Debt Problems

How can I consolidate my past debts only?

I have bad credit due to poor past choices, my basic issue is that I want all my past debts taken care of as soon and as cheap as possible; without having to get my recent bills involved. Some companies want to regulate or buget if you may all the ways you spend you money, and I don't want that. Just want to have my previous debts straightened out. Also, would you know of any other ways to raise your credit score? Thank you

Public Comments

1. Snowball technique: 1. Look at all old debts. Rank them from easiest to hardest to pay off based on total owed, minimum payment due, and (tiebreaker) highest interest rates. 2. While making minimum payments to all other debts, pay this one, PLUS as much extra as you can swing- AT LEAST an extra 10%, but the more the better! 3. As soon as this one is paid off, apply all of the payments you WERE making on it to the next debt in line, WHILE still paying the amount on it you were. By this time, you should be paying about twice the minimum so this one will go faster. 4. Repeat for each other debt- the monthly payment will be getting bigger and bigger, paying it off faster and faster. 5. Throw whatever 'windfalls' you can at this also- tax returns, bonuses, etc. They say the snowball will get you debt free in the quickest amount of time- even faster than consolidation loans, etc. One nice thing about it is that YOU are in control of it. If you HAVE to hold back some of the extra money once, no big deal. PS- this is the technique that a lot of 'get out of debt quick, send money for info' schemes tell you to do.
2. Well I suggest you consolidate by getting a new credit card and doing a balance transfer. They usually give you a nice 3.9 or lower rate. If your credit is bad and it needs to be improved before youre going to get a new credit card then use the ones you have to "shift" the bucks around. If you have $1000 open on one credit card and you have to pay a fee to move it then do it. gets it consolidated. if you cannot get all money onto one card, then get as much as you can then try to pay down that card to zero. Remember, if you shift money from one card to another it saves you a payment on the card you're making a payment to using a balance transfer check. So if you have a few little cards with small balances, transfer them one at a time to the one card. every time you transfer, you pay off a card, and make a payment to another....not using YOUR money. Also, to raise you fico score....that last sentence will do it. the fico score is raised by a few key ways: Are your cards maxxed out? if so that keeps your score low. Get a new credit card which wont have a balance. this makes your available credit vs balance ratio much better. Are your payments on time? if not dispute all negs on yoru credit report. the law states that when you dispute anything the credit bureaus must validate the debt and if they cant with in a set amt of time they MUST remove the neg from your credit bureau. Do you use your cards? If you have cards but dont use them youre not doing anything to improve your score. Credit is built by using it wisely.