Why am I being bombarded with loan offers to pay off my credit card debt?

They'll get you coming and going. And your government is fine with interest rates of 35% and above. The monied interests and government are one and the same.

bc u poor

You should be fielding offers from sugar daddies, not banks.

You should consolidate into a low interest loan so you can actually put a dent into it and pay it off.

You're wasting what - $1200 or more per month on interest? How are you ever going to pay this off?

Unless you do something right now - you've fucked yourself for life.

OP how did you accumulate so much debt? (serious question, not being snarky)

Your creditors are hoping to cash in when you start selling your internal organs.

Just like everything else, they make a lot of money off the poor. People like OP are prime targets for consolidation loans that sound nice on paper but of course they make a profit off that. So in the end you are paying intrests on you debt and paying again to put it into one monthly payment.

[quote] Your creditors are hoping to cash in when you start selling your internal organs.

Whereas a sugar daddy will only be interested in your EXTERNAL organs.

You're bankrupt. You can never pay that back. Consult a lawyer before the Republicans make bankruptcy illegal.

Pay that fucking thing off and cut it up OP. Nobody needs credit cards.

How many times have you declared bankruptcy prior to this, OP? Why are you waiting to do so, again?

The thing about loans is that you will always be required to pay the minimum payment. If you pay down cards eventually the monthly payment will be lower.

Paying the minimum on $40,000 will keep you in debt well into your eldergay years.

You really only have two legal options:

1. Stop using credit cards to buy anything else. Period, full stop. And never pay less than $1250/month, On Time, toward your balance, no matter how low your “required minimum” goes. If you do this - and it will be painful because you’ll have to effectively get by on take home of $15,000 a year less than you earn - you’ll dig yourself out in about six years. At the end of that time you’ll be debt free and able to use that $1250 a month for savings or fun. That’ll be your reward.

2. You can try to declare chapter 7 bankruptcy. It’ll wipe out the debt; but you probably won’t be able to rent a new apartment (definitely not buy a house), lease a car, or possibly get certain higher paying jobs for years to come, while waiting for the “stain” to age off your credit report.

My brother did the former. He had a miserable few years. Couldn’t afford a vacation or more than a rare dinner out with friends. At the end, he said it was the best thing he’s ever done (other than marry and have kids).

Now, because he’s learned not to use credit cards (he only uses a debit card), he’s never short of cash.

i loathe Dave Ramsey but he does have some good suggestions. As others have said, try to stop using the cards. If you can't, do you have a budget? Track your expenses for a month or two and see where your money is going.

You may be able to to identify ways to cut back on spending, and then focus on paying down the cards. Perhaps pick the card with the highest interest rate (or the smallest balance) and while you pay the minimum on all the other cards, put as much as you can on your target card. Once that card is paid off, identify another card to pay off.

I hear a BRAVE NEW HOPE!

Stop spending so much on the booze and the boys.

During the financial crisis of 2008-09, I racked up credit card debt to the tune of $20K. I'm middle class, so that was a lot for me. Stupidly, I had also quit my job just before the crash and was not struggling to find decent employment again. I had to take multiple PT retail and admin jobs and paid as much as I could toward my debt (which also included a car payments and rent). Finally, about five years later the economy improved and I had landed an OK full time job. Then I jumped to a much better office management job and immediately set out to pay off my debt. Yes, it was painful and I lived well below my means, and it took about another 5 years, but around 2018-19 my car was paid off, my credit cards were paid and I was building my savings and a 401K. It can be done but it will take self-discipline and organizational skills. One of the first things I did was also shop around for no-interest credit loans. I transferred the amount I believed I could pay off in the "free" time allowed and when I achieved that, I found another loan to repeat. You have to be sure that the transfer fees are below what you'll save in interest, and make sure to not overestimate how much to transfer. Low or zero interest loans will challenge usury laws if you miss a payment and then you're really screwed.

40K and you are paying the minimum? You are paying more than 29K in interest and it will take you 221 months to pay it off. You would be wise to look at those loan offers.

Unlikely the proposed “no interest” loan offers have. the several year period OP will need to pay off $40,000 (unless he’s also got a multiple six figure income).

The accumulated interest that will suddenly become due if he fails to pay every single penny of the loan off [bold]before[/bold] its “no interest” end date will make his original problem seem like a walk in the park.

Are you over 55, Opie?

Buy one of those insurance policies that pays your "final expenses" like that nice young man Johnathan Lawson from Colonial Penn advertises.

Then hope like hell you die.

R19 - It's not my suggestion that he transfer $40K to another loan all at once. He needs to do the math and budget what he can realistically afford to pay towards it each month and transfer just that amount. He will need to pay the transfer fee, but should be better off paying zero interest for 1-2 years on, say, $5K than 28% on that amount. Rinse, cycle, and repeat until all $40K is paid off.

Why do you carry a balance on your credit card of any amount OP? I pay off mine in full every month just to get the airmiles. I'm sure the bank hates me. I've never paid a penny in interest.

R22, I'm guessing OP doesn't have 40K laying around to spare.

I also now pay off my cards in full every months but years ago I was living above my means and relying on cards to keep going. I did a budget, I did direct every spare penny into cards until I paid them off. I do like the idea about a low interest card and/or other type of loan. Financing some of my existing card debt to a no interest card bought me some breathing room and allowed me to pay off that balance faster.

OP, you're being bombarded because the offers are coming from companies who think they can make $$ off of your shitty situation. It's not quite as stark as predator/prey but it is similar.

R24 is correct!

They’ve analyzed your credit report and learned that you pay your bills; but often only pay the minimum; which tells them you’re conscientious, but likely in financial distress.

They think it means you will reliably continue to pay the high interest rates your cards charge (somewhere between 18 and 30%) for the another decade or two. That’s FIVE times more than you could ever earn on a CD, compounded.

They don’t want some other banks getting all that money. In their view . . . you are a Cash Cow.

So they’ll offer to consolidate your debt in a short term no interest loan (for a fee, of course), knowing that you probably won’t pay off the balance, and that you’ll effectively become a $40,000 annuity that’ll give all your extra cash to Them.

Investigate your bankruptcy options, and by that I don't mean through some "credit counseling" scams. Do your own research about your state's laws on bankruptcy and your own circumstances. Even if you can only file chapter 13, it could give you a lot of relief.

Fake your own death. Worked for me.

Have you considered OnlyFans or Chaturbate?

I made 500K off of an onlyfans page of just my feet. Apparently, they are magnificent.

r29=Peggy Hill

R29=Meg Griffin

[quote] Unless you do something right now - you've fucked yourself for life.

This isn’t necessary true.

OP might be high income. If you make 140k or more per year, that level of debt can easily be managed if you’re willing to sacrifice for two or three years.

Don’t listen to this poster, OP.

[quote] I've never paid a penny in interest.

This is a load of horseshit and no one — and I mean no one — believes you.

It’s usually the people who are humble bragging like this who are actually in severe financial distress.

So when is your bankruptcy discharged, R22?

LOL

Ah bankruptcy. I got mine back in the day, just before my state toughened up the laws - those credit card lobbyists were working hard. I had unsecured debt equal to about a year of my salary at the time. There were circumstances but I make no excuses. It was mainly me being young and stupid with too many credit card and no impulse control.

I had originally filed Chapter 13 - I was making too much on paper to do a Chapter 7, though my job wasn't paying me regularly. I made those payments for about 6 months finally just getting my employer to lay me off. That left me actually collecting about the same money, but it was finally low enough on paper to convert over to a Chapter 7 and just discharge the debt.

In the next year, I was lucky enough to get better work and 20 years later I'm still working and my FICO is over 800. To my knowledge, the bankruptcy has never actually hurt me and of course has moved off my credit history. The one thing there is that I have never tried to get a home loan, and I understand that they do ask that question and you are required to answer, even if the bankruptcy doesn't show on your history any more.

Probably the most useful piece of advice I could give: get a bankruptcy attorney. Money was very tight for me back then, and I was very tempted to self-file, but I'd done my research and took the advice against it that I saw. It wasn't easy to scrape the money together, but having the attorney kept me grounded during the panic of it all.

1. Do your research.

2. Get an attorney if you choose to file.

3. Be aware that there are a ton of scams out there waiting to prey on people in your situation.

Ignore R26 he’s a complete idiot. There are no state bankruptcy laws to research, as there is NO SUCH THING as state bankruptcy.

At 40,000 in debt the only answer is bankruptcy. Otherwise you will be paying until you die and the amount you owe will grow larger as you do.

R34 mentions a home loan. A friend of mine declared backruptcy around age 27 or so (piles of CC debt as well as a few other things) and about 7 or 8 years later he was able to purchase a modest home. (By then he worked for a bank and had gone through a first time homeowners program where you got some sort of discount on a loan rate.)

So rehabilitation of your FICO score and or financial profile can be done. But it takes a few years to accomplish.

The same vampires that shill "insurance" for your insurance.

R35 Is quite the asshole with incomplete knowledge. Bankruptcy courts are federal, yes, but states are able to govern things such as property exemptions. So yes, your state may have laws relevant to your situation.

R37 Yes, there is certainly a tradeoff there. The choice was clear for me, but might not be for someone in a stronger situation.

if you're talking about it out loud it's because all of your internet browsing devices listen to you and show you adverts or recommended media based on what you say out loud.

R39 there is state law anywhere that governs bankruptcy. Homestead exemptions are not bankruptcy laws. The end. Fuck yourself first.

There is NO state bankruptcy law*

R42 Sure, Jan. Try not to get so upset over being wrong.

Stupid typing stupid. I pity the schmuck who hires you. Bye!

Sure, let me pull those state bankruptcy code sections and I’ll get back to you.

Husband and I had much more debt than this, but we are also high income (over 500k). I wouldn’t encourage a loan (we did this for part of that debt) as much as I would encourage transferring the debt to a 0% debt consolidation card. Some cards will offer a year or more at zero interest on balance transfers. Can really make a dent.

There are no consolidated card offers. Only personal finance loans, numbnut—but then why am I trying to help someone with a high six figure income who can’t pay a fucking bill on time?! A pox on your house.

If you are not already behind, call your credit card companies and try to negotiate a lower interest rate or consolidate the debt to one payment. They know if you default they get nothing.

They know if they string you along, they improve the profit margins. FIFY

R50, not that i lay awake worrying that big banks aren't making enough profit, but at the same time it's not like they forced OP to use the credit cards that he applied for. Aren't balance transfer offers still a thing as well?

Nope.

OP credit card debt is bad shit once it gets over a certain amount. If can fuck up your credit and fuck up your ability to get other loans. Now. Here's the thing. You're paying a ridiculous amount of interest on those cards. At least 20% or more. Paying the minimum does no good at all. Sit down and look at how much of that minimum goes toward interest and how much goes to the principal. So if you can get a low interest loan to pay off the cards, and make one payment to the loan it's worth considering. But once you pay off those cards you have to "retire" all but one. And you have to put a cap on how much you allow yourself to charge. Yes. You impose your own "credit limit." my personal rule is never charge more than you can afford to pay off in a two-3 month period. And keep one other card for an emergency. A real emergency. you will be shocked at how much more disposable income you have. In fact, I was thinking of getting a debit card to help me stay within my spending limits. But paying the monthly minimum is not a smart move at all.

R33 Like that poster, I have never paid a penny in interest. Never. I pay everything off by the end of the month. Always have.

What do you mean, R48? There are many balance transfer cards that offer zero percent interest for as many as eighteen months to two years.

I declared bankruptcy more than 30 years ago when I was young and stupid and an absolute train wreck with money...well, at least credit cards. It was the smartest financial move I ever made. It's forever on my credit report, but for many years now I've had a VERY good credit rating. It didn't prevent me from getting a mortgage 8 or 9 years later. But I'm Canadian and maybe the rules for bankruptcy are better up here?

In the US in no way would a bankruptcy that far back have any impact on your credit.

If OP has decent credit he could get one of those zero interest for 18 months balance transfers. But in my experience the balance transfers are limited to a specific amount. So if you owe $20,000 on your card and only pay the minimum, and a balance transfer limits you to $5,000, you now have one more credit card to pay off along with the $15,000. and the one thing we always skim past is the fact that we are going to keep using our credit cards and those balances will creep back up. Which is why I had to change my behavior and put my own personal limit on myself. I also retired one card. I didn't cancel it, I just pretended I cancelled it. It was my "emergency" card. Debit cards helped too.

I don’t believe you either, R54.

Unless you’re 22.

When interest rates are high banks and financial institutions make money off of money lending. So they are bombarding everyone with "deals."

Bankruptcy stays with you for seven years. People serve less time than that for murder.