I'm in debt.., What should I do? Options

[Jen]

I am about $8k in debt. My credit score is a 600 , and my income is so crappy.. that I don't even want to post it.

I was in more debt, but I have paid a lot of it off.

Should I get a consolidated loan, and put all of my bills into one?

I asked someone, and they said they could only give me a credit line of $2200, or something.

I'm just so confused.. and I just want to not worry about making 5 payments a month.

Does anyone have experience in this kind of thing, and could help me out?

I'm going to go to the bank sometime this week and see what I can do, but I'd like a little advice beforehand.

I am STRESSED to the MAX.

[Jen]

Gosh maybe I should elaborate. I feel like I am being lectured.

I repo'd the car from my ex, but he hasn't paid me for it. Yes he was on the lease because we lived together.

The car got sold. But, for way less than what it was bought for, and without the $1200 of money I put into fixing it while with him.

I was with my ex in 2005-2006. I am not with him at the moment.

I have learned my lesson when it comes to buying people big things.

I appreciate all of this advice, but your advice is what I have been doing for the past 2 years to pay off the debt I did have.

I was hoping for advice on whether or not I should get a loan. A few of you said it would screw up my credit, and then another few said it would help. I did a lot of research last night, and talked to a few reliable sources, and all of them said as long as I pay my loan on time, pay off my debts with the loan, and then cancel all of my cc's (which I've already done).. my credit will improve. The ONLY downfall, is that it may take me longer to pay off. But, I will no longer have to deal with SUPER HIGH interest rates, and paying 5 different bills a month just for credit cards.

[forkee]

as long as I pay my loan on time, pay off my debts with the loan, and then cancel all of my cc's (which I've already done).. my credit will improve. The ONLY downfall, is that it may take me longer to pay off. But, I will no longer have to deal with SUPER HIGH interest rates, and paying 5 different bills a month just for credit cards.

yup

consider yourself lucky. i was about 16k in debt when i first got my credit cards cuz it was so fun to spend haha. i had people hired from circuit city, best buy, american express, visa, and mastercard calling me for money, lol. it didnt help that they made the interest rate around 55%!!!!! i put it all together and with the help of my parents, took out one big loan and paid it off slowly by working my butt off at disney and verizon. took about 2 years and overall i think it cost me 21k after interest but thank god thats over. the whole fiasco killed my credit score but they are slowly beginning to trust me with their money (mwahahahaha)

now i have 27k that i owe for school......yay

good call on not going the bankrupt route. thats the LAST thing you want to do. plus 8k is nothing if you can keep it around that

msn has a new article out. maybe it'll help

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Inves....aspx?GT1=33011

This post has been edited by forkee: Aug 19, 2008 - 12:39 PM