Ok, please read because I write this from plenty of experience with bad credit. First of all everyone says “when the bill comes I just pay it” and I bet a lot of them do, but I would say a lot of people fib when they say that. I personally have struggled with credit for years due to thinking it doesn’t matter and I can fix that later. Well I’m here to tell you it DOES matter and it is very hard to fix that in the future. When you fall behind on 1 credit card there always seems like there is another one to use or apply for doesn’t it? All these alternatives do is drag you further down the credit card path to doom. I have paid and paid these hustlers many times even after the interest was so high that it would take a year to pay off $300 making $60 dollar a month payments.
Unfortunately you may have to call and close the accounts and get settlements for the bad decisions you have made thinking you can afford these. I was always told “if you cant afford to pay them off at any time don’t get them”, now if I could afford to pay them off at any time why would I be applying for them? So going off the past 10 years I have probably paid enough in interest to live in the White House. You need to keep your credit score at least 700 or above and I know it might seem far fetched but its true because you might get that car loan but it will be at 19% instead of 2.9% and you will pay through the nose.
First thing to do is cancel them, all of them even the hidden one you have for emergency’s only. If you can pay them off that is great and if not and they are going to be delinquent try to get a settlement as I said before. Once they are closed and being payed on they will state “current closed” on your credit score and once they are done they will state “paid closed” this is so much better than the alternative. I have had both and now finally they are gone and it is about 10 years later. I now am 36 and still working on credit rather than this being established already like most people. I never had the intention of being a credit rebel if you will but that is sort of what happened and now I’m paying for it literally.
Remember, not paying the bad credit now means paying MORE later and I mean a lot more. I have seen repossession and house foreclosure all due to credit cards because they actually can take your personal possessions if you don’t pay it and they pursue it. Credit means everything and now I believe it! At one point I could not have got financed for a pack of gum and I didn’t care, I figured ill pay cash for everything I need, but please listen; pay them and call it a day! They will haunt you, they will call you, they will send you threatening letters, and call your relatives looking for you, it is not worth it in the long run because it takes so long to rebuild what you had , or worse what you never had yet.
Credit Counseling sometimes works depending how much you owe, bankrupt is definitely not the way to go, because you will pay for it either way you might as well just make payment arrangements and cut up the cards and make the effort to get out of debt. Otherwise they WILL keep sending them to you, you know the ones with the little limits and the introduction fees and hide the fact you still owe the old money! Its coming down to the fact without credit you will not be able to finance anything even with the inflated rates. That means crappy cars and crappy houses or renting for the rest of your life, not being able to get a credit card to get some clothes, take my word on this; you will be screening your phone calls for the rest of your life if you don’t try to save whats left of your credit, and its not impossible believe me after all these years its not impossible.