photog Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 I'm in a dilema with my CC debt. I have about $57K in CC debt mostly from starting my business. I'm at a place where I should start making a monthly profit from my business, but things are still difficult.I somehow missed a Citi payment about a month ago, and they really jacked up the interest on me. I'm looking at about $1,500/month in payments, and as you know most of that is interest.I was doing research on Debt Negotiators when I came across this site. I can't keep going in the direction I'm going, but I need to do something. I was considering a Debt Negotiator, but now I'm leaning against that.I think I can handle getting everything paid off over time if it wasn't for the outrageous interest rates. But it seems like inevitable failure to just keep paying the current rates and keep going in the same direction.Right now I don't know if my credit rating is extremely important to me right now....at least not for the short term....next few years. I'm up to date on my payments right now.What path would be best for me to take?Is there any way to get lower rates from the CC companies so that they can get their money over time?It's time to take action before I'm forced to go bankrupt.Thanks for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5thsfg Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 depending how good your credit rating is..why don't you do a balance transfer to something that has a low interest ratehttps://www.penfed.org/promo/specialOffers/index.aspthose guys have a low interest rate on balance transfers i think i the low 5's%I've also heard good things about them...hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photog Posted April 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 Thanks.I've done some balance transfers in the past, but my credit rating is suffering now due to my credit/debt ratio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 Well...here's the bad news. Because of the Universal Default clause in your CC agreements, all the rest of your CC's will probably be rate jacking you also. Look for all your minimum payments to go up.And...even worse...if they get a whiff of "business related", all the protections of the FDCPA go out thw window.So, I'd suggest...sit down, work out a spread sheet. Get a good handle on your realistic income. Figure out your "must haves"...food, rent, transportation, utilities. What's left, is what you've got to pay the unsecured credit cards. Divide it up by balance owed. Call the CCs. Ask for the hardship department. Tell them you've run into some problem (probably don't want to mention the business...let them find out on their own) and ask what can be done. If you do the spreadsheet first, you'll have an idea of what you can afford. Don't agree to anything until you've had a chance to reveiw everything. If they won't play along, your next choices are...1. Stop paying. When the collection calls start coming, to the DV tap dance until you get money ahead, and then try to settle some of the debts. This will take a lot of your time.2. Declare BK. If you have income coming in, it will probably be a BK 13, which might allow you to keep the business. The end result of a BK 13 is just like "debt settlement", but you'll have the BK courts to enforce the payment schedule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photog Posted April 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 The business is a sole propriatorship. Does that make any difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 The business is a sole propriatorship. Does that make any difference?No, not really. Even if it were a C or S corp, if you used personal cards or even corporate cards with a personal guarantee, you're screwed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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