I have 10,195 in credit card debt :(

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>GRrrr!!ARGhhHH!!!</p>

<p>even worst, I'm an accounting/finance major :eek:</p>

<p>On the bright side, I haven't been late on any payments --or have any derogatory items on my credit reports. My total lines of credit amount to $39k, so my utilization is only about 25% --and the $10,195 sits on 0% APR untill Jan 07 due to balance transfers :)</p>

<p>But fact is, I'm 21, a full time student, and make about $15k/year --so this debt really sucks regardless!</p>

<p>it's been effecting my perfomance in school lately. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive, but it's more difficult to concentrate and study while in so much debt.</p>

<p>I have stopped spending considerably, but it's a long road until I enjoy a revolving-debt-free life again :(</p>

<p>anyone in the same boat? do you think about it a lot, or just ignore it?</p>

2

<p>i really don't know what to say to this. all i can say is maybe you should of taken debt into consideration before you charged 10 thousand dollars of stuff.</p>

3

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i really don't know what to say to this. all i can say is maybe you should of taken debt into consideration before you charged 10 thousand dollars of stuff.

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</p>

<p>It's not as if I went out last week and bought a $10k Tiffany & Co diamond ring for my GF</p>

<p>i accumulated this debt over a course of about 16 months.</p>

<p>sure, most of it is unjustified and stupid, but a lot of it is school related/tuition, which can be considered an investment.</p>

<p>admittedly, I do rationalize my spendings quite a bit --CPA's make good money :p, though I have about 3 years to go.</p>

4

<p>You are way too young to have that kind of credit card debt !!!</p>

<p><a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/article/0,3868,2-10-0-9139,00.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/article/0,3868,2-10-0-9139,00.html&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15096068&BRD=1725&PAG=461&dept_id=45529&rfi=6%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15096068&BRD=1725&PAG=461&dept_id=45529&rfi=6&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.youngmoney.com/credit_debt/credit_basics/050804-02%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.youngmoney.com/credit_debt/credit_basics/050804-02&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>
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But fact is, I'm 21, a full time student, and make about $15k/year --so this debt really sucks regardless!

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</p>

<p>What other things do you pay for? Or do your parents basically cover you on everything else? I read a business week article once that explained how parents covering all their kid's living expenses is actually a disservice, because they get "comfortable" with their lifestyle being funded by somebody else, and then run into things like (10k in CC debt at 21).</p>

6

<p>i've never had a credit card so i dont really understand how someone gets that far. how come you didn't have this revelation before at like 5-6K?</p>

7

<p>wow, how do you make 15k a year?
&& also, you will be making good money when you graduate, but at the rate you're going, your debt's going to be enormous by then!</p>

8

<p>Well that's not SO bad considering that you might otherwise have the debt as a nonzero percentage student loan.</p>

9

<p>yeah.. definately wouldnt want to have a student loan with like a 1.9 percent interest rate instead of a credit card with a 17.9 percent interest rate...</p>

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<p>What in the world could a student possibly spend that much on and end up in debt?</p>

11

<p>excel, you're a moron. if you're making 15k a year, why would you have 10k debt? you said its on stupid ****, not like...books and utilities or whatever. you should have gotten a charge card instead of a credit card - that way you have to pay it off at the end of the month. but honestly - you're not responsible enough to have plastic.</p>

<p>ironic - last time i checked, drug dealers don't accept credit cards...so i really wonder how you could drop that kind of money in 16 months ON TOP of what you earn.</p>

12

<p>Let me help you</p>

<p>1) Burn all your credit cards
2) Don't spend any more money starting now
3) School loans should be filed through your financial aid office and not charged to a credit card (I find it hard to believe you are in finance and don't understand this one)</p>

<p>School loans have a low, capped interest rate (~7%) and you may not even be charged interest yet depending on the loan you are getting.</p>

<p>Credit cards have the highest interest rates in the world (~20%)</p>

<p>Perhaps you should change your major while reworking your debt situation?</p>

13

<p>btw, that 7% is the max that it could EVER be</p>

<p>I believe I'm paying 4.25% right now</p>

14

<p>
[quote]

What in the world could a student possibly spend that much on and end up in debt?

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</p>

<p>I was wondering the same thing.</p>

15

<p>Actually I think his credit card utilization, in this case, is BETTER (at least for the next year). Why?</p>

<p>
[quote]

School loans have a low, capped interest rate (~7%) and you may not even be charged interest yet depending on the loan you are getting.</p>

<p>Credit cards have the highest interest rates in the world (~20%)

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<p>
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and the $10,195 sits on 0% APR

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16

<p>"The APR does NOT affect your monthly payments. Your monthly payments are a function of the interest rate and the length of the loan."---Googled material</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure his monthly interest accumulations are enormous</p>

17

<p>Wow, what student loans do all of you have with such low rates? I know mine are around 6.5%ish? If he's got a deal where he's shifted the debt to a card that's still in the introductory 0% interest phase then he's saving himself money by having it on a credit card instead of with a student loan, then when his intro phase ends he can take out a regular loan or shift it again. My biggest advice would be to put all fun on hold, and just don't spend anything. mooch off of friends or don't do it, and just pay as much as you humanly can each month, always try to do more than the minimum otherwise it'll take you forever to pay it off, or at least a lot longer than if you pay more than the minimum.</p>

18

<p>
[quote]
What in the world could a student possibly spend that much on and end up in debt?

[/quote]

daddy makes me pay to fuel the Learjet whenever I fly a lot.... :D</p>

<p>
[quote]
excel, you're a moron. if you're making 15k a year, why would you have 10k debt? you said its on stupid ****, not like...blah blah yadi yadi ya...</p>

<p>ironic - last time i checked, drug dealers don't accept credit cards...so i really wonder how you could drop that kind of money in 16 months ON TOP of what you earn.

[/quote]

I do have a charge card. And dealers in my area DO accept credit cards. They even give you a free dime bag upgrade for using an American Express, plus all the membership reward points I earn :)</p>

<p>income has nothing to do with debt. You're the moron. So what if I'm in debt. I at least am bold enough to acknowledge my problem, and make a change. As I said, my credit reports are 100% clean, no derogatory crap. I learned my lesson. Others may learn it the hard way (foreclosure, bankruptcy, etc) much later in life with much more at stake.</p>

<p>
[quote]

Let me help you</p>

<p>1) Burn all your credit cards
2) Don't spend any more money starting now
3) School loans should be filed through your financial aid office and not charged to a credit card (I find it hard to believe you are in finance and don't understand this one)</p>

<p>School loans have a low, capped interest rate (~7%) and you may not even be charged interest yet depending on the loan you are getting.</p>

<p>Credit cards have the highest interest rates in the world (~20%)</p>

<p>Perhaps you should change your major while reworking your debt situation?

[/quote]

I'm only using my amex charge card. As for the other 5 credit cards, I'll never close them. They have no annual fee and will only help me in the long run. I will be financing school through loans, but I have to wait until later this year to qualify for them. (The one I'm getting requires 3 year credit history)</p>

<p>I'm an accountant assistant and I absolutely love my job. I'm doing great in my accounting classes, and looking forward to passing the CPA exam. Debt is a personal problem --school/career decisions are on a completely different level. I won't change my major over this.</p>

<p>
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I'm pretty sure his monthly interest accumulations are enormous

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huh?? you lost me there. I'm not accumulating any interest.</p>

19

<p><em>sigh</em> the real ******** shines through. you have to pay off an amex card at the end of the month. you can't hold a balance. i don't even know what the point you are trying to make by posting this - whether or not its true or ********, its definately a waste of everyones time.</p>

20

<p>
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you have to pay off an amex card at the end of the month. you can't hold a balance

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</p>

<p>what???? I have no idea what you meant by that</p>

<p>Yes i pay in full each month. The rest goes to paying off the credit card that holds the $10k.</p>