Hi. I am dealing with $21,000 in credit card debt from 6 different accounts. It's joint debt but my husband is having me handle all our finances so it's basically my problem.
I've done a lot of great reading (Dave Ramsey, Debtor's Anonymous, Jerrold Mundis' books, and lots of library books on debt).
My recent job loss put us in a situation where we can't pay the minimum on our accounts. I've written letters to the 5 accounts we have $100 a month we can put toward it making it $20 a month each we can send -- just a token good faith payment really. The first call came today -- an automated one telling how much we needed to send. Of course I knew that and sent what I could afford (they already posted the payment).
Anyway, I have work -- just not enough -- cleaning on the weekends. My husband is completely retired SS and military. There is a large gap of 19 years (me younger) between us. He retired early and spends his week taking care of his super elderly father. I take care of everything for us and our home and cars.
The one true blessing is that we have enough money for the mortgage, car payment, insurance, food and needs -- just not for the unsecured credit card debt.
There is a long back story regarding my work history and my burn out and work I did to take care of his parents until they (last year) moved to a nursing home and daughter's home. I don't want to go into it in detail but it is part of the reason I have so much trouble working a traditional job -- I think. The five years of caregiving that almost killed me that is.
So, now I'm here and I'm just trying not to be scared out of my wits -- and trying to have hope that I'll be able to bring in enough money fast enough to avoid collection agencies and court rooms and bankruptcy. I don't believe bankruptcy would be a wise choice for us even though we pass the means test and could go that route -- we have a long history of re-curring credit card debting so it would be best to handle it any other way - I truly want to pay what we owe anyway.
This forum looks like a great place to recover so I am here and hope to figure things out and learn more and participate here.
I just want to know that I'm not alone and that there is a life after credit card debt.
I know that we overspent -- but I also can see that my underearning is a huge contributor. Regardless of the reasons or excuses it's a lot of why we are where we are. So I feel like crap. And I hope things change for the better quick.
Thanks for listening!
I've done a lot of great reading (Dave Ramsey, Debtor's Anonymous, Jerrold Mundis' books, and lots of library books on debt).
My recent job loss put us in a situation where we can't pay the minimum on our accounts. I've written letters to the 5 accounts we have $100 a month we can put toward it making it $20 a month each we can send -- just a token good faith payment really. The first call came today -- an automated one telling how much we needed to send. Of course I knew that and sent what I could afford (they already posted the payment).
Anyway, I have work -- just not enough -- cleaning on the weekends. My husband is completely retired SS and military. There is a large gap of 19 years (me younger) between us. He retired early and spends his week taking care of his super elderly father. I take care of everything for us and our home and cars.
The one true blessing is that we have enough money for the mortgage, car payment, insurance, food and needs -- just not for the unsecured credit card debt.
There is a long back story regarding my work history and my burn out and work I did to take care of his parents until they (last year) moved to a nursing home and daughter's home. I don't want to go into it in detail but it is part of the reason I have so much trouble working a traditional job -- I think. The five years of caregiving that almost killed me that is.
So, now I'm here and I'm just trying not to be scared out of my wits -- and trying to have hope that I'll be able to bring in enough money fast enough to avoid collection agencies and court rooms and bankruptcy. I don't believe bankruptcy would be a wise choice for us even though we pass the means test and could go that route -- we have a long history of re-curring credit card debting so it would be best to handle it any other way - I truly want to pay what we owe anyway.
This forum looks like a great place to recover so I am here and hope to figure things out and learn more and participate here.
I just want to know that I'm not alone and that there is a life after credit card debt.
I know that we overspent -- but I also can see that my underearning is a huge contributor. Regardless of the reasons or excuses it's a lot of why we are where we are. So I feel like crap. And I hope things change for the better quick.
Thanks for listening!