by Greg  at February 05 2010 12:24 AM

Daughter took out student loan and owes 30,000 on it they charging 8.5 interest. They just got out of bankruptcy were they consolided there bills. This was left out they have no extra money each month to pay on this. I help them some each month with just living expense. I heard that some people don't ever pay these loans back we are not asking that its we need to stop the bleeding for now. What advise do you have for us?

by lyndaski  at February 02 2010 8:35 PM

Our daughter and x-husband have $83,000 in Student Loan Debt which they are behind on payments. They filled for bankruptcy in Aug. 2009. They lost their home and his vehicle. They moved in with his parents for 6 months and then separated and got a divorce in 8/2009. They have a 4 yr. daughter. They signed a property settlement agreement that each one would assume 1/2 of the total student loan debt. The American Education Services are constantly calling each one requesing a payment. Our daughter and her daugher have their own apartment and she clears $92.00 a month after expenses. Her x-husband lives with his parents, has no money and currently unemployed. She explained this to the AES that she has no money and asked them if they would take a by-out so she could get out from under her 1/2 of this hugh debt. That perhaps her parents would help her. But they said no buy out. We can pay off 1/2 of her part but it would take our savings. AES says even if we pay off her 1/2, they both are responsible for the entire balance no matter what the property settlement agreement signed by a judge says. We are currently retired, our home is paid for. I don't feel that it is our responsibility to pay off her debt. But AES says they will "hound" them until the debt is paid or they die. They said they will garnish her wages if she doen't start making a monthly payment of $480.00 What can she do? Please give me some advice.

by sheila  at February 01 2010 9:53 AM

i have charge card debts that i have not paid on in at least 5 years because they made the payments so high and tripled the debt. they have judgements on me what will happen from this and what do i do

by JB  at January 29 2010 10:22 PM

I just want to add something that happened to us recently. We inquired of BofA about the Making Home Affordable mortgage reduction program. When we found out it affects your credit, we said never mind and asked them to remove us from the application status. Well, they threw us into Home Retention and reported us to all credit bureaus as making partial payments. We *never* even applied for anything like that. So, we got a very high up person to work on this, and they promised it was all settled. However, this week our mortgage ended up back in Home Retention again. Our credit reports are damaged, and things are not yet fixed. So please, be very careful should you even think about doing this program. This has caused as much stress as our lack of work lately. Just as much.

by Michelle  at January 29 2010 5:49 PM

we are in our late 40s been in business for 22 years and we are getting hit hard same as comment by JB we are a greast asset to our business and big companies are hitting us hard we are at the end what can we do with so much potential and no cash flow it is terrible we have so many good customers and the potential for a crazy amount more i just dont know what options i have before we loose everything

by jake  at January 28 2010 8:08 PM

My wife and I make about thirty thousand dollars a year we are trying to raise our two children on that while she is a full time student. I work full time in a factory and part time on my own. our credit is literally a joke we barely have enough money each pay day to pay bills not including the essentials. We've thought about bankruptcy but if there is another way please help. Our debt has come from a long line of circumstances and I dont know how we will ever get out

by cc  at January 27 2010 5:26 PM

I have considerable credit card debt but no other debt. I owe 15,000 on one and 13,000 on another. I just received some money and would like to pay off as much as I can as I am self-employed and my business is way down. I would like to negotiate the card companies down but I'm worried how that would affect my credit standing. I know you don't worry about that but I am a widow who just finished putting a son through college and there's always the possibility that I may have to borrow from my bank if something major happens as I don't ever know how my income is going to go. However, the thought of having this credit card debt off of my shoulders is very tempting. What should I do?

by Marcy  at January 27 2010 4:41 PM

we are paying on 2 pretty new cars one we owe 21180.65 saturn vue 2008 and 20.669.02 Saturn Aura 2007 I would like to get out from under these cars but my husband says that we owe more then what they are worth. I would buy cash in hand on old beaters if we could but how do we do that Please help because as long as we have them we will always be in the neg. every pay check.

by chris  at January 25 2010 11:57 AM

How do I set up a budget when I get paid per hour and some weeks I could get 5 hours and others i could get 60 hours?

by JB  at January 12 2010 2:06 AM

If we lived without responsibility, that would be one thing but we dont. We're self employed, in our fifties. Our business is so dead right now. We're doing all we can to pick it up, unable to find extra jobs plus have health issues which limit our ability to do much more than we are doing. The debt snowball will work, but right now we have almost no income at all. Our emergency funds and CD's are just about gone. The only retirement beyond that is $7k. Our debt is largely business expenses and high medical bills. Again, we live very modestly. We're praying for everyone in this position and trying to trust God.

by M.G.  at December 31 2009 12:55 AM

Grrr..I'm so frustrated with myself in the last two months...I've managed to keep my credit cards up to date with the payments and keep my APRs low for years...But within the last few months I have just almost survived a move back home, attend school full time, and work full time...It was a move back to Hawaii from St. Louis...it was rough, but now I defaulted on two of my cc shooting my once below 10% APRs to 16 and 24...I have a running total of around 17,000 in cc debt and trying to make it while I go to school full time...Dropping out of school is not an option because I've waited 10 years to go back...I really want to pay down this debt...but I only bring home around 1,100 take home pay...what can I do??

by Jessica  at December 29 2009 11:28 PM

I am in the same boat as Shaun. I owe more on my vehicle than it is worth, and my husband and I struggle to make the minimum payments on our 5 credit cards. (We got them while in college, ran up a balance, and have been working to pay them off.) Please give me some advice. With all of our hard, we are having trouble getting and staying ahead.

by Tess  at December 29 2009 9:19 PM

Just a quick note to Peggy (from 12/4) PLEASE check your state's laws regarding Foreclosure - it may not be the 12 months to Bankruptcy you need to be concerned about. Here in the State of Missouri, the Foreclosure process can be started after only 4 months with no payments. I'd say pay the house first so you have a roof over your head. Try contacting your mortgage holder - see if they will work with you since you're out of work and recently divorced. They might be able to reduce your rate, or even offer 'forebearance' (let you skip a payment or two right now and add them to the end of your loan). Some companies won't work with you, some will. Won't hurt to ask!

by DEBBIE FISHER  at December 16 2009 9:41 AM

I saw your video at my church a couple of weeks ago. Your absolutley amazing.I just wanted to say your my sunshine on a cloudy day.Sometimes I think I will never get out of my mess then I think of you and your attitude.I'm real proud of myself even though nobody else thinks so.I'm going to make it.

by cc  at December 16 2009 12:04 AM

In order to do my own debt reduction verses using a company, would it work to pay some less than minimum payments in order to knock out the smaller balances first. I was gong to send a hardship letter to my creditors and start the snowball process to the best of my ability Please advise I know its a deviation but I am trying to do something to move forward.

by Tom  at December 12 2009 10:34 PM

My wife and I went through Peace Finaial, we had our $1,000 and paying down debt. Then the economy went south. I'm self employed in the construction trades, I didn't find work or employment in my state for 4 months. I had to go out of state to find work (1,000 mi. from home). Just think of all the added expenses. I work 12-14 hrs. a day 7 days a week to make what I can. My wife is working part time but can't find any full time, or more part time jobs. We have 3 kids 14,8 and 6, she takes care of them and the house while I'm gone). We made 1/2 our house payment for ea. of the first six mo. this year and nothing since. Creditors are calling daily. We qualified for Obama's morgage bailout reducing our house payment from 1,200 to 900. We struggle to make that right now. What can I do? Is there hope or should I just fold?

by Peggy  at December 04 2009 9:28 AM

I am recently divorced. $190,000.00 mortgage. $6,000.00 credit card debt. $5,000.00 in bank. Looking for a job everday. I was told by a few people to not make any mortgage payments and I have 12 months before bankruptcy? My house is also for sale but not in good shape. HELP!!!!!!!!!!

by Shaun  at December 02 2009 10:26 PM

I'm trying to get started on my " Total Money Makeover", but Its taking everything to pay the minimums on the crdit cards and the car payment. I would like to get rid of the car, but I owe more than it's worth. I don't know what to do. Please give me some advice.