[USER]

Hello lovely people, I am 25 years old. I own a home (2.7 fixed interest), I have a modest car payment (10% interest), which was bought solely on my own credit and is 60% paid off, and everything I own, minus a laptop, has been paid in cash. I feel like i have done a lot compared to many people my age, so i really would like to avoid derragatory comments).

My current credit card is around 14k in debt with around a 27% interest rate.

My thought was to transfer this debt to a 0% interest rate credit card on balance transfers.

I recently applied for a card and got approved for a 5,000 credit line with 0% interest (including balance transfers) until August of 2026.

Here’s the dilemma. If I transfer part of the 14k balance to the 5,000 credit line, I’ll have two credit card payments. While one will go strictly to principle, I simply can’t afford two credit card payments.

I could possibly ask for a credit line increase on the new credit card? Maybe?

I’m just not sure what to do from here.

I’m feeling a little defeated that I opened a new credit card just to feel like I’ve made it worse. I have phenomenal credit, so I’m upset that I took a credit hit to open this new account.

I also have a baby on the way and will be going on maternity leave soon (I have money set aside to allow me time off unpaid + through short term disability).

I know people talk about snowballing, but the high interest credit card is eating me alive. I need to handle this now. I’ve made efforts to have extra cash to put towards this credit card, but it’s not much.

A second job is not an option for either of us.
We are NOT renting out a room to a stranger. We neither have the space nor are we going to do that with our baby on the way??? That’s a major red flag.

Doordashing/Rover/Instacart is not common in our small town. A lot of those hussles come with insurance liability risks and unnessessary wear and tear to our vehicles.

My current plans: take a hard look at my budget and cut out eating out, following through with packing lunches for work, talking to the credit card company of the high interest card to see if they can work with me, and eventually transferring some of the balance to the new card.

[Serena]

I would get a side hustle while you’re not super pregnant. Nothing is going to get cheaper when the baby is here.

The reason I don’t recommend a heloc is because that is a major investment that you don’t want to touch and end up upside down on. That’s your house.

Talk to the cc company about a rate reduction given your circumstances.

In addition, I bet you could refinance your car loan rate if you have good credit.

[Tina]

If your credit is good, ask for a limit increase on the new card.

You could also transfer the $5,000, make a decent payment and then ask as you’ve shown you are capable of making payments.

[Connie]

Apply for two more cards at 0% for 18 months.. so that would be three cards…. Divide the balance between them. You’ll need to pay $777.00 per month to get it all paid off by the end of 18 months.

That’s $259.00 paid each month on all three cards. IF.. you could get differed interest for 24 months on at least one card.. it would help tremendously… but you absolutely MUST pay off all balances by the differed anniversary date or else all interest that you saved will be back charged and added to the card.

I’d suggest getting a second job in addition to getting differed interest cards.

You can snowball payments on this balance with your income from the second job plus the regular payment you were making from your full time job.

[Kristen]

Find a money market business and consolidate those cards and pay a much more manageable fee! I used Money Market Management.

I tried to look it up for you, but it’s since changed names and idk what they’re now called.

I googled for a bit and couldn’t find it.

Anyway, I had payments upward of $2500 a month. Consolidated with them and my payments were $550.

[Wendy]

I think not eating out, packing lunches, and calling the credit card company are excellent ideas.

Do you have some furniture, collectibles, or other things you could sell and put towards the credit card?

[Steffani]

So, the minimum payment on the0% card is more than the amount you would’ve been paying with the high interest?

[Emma]

Firstly, you are doing great! A few options you have:
1. If you have Equity in your home you might want to look into refinancing your mortgage to bring the credit card debt over to there (whether that is the full 14k or the 9k you can’t move to the new credit card.

You might also want to increase the duration of your mortgage to keep payments lower while you settle in to having a new young family.

2. Speak with the new credit card company to see if they will offer you a balance transfer for the full balance on the credit card.

3. Transfer the 5k onto the new card and pay the minimum monthly amount on that so you can pay as much of the higher interest card as you can manage first.

It’ll take a while to get things back on track but your doing the right thing by trying to manage now before things do get sticky.

Good luck with this and with your new baby.

[Sarah]

You could always do a home equity line of credit on your home, if you had the equity.

It would be a lower rate than your credit card and you can deduct the interest off of your taxes.

[Mary]

Call the high interest Cc and ask if you can get a rate reduction. Can’t hurt to ask. But be careful…they may have a time limit like 6 months.

Then Jack the rate up to 29%. on the balance.

[Karyn]

I feel for you. I’m still digging my way out. Transfer to the 0% how much you KNOW you can pay off before you start getting charged interest on the new card.

It doesn’t do you any good to pay the 3-5% transfer fee, and then in a year owe high interest to a different company.

If you can only pay off $1000 at 0% by 08/26, then only do that much.

But that WILL help you start chipping away at the principle that you owe.

[Jeanie]

I buy when meat prices are cheap ak pork. I buy 20 to 40 lbs.Cube it uptake roasts and grind fatty parts as ground pork.

I use my crockpot a lot and small oven.

Can make every thing from pulled pork sweet sour to Barbecue the list goes on.

Saves a lot money or chicken

[Noelle]

I just wanted say congratulations and good luck!
I don’t have much advice, but I 100% understand not renting out space, or getting a second job.

Like you said, you’re pregnant, why on earth would you allow a stranger in your home? Some ideas are just too crazy…

I also personally suffer enough from 1 job, so while pregnant, the stress and exhaustion would be too much for me.

I would personally start by going into storm mode, and trying to reduce expenses.

Cancel subscriptions, unplug your tv and appliances when not in use, take shorter, colder showers, use towels and outer garments more than once, see if you can get by on reduced plans on your phone and internet, etc.

Stuff like that can add up.

[Fav]

Take a hard look at your expenses and cut to bare bones. Sell stuff if you can. Can you rent a room out?

Luckily, babies don’t really start costing a lot until later.

See if cc companies will reduce the interest and throw money at it until it goes away

[Joan]

First things first- stop using the credit card! If you transfer $5000 to the new card, you need to plan to pay that amount off before the 0% ends. 5000/16 months = ~$315/ month.

The reduction in the balance to $9g instead of $14 g should lower the minimum payment on that card, but probably not $300 less.

Are you only paying the minimum now, or are you trying to lower the balance?

[Carol]

Do not borrow from your home equity. No heloc. Keep your home interest rate as it is, you will never see that offered again. Transfer the $5k to new card.

Then call your current credit card company and ask for lower interest rate or transfer to a 0 balance card.

Do not shut down any credit card, your credit rating will take a big hit.

Cut out all eating out expenses and pack lunches.

Is there anything you can offer as services to your neighbors for extra cash?

[Kym]

When you transfer debt to the new card that payment will go down. Call and ask what the payment will be if it is only 9000 instead of 14,000.

Then call the new card and ask what the payment will be for 5000. It may be less that the one payment you are making now.

Now for what you did not ask. Only pay minimum now and save as much as you can until baby comes.

Don’t buy a lot for baby, get used except for the car seat and ask for hand me downs.

When baby is here and healthy, keep 1000 of the piled up money for emergencies, send the rest to the credit card. Budget and cut your lifestyle to nothing! I mean nothing! Send dad out to make any extra money he can.

Read the book Total Money Makeover from the library, worth your time.

I went from debt to shopping for a house now with no debt at all, even the car was paid for with cash.

Read the book, it is truly worth your time

[Sara]

there are many side hustles you can do at home. When my day job sent me home during Covid, I had about an extra 2 1/2 hours a day to myself without a commute and without my family being home.

I was in the same boat living in the country. I did transcriptions for a little while then got into writing adult books and made a killing when I had a series take off.

It’s not a fast way to make money at all but it was also very much the outlet I needed for my mind.

Not saying it’s for everyone but there are lots of side hustles if you think outside the box

[Julie]

Call and talk to the credit card company. Explain your situation (high balance, high interest, pregnancy), and see what they can do.

I had to do something because of husbands health, and they lowered three cards (same company) down to 5% so I could at least make a dent in the principal.

Good luck.

[Sadie]

I would go talk to a credit union in your area about doing a personal loan with your car as collateral for the loan.

We did this to get out from under some credit card debt and it made it so much easier to get it paid off.

[Courtney]

Do you qualify for WIC? If so, get on that. It can start before baby is born. Then you can cut down on groceries and throw a little extra at debt.

I know your budget is tight, but every little bit can help in this situation, so cut where you can for now knowing it will be temporary to help tackle this credit card.

Maybe see if you can get it down to or close to $5k and then transfer that remaining balance.

[Author]

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