I would jump all over this option if I was in his shoes. That said no matter what if he does not curb spending over and above what he earns then the problem will just be delayed a bit. He should sell the car, pay off the debt, and invest the rest even if just CD’s or whatever. Not new Livescopt, Ghost Trolling Motor, Talons…etc but invest.

Had that problem back in the late 80's. Was in the military, didn't really own anything, but racked up a huge credit card debt. Couldn't seem to catch my breath on it. Even went a few months of doing the payment shuffle when I would used debit checks from one credit card to make payments on the other credit cards. Got married during that time-frame, helped a bit with my wife working part-time to chip in on food and rent. Then one day the military made a pay mistake. We moved from on-base at one base to on-base at our next base and they started paying us a housing allowance as if we lived off base in Germany. Every month I would go in and tell them, took them 6 months to stop. I kept the extra money in the bank so when they corrected it, and asked for the money back, it would be there. When they finally fixed it, they said that due to the size, they would take it out of my check for the next 12 month. It was basically an interest free 12 month loan. It wasn't enough to pay off all the credit card debt, but it was a big chunk of it. But it taught me how to keep money in the bank, not spend what I didn't have, and got me on the path to paying off the debt.

If I were in your boat. Having Home Equity that is well above the Credit Card debt, I would take out a home equity loan to pay off the credit car. Then get rid of all but one card. Reduce the credit limit to only what you can afford to pay off each month going forward. Only use it for needed items and pay it off in full each month. Never leave a balance on it. That was the tough part for me. But I got there. My debt problem was 35+ years ago. Today I live debt free. Have a nice home on land in the country. Retired and don't have to worry about money. Mainly because I went through the struggles that I did. Good luck.

You guys can kick around all the ideas, sell stuff, borrow money whatever... the fact is 40k is not enough to live in this world. Everything will be a disaster when it happens and set him back. Car needs new tires, transmission went out, ac at house went out etc. Any unexpected bill will put him upside down again and start the cycle. I posted a year or 2 ago that 100k is nothing now and if you can't make 100k you are gonna be in trouble. You are really in trouble at 100k but just don't notice it as much. The key in thus world is making enough money to keep up and hopefully one day have enough to buy what money really represents, which is freedom. Yee Yee you can take all the advice you want but what I just told you is a hard truthful fact.

We pay everything with CC and pay off every month also. Get cash back every year and use for vacation. Tried talking some of my younger co-workers into doing the same thing and all of them said they weren`t disciplined enough to pay it off every month. I said I couldn`t help them then.

In 2015 I made over $300k and had been listening to Dave Ramsey for years. I decided to follow his advice and paid off everything except house. $45k in wife's student loans, both cars, kids college funds, and CCs. It sucked to see all that money go away, but ever since then personal finances have been a breeze. Suck it up, go to work, pay it off and never go back.

As others said follow Dave Ramsey. His plan got me to get out of debt ~30K and has changed our lives for the better and forever. We had to sacrifice a lot to get where we are today and it was not easy but it was well worth the pain.

I've called them and gotten 0% interest for 1 year. Basically told them I wouldn't be able to pay the bill without some relief, Worked like he77 and got it paid off before they raised it back. and they did. I did debt consolidation twice. Then I learned instant gratification leads to future regret.


It's called Discover, cause you discover you cant pay the bill.

Yee Yee if you want his book DM me and I will send you the copy of Ramsey's book for free.

Sorry you have reached this situation. Been there Years ago. It's not going to be easy but you must find a way to pay well over the minimum payments going forward. Save some money every Month, could be 5 bucks but at least it's a saving account working. The new mind set should be needs over wants. Wants can happen once you're debt free and have money to pay up front. Probably sounds impossible but once you get started you'll find a way.

Photos of vette?

Agree

BOFA rewards card here and pay it off every month. Everything goes on it and I average about $45/month in rewards. I dont spend near what RayBob does but since i am Platinum and put rewards straight to my checking i get an extra 75%. Works out to over 5% on gas. I did the 401k loan thing once. Check came in the mail. Little girl next door found it in her front yard. Thanks USPS.

I’m no math doctor but I’ll throw out a wild guess. Maybe buying something with a CC that cost $1000 or more? Scenario 2 would be maybe buying multiple items that collectively cost $1000 or more?

which 1 did you do?

I have done both

I divorced my credit card debt about 25 years ago.