state for economic/job reasons, using the cards again).

How do I know when to begin contemplating bankruptcy? I don't want to think about having shit credit for years to come if we do this, but on the other hand I'm sure we already have shit credit from all the debt and late payments.

I live in North Carolina if it's relevant. Throw away email drowningindebtnc@gmail.com

Credit card debt vs. car loan debt

tristeza — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 16:18:13 -0800

Which is a "worse" type of debt - credit card debt or car loan? I have a goodly sum left to pay on my car (around $6k). The interest rate is 5.5%.

I have the opportunity to put up to 19K on a particular credit card which they say has a 4.9% APR until the balance is paid in full.

Obviously, one rate's better than the other which is why I'm tempted to pay off the car with the card, but....is credit debt somehow "worse" or more insecure than car financing? Are there pitfalls to the credit card deal I'm unaware of (I had them confirm over the phone the rate for LIFE).

Please assume that a) I will never charge anything else to this card, b) I will pay more than the minimum, on time, every month, til death do us part amen.

Starting to build credit

ubernostrum — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 20:12:31 -0800

As a young person with a pretty much blank credit history, I'm looking for ways to start building solid credit for the future (more inside) Quick summary of the situation:

I'm 24, been out of college for two years. I paid my way through with scholarships and grants, so I don't have any loans in my history. I own my car outright.

After college I spent a year at home (family medical issues, I needed to be around to help out), but last October I moved out on my own for the first time. I had a decent job during that year, but I'm now self-employed (web geek) and loving it.

Since moving out I've paid my rent and other bills promptly (only smudge is a $1.86 fee on my cell-phone bill because the USPS got my payment there one day late), but I'm looking at my future and wondering what the best way is to build up a strong credit history for things like buying a house, getting car loans, etc.

One suggestion a couple people have made is that I should get a credit card (I've never had one) and occasionally put something small on it and pay it off; I've got an offer from my bank for a decent-looking card, and that's certainly on my mind as an option, but I've never cared for credit cards and I'd like to know what else is out there.

A quick glance at the archive revealed lots of people asking about credit consolidation and such, but nothing that I could find about how to start a good credit history, so: what do you know about building credit?

Easy Money Management

jare2003 — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 09:23:28 -0800

I'm a college student, and I was looking for a (cheap) money management software package to manage my loans, credit card, and income from work. Does anyone know of a cheap one that works well? I was looking at Quicken, but that's 80 bucks and seems like overkill.