My credit card is in the bin!!

You are not the only one. I maxed out one of my credit card and now I am paying back all this interest and late fees. We all have our struggles especially the way the economy is. I am so tired living from paycheck to paycheck. Once I pay my necessities such as rent, lights,car, insurance, gas ,water, etc, there is little left to pay off my other bills such as credit card, student loans. Also call the creditor and let them know your situation and ask them set up some type of payment plan to get it paid off. My Tribute Mastercard was maxed out and I told them I was going through a financial harship due to unexpected finances. We both agreed to close the account. I am repaying them back $13.00 (the minimum) a month and in exchange no interest is been added.

That is so good to hear - not that you 'maxed out', but you binned the card. So much pain and break-up is caused by credit card debt... I had some credit card debt and moved the balance to a 0% credit card (don't know if you have those??) so for 12 months or so any payments I make will go to pay off the debt, NOT the interest. I have done this twice now so I have not paid interest for two years (the first one was for 18 months). The debt is about a quarter of what it was and I should have it paid off this year. If '0% credit on credit transfer' is not available, the next best think would be a loan for the debt at a reasonable interest rate and repayments that you can afford - this is all assuming that your budget is working of course... The very first thing to do is get your spending under control (as you have identified..) I spend so little now, I can hardly believe how much I used to waste...!! You are in for the long-haul if your debt is 'significant'. The best advice I can give is to track your payments on a spreadsheet so that you can see the debt coming down, this will you to focus when you feel like spending the money that you don't really have! I have written some articles on this and would be happy to point you in the general direction if you want to get in touch. I hope your post inspires others to do the same.

Good for you!! Credit cards are horrible things to have but on the other hand, they're life savers when one needs them. I feel for the kids now a days because they have no concept of how one can get into them so badly that it seems like the end of the world and no way out of them. It's a hard core lesson learned no doubt but gosh, getting to the learning and paid off part is what's so hard.

Congrats!!!!!!!!! I am struggling with my budget right now. I have never really had a budget and I dont know where to start. I just know that I need to start soon. I owe alot on my credit cards due to family needs not shopping for things I dont need. So I just dont know how I am going to do it but I definitely need to try. Anyways good luck on yours.

Well done to you! My husband and I used a credit card once and it was quite by accident, we ran a christmas hamper savings club and we used the credit card to pay the last lump amount believing that our customers would keep paying and we could pay it off, only 2 of them didnt and so we were stuck with the credit card bill and the interest on it meant that we were paying nothing off the actual balance, it was the worst time of our lives and when we finally managed to clear it we vowed never ever to use it again, we would never spend what we didnt have, and its taken a while to get back on our feet but what you say is right if you spend less you start saving and its true because we are now starting finally to be able to save and have a bit more money at the end of each month, so good on you and things can only start to get better.

That is great and good job about your credit card. I do not use my anymore. I decided a year ago that I was not going to be indebted to credit cards all my life. The world was so much better without those cards. As my granddaddy would say.

"if you spend more than you earn-you go broke. If you spend less than you earn-you start saving" thats really true my dear friend and i am going with you. i know its difficult to let our selves from credit card addictive but when we able to do that it means that we can think how to spend out our money wisely than before. at this moment i only has my debit card, which is local and international one. i am happy with this card cause it means whenever i am going shopping, it means i would pay in cash not lending from bank

Don't I know it!!! LOL Our problem is we don't have much we can or are willing to cut back on LOL.

s its a major problem for me tooo

I know what you mean. We have had to max our cards out at times but we have since, paid them off. The interest alone will eat you alive. We only use ours if we need something in between paydays or something like that. Once you go into debt with them, it is very hard to get out.

It sure does feel good to get rid of the credit cards coffeeshot. A few years ago we got rid of all of ours because we just kept spending and spending. Since we have not had any credit cards, we find that we are better off, we seem to have more money in our pocket. If we can't afford something there and then, we save up and buy it cash - usually at a discount! We have never been better off! The surprising thing is that you CAN manage without a credit card!

fantastic! congratulations on taking this first step towards financial freedom. we also are in huge debt.... it is a big courageous step to take, but one very much worth it and rewarding as you see your balance decline and your spending more engaged.

Congratulations! I got rid of two credit cards myself. The problem is that I make less $ than my bills right now, so I'm in danger of needing them again. I was almost making it, but my hours got reduced at work and I haven't been able to find any more work that I can do. My husband and I have cut down a lot. Cut in a lot of places and we have way smaller bills, but still need to either cut more or make more $. So hope that I can earn more $ than required on bills and soon. Thanks and I'm happy for you.

Well done. It is a wonderful feeling when you realise that there is a way out and that you can achieve it. Getting rid of the credit card is a major step forward. Just make sure that it is well and truly cut up to stop you being tempted in the future.

good! welcome to the club who finds using their credit card is alot of s***. now you are free and you can save more today than before. what i do is to make use of my debit card and treat it as my personal credit card .where everytime i use it , i have to put it back with interest. so, instead of paying interest for someone else then i might as well pay myself.odd but it makes sense.

Congrats on cutting up that credit card. I also sat down and went through all out bills and stuff and did a budget on what we currently owe and it isn't pretty. Until you actually sit down and see it all, I would not have guessed how much we actually owe. It's good to see it on paper and start to work at getting rid of it period. Its a slow process but I know we can get there. Good luck.

Oh Well done you! I would love to throw mine out but am not in the position to be able to do so at the moment! Hopefully one day soon I will get the chance to! xxx

congrats on doing that.i got rid of mine about 18 months ago and i realise that if you can not pay cash for anything, you really can not afford it.now if i desperately need something i will either lay-by it or save up for it.cheers sue