idon'twanna

This is not true. Even if OP is revolving a balance and they pay past the due date doesn't make them 30 days late. 4 days late is 4 days late no matter if you revolve or PIF. If you revolve balance, there's no grace period. Grace period is only relevant to how the interest is calculated. It has nothing to do with when the payment is considered late. 4 days late is 4 days late and won't report to the CRA's.

It shouldn't hit your reports unless you're a full 30 days late. As in you skipped a payment entirely. 4 days late will be a late fee, but nothing more. eta: "but nothing more" might be false ... nowadays, you might expect a rate jack, too. sigh.

Congratulations on settling on a plan. That, in itself, should help your stress levels. Good luck and remain disciplined! You will get this debt paid off!

I'm still not entirely clear on what kind of loan/card this is? If it is truly more like an installment loan (thought with variable interest??) then paying this down should lower your utilization. If it's more like a credit card, then it's possible that they could lower your available credit - chase the balance, I think people are calling it - to your new balance, which would completely foil your plans. I would make sure the latter couldn't happen before I pay down this balance! I still think (mentioned in previous thread) you should make a few appts. with local Credit Unions and see what they can do for you. You have to get that interest rate DOWN and a balance transfer - even if it's to, say, 9% is going to help you tremendously.

In fact, if you don't think you have any credit issues that need cleaning-up, then get your Fico scores first, from MyFico.com (use discount code!) and that will also get you a report (not useful for credit repair, though). If your Fico's are high and those reports are clean, you really don't need to get your free reports - you can save those for some other time (since you only get them once a year). Some here might disagree, but I think there's no point in pulling your official report if you have no cleaning to do.

No lender makes decisions based on FAKO scores. She needs to not only be concerned WHAT is on her reports but what her score is. Free mailed CRA copies and FiCO reports only way to go. I agree. I just wanted OP to be aware that they may offer FAKO's for a bit extra, but don't fall for it (I guess I didn't word it well). Get the FICO's.

You can get one report free from each of the CRA once per year. Some people like to stagger these, so get one report every 4 months. Either call the CRA, or go here: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp NYTimes had an article yesterday about the supposedly free reports from freecreditreport dot com, which aren't free ... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/your-mon...3scores.html?em ETA: these are just the reports, not the scores, though I think you can pay a little for FAKO's. I think you'd be better off finding the discount thread for FICO scores, if you want to know those. The thread is in the pinned topics area.

i disagree with this advice. you never want to cash out your 401k to cover unsecured debt. even if she filed BK, her 401k is protected. she might want to weigh the pros and cons of not contributing to her 401k, but I would very very very rarely suggest borrowing against it. Kind of off topic, since OP has now told us that she doesn't have a 401k, but ... "Cashing out" a 401k would be bad. But you are allowed to *borrow* from them, without the heavy penalties, and you pay yourself back, with interest. I think that - for a disciplined person - this is a much better idea than paying usurious interest to a CC. I did this many years ago and have no regrets.

I think what you need to focus on is getting out from under that high BofA interest rate. (Did you tell us what the interest rate is? I might have missed it, but I'm sure it's high). A balance transfer should be your first goal and, certainly, the lower utilization that comes with paying down your debt will help. But I'd want some assurance of that first, so ... I wonder what would happen if you were to go to a credit union, $8,000 in hand, and ask them to assist you. Perhaps they would help you out with a balance transfer, if you were to deposit that money .... maybe ??? It might be worth a chat with some local CU's.

Some people here hate Walmart because it has the reputation of being trashy...and I think some people do it just to lemonade off a certain member of CB... Personally, I know what to expect when I go in Walmart, and if I can get the cheapest price there, I will go there. For instance, no one around can touch their prices on ammo... That might be true for some people, but not for me; I don't shop there on principle. We can't get into political discussions here - nor do I want to - but just wanted to clarify.

How does $44K a year translate to $2000 a month? Also, take what works for you and leave the rest (as far as advice from this board) It's about 2300 a month and because I live in taxachusetts... According to paycheckcity.com, 44k annually works out to $2,790.80 a month after taxes with 1 exemption in Massachusetts. Or Nearly 400 more a month, unless health insurance and other costs come out of your paycheck. Maybe 401K, insurance, or FSA's? (I don't know, trying to stay positive here), lol I agree, it makes sense that the missing bit is insurance or 401k, especially since OP clarified that the $2300 was every 4 weeks, not once a month. That brings her monthly salary close to $2500, so just a 200 gap easily explained by 401k, insurance, etc. Anyway, OP -- do you have a 401k? If so, you can borrow from that - only if you are very disciplined! - and pay yourself back a reasonable interest rate. It's better than paying the usurious rate to BofA.

NET income is $2350/month after taxes. Rent $400 Car $224 Target $240 BB $10 BOA $975 Total $1852 That's actually 79% of her net, not 70%. If you want to use Gross income, it's still 50%- way beyond any zero-percent approvals. Most CU's wont even touch that. And we're still not including insurance, food or any other living expenses. OP makes $2300 every 4 weeks. So about $2492/mo. So that's an extra 192/mo. Not huge, but certainly helps. Of course, since groceries haven't been figured in yet, it's probably a wash.

At least your're on the north side of the city (if you're in Salem).... take a look at the traffic south sometime! Take the commuter rail. Its faster and you don't have to deal with the traffic. Edit: I saw the other post where you said it would cost you $300/mo to take the commuter rail? How is that possible? The most expensive is Zone 8, which is only $250/mo. Here are the fares from the MBTA web site: http://www.mbta.com/fares_and_passes/rail/ .... you can ride unlimited on the subway and bus with the commuter rail pass as well. looks like salem or north of salem would be zone 3 or 4. which is a lot less than $300/month. are we missing something here?

I thought opting-out (is that what you did? you said "canceled", but I'm thinking you've opted-out of the apr jackage?) would NOT affect your utilization. In other words, the card would continue to report as you pay it down. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you'll be OK.

I used my Gold at a local Walmart! Here's how paranoid I am: I refuse to charge ANYTHING at WalMart. And so far, it's worked well for me. I refuse to BUY anything at WalMart and that's worked very, very well for me.