Not sure if I am posting this in the right forum or not, if not please help me.

My DH & I are behind on several of our bills, I am ready to get back on track and pay them off. Any advice on how we can get a jumpstart on paying off credit cards, a payment settlement letter or something. I really don't even know where to start.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Read the newbies section in the credit forum.

Read, Read and Read it again. It will help.


First Opt out
Second get rid of old address

Good Luck!

Make paying anything that is currently CURRENT and not delinquent your #1 priority.

After that, focus on the delinquent ones.

Don't follow this if your mortgage or utilities are one of the bills you are behind on.

Always pay food, mortgage, and utilities first. Then transportation. Then figure out which bill is most important after that. Don't let the creditors calling play with your emotions so you pay them before food, mortgage, utilities, or transportation. Those are always first!

Get on a written budget. Spend everything on paper before the money comes in. This will help to curb your overspending which a lot of times is how people get behind. It will also help to get you caught up because you will have a written plan.

Right on !!!

This in particular is excellent, excellent advice. When I fell behind in my bills, I allowed creditors to convince me that paying them was more important than me eating, paying rent and utilities and it was a BIG mistake!! I am now firmly back on my feet (thank God) but I am very happy this is one lesson I learned - take care of your basic needs first!

Good luck to you in your new job search! Please keep us posted.

I found this up at the top. It has helped me plan how much to pay who.

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/debtplanner/debtplanner.jsp

Ok I am brand spanking new at this( yet I have A LOT of work to do)so I am currently reading and reading and reading as advised and I have a ? re: SOL's.

I have been told by various people that SOL can be between 7 & 10 years. Some of my debt is creeping up on 6 years old now so if it really is only 7 years, should I just let it go and then get it taken off of my reports?

Beware that, when you apply for a job that pays more than $75K, or apply for insurance or mortgage in the amount of > $150K, something called "full factual" report can be pulled, and that includes EVERYTHING that ever was on your report (including those that dropped off due to age/SOL).

However, items cannot be reported on the "full factual" report either, if their complete accuracy cannot be established. So it is to your advantage to dispute the accuracy of the trade line if it is bad in any way.