What's the worst that could happen?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-06-2007
What's the worst that could happen?
2
Thu, 09-25-2008 - 1:02pm

Hi all -

I'm new here... my DH and I are just coming to terms with how badly in debt we are... and we're trying to figure out what to do.

We have more than $2000 per month in minimum payments on credit cards and an unsecured loan that we used to consolidate some of our credit cards. We are more than $100,000 in credit card debt (I've never actually stated the amount before and it takes my breath away. It makes me feel physically ill. It makes me feel like a dumb teenager).

We've been "paying" the minimums by moving money from one CC to another... paying our expenses (utilities, groceries, etc) by CC and then using the extra cash to pay the CC minimums... etc etc. All those crazy schemes. This has just created a downward spiral that is accelerating, fast.

So, we can't do this any more.

What would happen if I just called each credit card company and the bank (where we have our loan) and said, "I frankly cannot afford to pay the minimums. I will pay you $50 a month until I can pay more. When I can pay more, I will do so." This is the only way I can see to do this - quit using the cards, create an actual budget to use the cash we earn every 2 weeks to live on, pay only what we can on the CC balances until... many years from now... they are paid off.

What's the worst that could happen if we do this? We will have crummy credit, I know, but can they take our house? Can they take our car? Is this an insane plan? Has anyone out there ever done this or something similar? What resources can you suggest?

Thoughts?

Thank you SO MUCH.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-17-2003
Thu, 09-25-2008 - 1:55pm
You can contact your creditors and tell them your situation. Tell them $50 per month is all you can afford.
Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 09-25-2008 - 2:16pm
I agree with Carolyn that CCCS (or MMI) is a great place to start.

All my best,
Danni