Quote:
Originally Posted by Plan9
As an aside, there is nothing wrong with floating everything on your credit card if you actually have the cash available to pay for it 100% of the time. This is how I've been living for the last 5+ years. My credit rating is fantastic, I've never paid a dime to any credit card company service or through interest, and I get cash back rewards. The credit card company is actually giving me money for my activity. Overall, I'm using them instead of them using me.
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My philosophy has been to never use a credit card for credit purposes. Pretend it's a debit card and it'll serve you well.
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This is a good strategy if you're organized enough to do so. Mags and I have one credit card between us, and most of our retail-type purchases are made on it. Same deal -- we don't spend money we don't have, so we don't pay interest. In selecting the card we chose the one with a higher APR and no annual fee because we knew that unless we encountered a dire financial emergency there'd be no reason for us to pay interest.
Back to the OP.
This is not something you need to get in a panic about, and you don't need credit counseling as long as you're making the payments on time. What you do need is a plan.
Sit down and look at your budget (you do have a budget, right?) for any additional expenses. Find the stuff that's non-essential. If you're a smoker, now's a good time to quit. If you go out with the lads every Saturday, cut that down to once a month. Find the wiggle room and move some of that money over to the card.
If you have no wiggle room, you might have to consider alternative solutions. A bank loan will typically carry a lower APR, and if you make your payments on time you will pay it off over the term of the loan. Alternatively, you can ask your parents if they can float you some money until you're done college. Even if it isn't $6000, if you pay down part of the balance and then continue to make your $60 per month payment, you'll start seeing the balance decrease.
If none of the above are options for you, you might just have to resign yourself to maintaining the debt until college is over and you have more disposable income.
No matter what you do, you're going to have to make some sacrifices. Such is the nature of life. Let This Be A Lesson To You.