Credit advice ....

[Jessica]

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

I have some credit card debt, around $5,000. In the next couple months, I'll be getting some extra money, around $3,000. My initial plan was to use all of that toward paying off my debt - and then work through my credit union to pay off the rest. Period. Be done with it.

Someone told me it might be best to keep some of the extra money & put it in savings - so I'd at least have a little nest egg. Then, I would just be dealing with the credit union for a longer period of time.

What do you think? Which one would be better for my credit rating?

Damn credit cards. :grr: I won't be making this mistake again.

Again, thanks for any advice. :)

[Bunny]

1. Put $1000 aside for emergencies, and DON'T TOUCH IT!!!

Then use the remaining money to work on paying off your credit cards, smallest balance first, then next smallest, and so on until they are done. It'll take a while, but it can be done if you are disciplined. The most important thing to do is get rid of those cards, though. I've been there, done that, so I know whereof I speak.

[KitchenWitch]

2. use it all to pay off credit cards

The debt is at higher interest rates than you would make in a savings account.

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. MrG and I are using all of our tax return to pay off the card.

The nest egg way is not a bad idea though. Have you checked into perhaps transferring a debt to another card that offers the 0% on balance transfers? MrG and I do this. You could transfer the remaining debt over and not accrue the interest.

Financial matters suck, don't they? :hi:

[Jessica]

5. Yes ... yes they do.

I'll look into transferring the balance. It might be better. My only problem is that I need to have only one card & keep it out of my purse. So, I wanted to just work through my credit union & get rid of my balance completely.

Thanks for the help, everyone! :hi:

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. We don't use the card. We cut it up upon it's arrival. The only way we

could do it too. ;)

[sendero]

4. My take...

... if you essentially live paycheck to paycheck, you should have some funds in savings. $1000 is a pretty reasonable figure. BUT, if you will not have the discipline to use that money ONLY for emergencies, I'd just send it all to the CC company, and hope for the best.