I really need advice about my credit cards...?

I need to consolidate so bad I can taste it. I have 3 credit cards.

Citi balance: $4,600

GNCU balance: $2,900

GNCU balance: $2,775

Total: $10,275

How can I get an unsecured consolidation loan for that amount? Or maybe even two for that amount? I'm in the mortgage business and things are so slow. I make these payments sporadically every month and it's hard when I only get paid one time a month. (And it's not a lot) What do you suggest?

I really need advice about my credit cards...?

A loan won't solve your problem...it will make your payments smaller, but it will stretch out the payments over a longer period so it will cost you more in the long run. More money doesn't solve financial problems, a solid plan does. Here's a cut and paste from an article that I wrote in the fall about how to get rid of debt and become financially free in 5 steps. Hoep this helps...

Here鈥檚 a bit of a 鈥渄ebt strategy鈥?that seems to really work. It will shave tons of time off your debt repayment and will get you out of debt faster and will also create a great habit for savings and building up assets.

Let鈥檚 use this as our example of someone鈥檚 debts:

VISA: $2000 鈥?Minimum monthly payment $50

Master card: $5000 鈥?Minimum monthly payment $125

Loan: $15,000 鈥?Monthly Payment $400

Mortgage: $50,000 鈥?Monthly payment $400

Step 1: Check you鈥檙e your debts for ways to shave costs.

One area people often overlook on their debts is the insurance they have on them. Instead of having separate insurance on all your debts, take a look at an individual insurance policy covering all of them in one. You鈥檒l likely save a good chunk of money each month on that alone. Furthermore, sometimes the insurance you are paying for is worked into the loan amount, so you are paying interest on the insurance payments as well. There are many different reasons for changing from creditor insurance to personal insurance but that鈥檚 a whole other story. See if there are any other options in your debts that you are paying for that you don鈥檛 need as well.

Step 2: Analyze your budget and free up a little extra money.

That鈥檚 right, the dreaded word 鈥渂udget鈥? You don鈥檛 need to analyze every penny, just find some ways to maybe free up an extra $50 or $100 a month. Chances are if you are reading this your debt situation is enough of a concern that making a few simple changes like going out for beer one night less a month or brown bagging lunch 2 or 3 of 5 days a week instead of eating out every day, or making your own coffee at home instead of those $4 latte鈥檚 every morning, is something to seriously consider. The more you can free up the better, but don鈥檛 think you have to completely change your lifestyle to do it.

Step 3: The game plan鈥?

Let鈥檚 say you were able to free up $100 a month. What the game plan is, is to get rid of the smallest debt first and work your way up to the biggest one. Instead of a shot gun approach of just fire in a bunch of direction, we are going to focus our aim at one thing at a time, so it鈥檚 a little more manageable. Using the example situation above, here鈥檚 what it will look like:

A) Take that extra $100 and apply it on top of your VISA payment each month (now you are paying $150 a month to the VISA instead of $50). Continue making minimum payments on the other debts, until the VISA is paid off.

B) When VISA is paid off, you are now used to making those $150 payments anyways, so take the $150 you were paying on the VISA and add that to the minimum payment you were making on the master card ($150+$125 = new payment $275/month). You鈥檙e now making more than double the payments, it鈥檚 pretty easy to see that this will get paid off much sooner.

C) When the MC is paid off, take that $275 and add it to your loan payment (new loan payment = $675/month). Sounds like paying $675 a month is a lot, but remember, you鈥檝e now been used to paying these payments for several months now鈥t鈥檚 just going to one spot now, right? Keep paying $675 on your loan until it鈥檚 gone and continue making your minimum on the mortgage.

D) Now that the loan is paid off, take that $675 a month and apply that to your mortgage payment. Many mortgages have limits to how much you can increase your payments by, so it is important to plan things out. EI: When your mortgage renews and you know you will be making massively high mortgage payments (adding the $675 to $350 is almost tripling your payment, most banks only allow up to double), renew it to an open mortgage so you can make the payments as high as you can. Now that you are making $1025 payments each month, you will have the mortgage paid off in less than 5 years instead of 20, plus you will save roughly $40,000 in interest. IF you can鈥檛 think what you would do with an extra $40,000 in your pocket instead of the banks, feel free to give it to me. :D

Step 4: Getting ahead鈥?br>

Congratulations, you are now completely debt free and likely decades sooner than you ever thought you would be! Now is the best opportunity to get ahead. You now have been used to paying $1025 a month (in this situation) towards your debts for probably about 5-6 years. You鈥檙e used to that expense, why not keep paying it鈥?to yourself! Start building in investment portfolio or savings plan of some sort. Remember when you were in debt and you couldn鈥檛 even fathom the thought of having $100 free each month to save? Now you have $1000 a month! That鈥檚 $12,000 a year! Imagine in 2 years, you could buy that new car, and you don鈥檛 even have to finance it this time! You can pull a Jim Carey from the movie The Mask and say 鈥淒o you accept CASH!?!鈥?CHA-CHING! And drop 25 grand on the table! It鈥檚 really up to you what to do with your money. You鈥檝e worked hard to get out of debt so you deserve to treat yourself, but if you are used to putting that $1000 a month towards something why not really treat yourself with retiring 10 years sooner than you thought was even possible? If you are 30 years old and putting away $1000 a month to a retirement plan, retiring at age 50 is very attainable!

Step 5: Financial Freedom!

Enjoy life! You鈥檝e gone from being $72,000 in debt to being debt free with an extra $1000 a month going towards savings and planning on retiring at age 50, in less than 5 years! Many people spend their entire lives in debt, but you鈥檝e tackled it now in a couple years! You now have the choice to do what you want financially and not worry about it!

I really need advice about my credit cards...?

Go to a bank and ask for it. What are the interest rates (APR) on each of your cards? Pay the one with the highest APR first. Then the next highest APR. Then the lowest APR.

I really need advice about my credit cards...?

You can usually do a balance transfer onto a new credit card, and most cards will have a 0% intro rate or low fixed rate. But make sure that the interest rate you're getting is significantly lower than what you're paying now.

Most loan options have a refinance fee of about 3%. A lot of times, when you add that in, you are paying higher interest overall. Don't consolidate unless it will save you money.

I really need advice about my credit cards...?

Credit cards have become a necessity in society nowadays, you can't go anywhere without having to use one. That's why it's imperative to maintain a good%26lt;!--credit rating and use your credit card smart. Lots of credit card related question been asked here and yours just another one. Check it out this website, hope it helps.

http://bestcreditcards.freehostia.com/

After all, without a credit card, it's harder to live, and especially hard to shop online. Lots of credit card related questions are often being asked and yours is just another one. Credit cards are great to use as long as you control them--%26gt;They are useful, helpful, and make buying things a whole lot easier. But it's important to remember that people go into thousands of dollars of debt because of them, and the same thing could happen to you