Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

What should I do?

I am not in any dire financial distress but i will be soon if i don't do something to clean up my finances. I just bought a car for about 5,000 with a 128 dollar monthly payment and a high interest rate. The issue is that the interest rate is ridiculously high. i also have a lot of credit card bills that i need to pay. nothing serious but it could be very soon. my monthly expenses are stretched thin. a friend of mine reccomended that i get a personal loan with a lower intrest rate than my car- pay off the car and use the rest of the loan to pay credit card bills etc. i'd like to do this however bank of america just turned me down for a loan (my credit is not horrible but it's not shiny clean either). So what should i do? should i stick with the personal loan and if so where is the best place for one of those? Any other ideas?

Update:

ha? sell my car and walk 20 miles to work? soooorry. no.

3 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Take this for what it's worth, but I don't think another loan is going to be the solution. You know yourself best, but at least be aware that in general when people do "debt consolidation" type borrowing like what you're considering, they very often end up with all the original debt *plus* the new debt. That's because the new loan eases the pain temporarily and gives you a false sense of security--when what you really need is a hard look at your income and spending. Your mileage may vary.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Put yourself on a detailed written budget.

    Every single dollar needs to be allocated on paper before you collect the paycheck.

    That way, you won't be tempted to overspend.

    Nobody gets a dime until the esseitnals are paid:

    Food, shelter, clothing, transportation, utilites.

    And by "essentials", I mean beans & rice or ramen noodles.

    Not steak & lobster, and a baloney sandwich is a luxury.

    Trust me, you can cut your food budget down to $11/week, if you REALLY want to get serious on paying down these cards.

    Then squeeze out as much cash as you can, until you get $1000 cash saved. That's your emergency fund, to be used instead of credit cards.

    And another thing, sell the car.

  • Tim
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    You might be stuck with what you have. Your credit score, debt and income level may not qualify for anything better.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.