I have 4-5k in credit card debt. What's the best way to pay it down if you see it taking a while to get paid off and want to be less fucked by high interest rates?
Depends on what you're willing to do to pay it off and how hard it is for you to pay down.
You could try talking to the creditor directly.
Consumer proposal lowers the amount owed and decreases interest to 0% (in Canada anyway).
The amount you owe isn't really worth taking a hit on your credit though by doing something as drastic as a consumer proposal unless you're really struggling to pay it down.
I was at ~38k in credit cards with an average of 19% interest and the consumer proposal cut it to ~21k with 0% interest. I'm paying 350$/mth now as opposed to having paid 800-1000$/mth before the proposal and that amount was paying it down very slowly between the two cards and another debt I had then.
It's immensely improved my quality of life. More wine, less interest.
It's also allowed me to save decent amounts of money whilst paying my debts off. Something I wasn't able to do before because I could not make returns larger than the interest I was paying so it didn't make financial/mathematical sense.
I'm now, just 7 months later well on my way to my semi-retirement plan in ten years.
Mind you, I now have a damaged credit report and credit score. Which I don't care about as I don't need credit now or in the foreseeable future. I have a home, I have a company vehicle, I'm not planning on buying property on debt. Also, the proposal is only listed on my report for 1 year after discharge, which can be a maximum of five years in Canada. So, at most 6 years. I can also apply for credit during it and have my credit utility accounts still building up my credit score as I'm paying all my bills.
Not sure if something like this is available where you are but it may be worth looking into if you're not able to keep up with your payments.
