Please help. College student needs financial advice.

Question

I have made very bad financial decisions in my past and now seeing the consequences. I have about $3,000 in debt that is adding up and when I was unemployed it affected my credit greatly. Also, my grandmother told me I could make minimum payments on credit cards I used up to the limits. Now, since I was unemployed they exceeded their limits. I have one more year left in school and I wanted to sit out this semester and pay those credit cards off and see about having them taken off my credit report because its a big hassle worrying about them and trying to study. My major is Finance, and this has already negatively impacted me. So, me and my grandmother have a disagreement. I want to pay them off ASAP so I could have the year to at least have my score improved. She wants me to finish school and worry about the cards later! I really don't need this situation affecting my job search in a Financial field later on. Please help!

most of my accounts have been closed even though they are paid off, and its sitting on my credit report. I know I can ask creditors to put an explanation by these if they cannot be deleted.

Answer 1

This is a very specialized question and you're probably best off asking someone who knows about financial hiring practices - like a professor, maybe, or someone working in the field. Ordinarily, I'd say the important thing is to finish school - I've seen too many people take a semester off right at the end, only to not finish college for years and years (it's like a psychological thing -fear of finishing).

While $3,000 must seem like a lot of money in your situation, in financial terms it's really not that awful, and the fact that you're concerned about it shows good maturity on your part. I would have to agree with your grandmother - finishing college is really important, and you can always work after college. Maybe work abroad for a year, then come to your own nation's job market with exciting experience AND good credit.

Answer 2

hey man,

sorry to hear about your situation..i doubt ur gonna get any answers here. i suggest you speak to a colleague, teacher, or someone else (not ur grandmom)

i'd advise you on what to do, but i don't wanna give you incorrect info. and lead you towards the wrong direction..good luck anyway!

(p.s - im studying accounting n finance as well starting september)

Answer 3

Listen to Grandma. Finish school.

You're not planning to buy a house this week or next, are you? Then the credit cards can wait. Yeah, it was a dumb thing for you to do, but once you get out of school and have that degree you'll be in a much better position to pay them off quicker. If you take some time off school now, first of all, it's not going to look so good on your resume that you took five years to do a four-year degree, and second of all, there's a good chance that you might not get back. Yes, I *know* you're planning to. But a lot of people who take a semester or a year off wind up not getting back to school for many years. You don't want that to happen to you.

Stay in school, listen to Grandma, STOP USING CREDIT CARDS, and once you graduate, you'll be able to clear up the credit bills easily.

Answer 4

www.cccs.org this is a great program that should allow you to both pay off debt and still attend school making both you and gma very happy :)