1. Talk to a loan officer and see about getting a loan to pay off your credit card debt. I did this recently with a few high interest things I had. As long as it’s a loan through a bank, it should not hurt your credit (I asked before I did it).

DO NOT go through a debt consolidation company. Most of these will hurt your credit and most will result in your accounts being closed.

2. I always recommend creating a budget and following it. If you don’t want to get the loan, I would recommend, paying your minimum balance on all your cards, but your lowest one and concentrate on it. Once that’s paid off, take that money and add it to the second lowest and so forth.

First, good for you for paying your own bills and paying for school! You’ve learned many important lessons in self-sufficiency that will last a lifetime.

The trade off you’re up against is this: you can obtain a lower interest rate at the cost of some points on your FICO credit score. But if you open no new lines of credit, you keep your credit score along with high interest rates.

Example: a 0% interest balance transfer, where the 0% expires in 3 to 12 months, depending on your credit score. You can apply for it, but that will cost you about 5 points for the hard inquiry of your credit history. The new company gives you a credit limit, and you must make a transfer that’s no more than 30% of that credit limit, else you lose “credit utilization” points (30% of your FICO score) for having a balance that’s too close to maxing out the credit limit.

Also, if the transfer is an even higher percentage of the limit, above 50%, you risk tripping the dreaded Universal Default clause of ANY creditor that has such a clause and looks at your credit report. You’ll send the interest rate soaring. Read your Terms and Conditions (i.e., the fine print) of every revolving credit account to search for a Universal Default clause.

I don’t recommend a debt management program.

Best advice: Given that you already pay at least the minimum on time, you’ll improve your score the most by dropping the balances that are closest percentage-wise to the credit limit. If 2 or more accounts have the same percentage of utilization of the credit limit, pay off the one with the higher interest rate. As your score goes up, you’ll have more options at lower interest rates. If you pay a balance down to 0, do NOT close the account. That open 0 balance can affect (to your benefit) up to 45% of your credit score.

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you can make your minimum payments every month.

I would suggest you to join a debt settlement company. Check this company

They will negotiate with your creditors on your behalf and bring down your principal debt amount by around 30% to 70% depending on your credit companies and they can knock off the debt with LOW monthly payments within 36 months.

They have helped me out with the same unsecured debt situation.

Good Luck

I found this information at under the posting “How can I lower my credit card debt.

The main and most important point I found is to attack the balance with the highest APR.
“People are tempted to pay off low-balance bills first and eliminating a bill or two. Instead you should start by paying the minimum payments on the cards with the lowest interest rates. On highest interest rate card, pay all the rest of your allotted money. Keep doing that until you have paid off the card with the highest interest rate, Then, move the next highest interest rate card into that position and keep paying down the highest rate cards first.”

Also take a hard look at your finances and determine how much you can realistically afford to pay each month. When people track their spending every day for a month they get a firm handle on where their money is actually going. This will usually bring a 20 percent saving because people will start to cut back.

In the blog there is some more advice but the main points are

* Gain control of the urge to splurge

* Leave your credit card at home.

* Start making a financial plan today.

* Define the amount to allocate to credit card payments.

* If you have a saving account use the money to pay off debt.

* Consider a debt consolidation loan.

* Call Consumer Credit Counseling Services

* As the very last resort, use a debt workout/debt reduction firm