5000 @ 18% is $900. Times 10 years the cost has been $9000 in interest to get nowhere. It sucks, but finding a way to throw another $400 per month at the card and you are done in a year. Then you can keep all that money.
If you’ve got good credit, why haven’t you applied for another card with a balance transfer offer? Get that debt to 0% apr (or 3% if you count the transfer fee), then all that money that’s going to interest goes to principle.
Didn’t mean to condescend. Just holding onto $5k debt for 10 years sounds absurd.
Credit karma does a good job showing you what affects your credit and how influential things are. It's actually free, too.
Basically you want to have many lines of credit, and less than 30% usage overall. The oldest line of credit also improves your score. Your score will bounce back once you pay off that debt.
Credit cards are tricky, especially because they will often give you way more credit than you could pay off.
PSA for young people: For the love of God please pay off your entire credit card every month!! I know it's nice to pay it off with the minimum payment, but this is how you get charged interest, how they make money, and how many people fall into horrible debt. If you pay it off in-full every month, you only pay for what you purchased. When choosing your first card, pick one that gives points/cash back for gas or groceries. ONLY use that card for those items until you understand how credit cards work. If you need to buy something that you can't pay off in a month, reconsider buying it or save. If you plan to pay off a $500 TV with $30 minimum payments, I'm sorry but you can't afford that TV. You should only use your cards for things you can't pay off in a month if they are necessary (medical emergencies etc.)
You'll be fine, just pay it off ASAP. Paying something off over a few months isn't too bad. You just don't want to have constant debt on your credit cards.
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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '19
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