Whether you've used your credit cards to purchase gas, food, clothing, car repairs or luxury items, it's crucial to pay your account balances off as quickly as possible to avoid paying an outrageous amount of interest.
While its true that the average American owes $9,000 in credit card debt, it's also true that many people owe a great deal more than this. Unfortunately, if you find yourself in a situation where your credit card debt is "through the roof" and your interest rates are hovering above 20%, it's not likely that you can realistically pay it off in less than 40 years if you're just making the minimum monthly payments.
For instance, if the amount of credit card debt you owe is $50,000, at an average interest rate of 24.99%, it will take you exactly 41 years and two months to completely eliminate your credit card debt. And it gets worse - the total you will end up paying at the end of 41 years is a staggering $102,129, with more than half of this amount going toward interest.
Even putting yourself on a five-year plan will end up costing you. You see, if you can afford to pay $1,437.34 each month, you'll end up paying a total of $86,240, with $36,240 of that going toward interest.
To avoid this trap it's important to review other options to eliminate your debt. If you have sufficient equity in your home you may qualify for a low-interest home equity loan. If you're struggling to pay your bills each month, you might want to expand your options to consider consumer credit counseling, debt settlement or even bankruptcy.
No matter what your current situation, if you owe a significant amount of money on high interest credit cards it's highly recommended that you choose an alternative to continually paying the minimum required payments, as this path will only lead you to several more years of high debt and payments.
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Bankruptcy refile inquiry
By: Natasha Cherry | 19-08-2008
Approximately six years ago, I filed for bankruptcy but did not fully go through the process. The bankruptcy was discharged for inadequete information. I would like to refile for bankruptcy and not sure if I can. Is there any information you can provide me outside of seeking an attorney? Thank you in advance for your assistance.
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My employer filed bankruptcy, is she legally required to pay me?
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My hun%@aol.comsband and I filed chapture 13 and have not been able to keep up with the repayment plan and are now behind. We filed chapture 13 because we owned a home. At the hearing we told our lawyer that we could not afford to keep the home. He said go on with the bankrucy as is and deal with it later, that was a year ago . We lost the house 4 months ago and now have rented (rent are very high here because so many people are losing their homes) an apartmnet. My husbands earning have been going down and I am retire. We can not keep up with the payments. We find it hard to pay the daily living bills and now the creditors are starting to call again. My husband has told the lawyer and trustee that we can't afford to do the monthly payment. They just keep telling him to try. Is there any thing we can do. I don't know what to do or where to go.
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Should I declare bankruptcy?
By: snoopy52 | 07-08-2008
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