How can I get out of debt faster?

Question

I just graduated college and Im in major debt! I owe my school, sallie mae, and crdit card. I have a full time job but can't seem to save money or put a dent in my debt. The numbers break down like this in a month I make $1,000. I owe $2,000 to my credit card and my student loans total $19,000. I don't know if I'll ever get out of this debt because I nedver owed so many people this. can anyone give me tips on letting go of all this debt.

Answer 1

Are you able to make more money at another job?  I'd imagine with a college degree you should be able to make more than $1000 a month.   Just worry about maintaining the ability to pay until you can increase your income, which I suggest you do as soon as possible.  That doesn't even seem like you are making much over minimum wage.  Good luck.

Answer 2

Good on you for making an effort. You have a full time job that is making you too little. If your a college grad get a better job and put that degree to good use...a thousand bucks won't cut it.

Secondly you need to make arrangements on your student loan...do NOT let it default....you'll be sooooo sorry.

Just get your credit card current, if you can't pay off the balance..this will help lower your debt to income ratio and overall interest payable.

Your student loans are kinda hefty so see if you can get a PLC or a consolidation. If they don't offer better rates than what you currently have just keep the student loans and be sure to pay on them on time until better rates become available to you.

In the mean time also work on getting a better job and/or a second one temporarily to pay down your debt(s)

Answer 3

1. Figure out how much of your salary you can actually put towards debt. This might mean cutting back on a lot of stuff, i.e., Starbucks, eating lunch out, etc. That money *has* to be allotted towards debt payment; no "borrowing" from it to go see a movie, get a new outfit, etc. You need to have a constant amount opf "debt money" each month is you want to get rid of your debt. As your income increases, increase your "debt money".  Keep doing this until your debys are paid off.

2. Out of that lump sum of "debt money", allot the minimum payments to each of your debts except the smallest one. Put all the remaining money (after making your minimums) on that smallest debt.

3. Continue to do this until the smallest debt is completely paid off. *Then* allocate the money you had previously spent on the smallest debt to your *next* smallest debt. Continue to do this until all of your debts are paid off.

4. A lot of people will tell you to pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first, but honestly, you'll never make any headway that way. This way works best for fastest debt pay-off. Also, once you've established a pattern of consistantly making your payments on time (at about 6 months or so), you can always go back to your card issuers and request a better interest rate. In today's economy, a *lot* of lenders are doing that, rather than risk having to eventually listing the debt as a write-off.

Do *not* use any of your credit cards until everything is paid off; you'll only be perpetuating the debt!

Here's some free software that'll let you figure out just how long it will take to pay everything off. It *really* helps.

http://www.download.com/Debt-Reduction-C...

This isn't an instant solution, but I can't tell you how good it feels to see your debts dwindle down to, finally, nothing, It worked for me!

Good luck!