Get Out Of Loan Debt

Comment from bearr41
Time June 17, 2009 at 7:59 pm

Pay the minimum on all your debts. On the one with the lowest balance, pay extra – as much as you can. Once this is paid off, apply that extra (plus the minimum payment for the paid off debt, to the next lowest balance. Keep rolling your debt snowball until you are out of debt.

Also CUT YOUR COSTS. Get rid of cable, cell phones, etc. If you are paying payments on a car, sell it and buy a good used car for cash. No more restaurants, no more Starbucks. Get serious about debt reduction.

Read Dave Ramsey’s books, listen to his radio show, watch him on TV.

Comment from Judy
Time June 20, 2009 at 1:55 am

Talk to an organization called Consumer Credit Counselling Services. They might be able to help you by negotiating low interest and late fees while you get the debt paid off. You’ll have to quit using the credit cards in the meantime, though.

And living on much less will be part of the process, since you’ve apparently been living on more than you make to have all this cc debt. And what’s wrong with a second job?

Comment from jle4044
Time June 22, 2009 at 5:10 pm

Can you put the med school loans into forbearance for a while? The interest would continue accumulating, but the payments would stop for while. You could then roll that monthly amount into one of your credit cards and knock it down faster.

Are you making more than minimum payments on all your debts? You can do what’s called a debt snowball (coined by Dave Ramsey) where you list all your debts, pick one to work on (debt #1), make only minimum payments on the others and throw all the extra cash at debt # 1 (usually the one with the highest interest rate, or the smallest one). Once debt # 1 is paid off, you do the same to debt # 2, adding in the payment amount you were making before on debt # 1. Then you tackle debt # 3 with its usual payment plus the payments amounts with debts # 2 and # 1. It goes on and on, like a snowball down hill, hence the name “debt snowball”.

Not saying thats the answer to YOUR situation, but many people have paid off debts faster that way.

Also, save the extra payments for your med loans LAST since credit card debt has a higher interest rate.

[EDIT: Ha, we’re all nailing you with Dave Ramsey! I love it! We might be on to something, so take our advice, please!)

Comment from Larry P.
Time June 23, 2009 at 3:00 pm

I was in exactly the same situation 2.5 years ago with $25,000+ credit cards debt, two car loans for $1000+ per month, and less income than I had monthly expenses.

Now I have no credit cards, no car loans (both cars are paid for), and no other debt except the house.

Here is a few points.

If you want to get out of debt you will not need your credit score to get another loan in the future. You will be paying cash.

Bankruptcy will not save your either as you need to change your habits; if you do not you will go back into debt again.

Google ‘Dave Ramsey’ and the first link will be your best answer. He has radio show on many radio stations, a show on Direct TV (8pm EST) weekdays, and you can get a free podcast for iPod. Just listen to any and you will get all answers you need.

In short, there is no magic answer. Live on less than you make, pay the debt off, cut credit cards, build your budget, and you will be just fine. It will be tough for the first 3-6 month but once you change your habits there will be no way of coming back.

Good luck. I have done it, you can do it too.

Comment from frank s
Time June 24, 2009 at 11:26 pm

!. Pay off your debt.
2. Don’t buy anything you really don’t need.
3. Keep this reminder in a prominent place.

Comment from Allison
Time June 28, 2009 at 6:30 am

Yes, the Dave Ramsey plan already mentioned is the best way to do it, especially in these times. First you need the $1000 emergency fund, so that if there is an expensive car repair or the refrigerator croaks, you can pay cash to fix it.

You may want to rethink the thing about car loans. Once you are out of debt, you can pay cash for cars. This is not meant to be a putdown; all Americans are taught to get cars on a payment plan, and to worry about FICO scores,but we all need to get away from that. For a while you will not be able to live like other doctors, but eventually you will be debt free and able to buy whatever you want with cash.

Go to the library (so you don’t have to pay for it) and get his 2 books, “Financial Peace Revisited” and “The Total Money Makeover”. Or get them used on ebay, or ask for them for your birthday. The books have the exact steps and how to do them to get out of debt.

Working a second job is a great idea. And you would be surprised how many doctors and doctors’ spouses I hear call his show with your exact problems. Good luck – i KNOW you can do it!

Comment from john t
Time June 30, 2009 at 10:24 am

Start making more money , how ? well learn how to build an online business , one step at the time.

Learning how to make money online is a skill that anyone can acquire in time by applying fundamental principles, backed up by a definite plan, then sticking with it for a while before jumping to the next big thing.
Rome was not built in a day. It takes nine months after conception to be born. Learning how to make money online takes time but with the right attitude and all the free tools available to you, your online success can very well be at an arm’s length. You have to put the time to get the price. In this article I will try to put the pieces of the puzzle together by breaking it down in three basic steps, elaborating on each one of them.

Comment from Question of Degree
Time July 3, 2009 at 10:29 am

There are a number of things you can do but ultimately you will need to do some re-arranging of your finances.

This is exactly what you want to do of course as the way they are organized at the moment isn’t working for you is it.

You will need to make some type of budget to at least have an idea of how your money is being spent. Once you have done that then you will have some idea where you can stop wasting money.

Using that found money you can easily put some of the other ideas about how to pay off debt into action and clear it fast.

There are some financial calculators to help you get it all sorted out.