Any one in 6 figures of debt ...

excluding your mortgage?

DH and I have large amount of student debt and business loans (well into 6 figures) and are presently underemployed.

The debt can be overwhelming and I just wonder if anyone has any tips on how to manage.

Re: Any one in 6 figures of debt ...

Sorry, I don't have advice, but I DO want to commend you for looking on ways to work on it. I am tired of people (yes, some I know personally) who get into debt and try to run away.
I give you credit for doing the right thing!

Re: Any one in 6 figures of debt ...

Look at all of the interest rates on each of your loans and put any extra money towards the one with the highest interest rate. Once you have paid that loan off then put the money you put towards that loan to the one with the next highest rate and so on. Pay the monthly premiums on time and electronically without missing a payment to see if you qualify for an on time rate reduction or an electronic payment reduction.

Re: Any one in 6 figures of debt ...

DH and I both went to Law school so we have more in debt than most people pay for their mortgage. We are luck that we have great jobs so we can swing the loan payments and still live.

I just went through mine and I have a very small balance on one that has the highest rate so I am going to pay that one off. Try to pay a little bit extra and put it towards the highest rate ones.

Little by little is how we are getting through them

Re: Any one in 6 figures of debt ...

I don't know what our debt is now, but yes, we started in the 6 figure zone, and that is NOT including my student loans.

DH had a failed business that he had to sell for less than he paid and accrued a ton of credit card debt in the 3 years he owned it.

We struggled month to month before moving - his job transferred him to Toronto and they are covering our cost of living expenses (rent, utilities, and some food) so that helps us save. We are renting out our house in NY.

When we first moved here, DH's bank put him in contact with a debt management company, MMI. He had the interest rates on all of his cards reduced and pays one lump sum each month, which is less that we were paying monthly on the cards before, and he also pays a small fee ($30/month) to the company.

We are paying off my cards quickly using his income.

We should be 90% debt free in 4 years.

I wouldn't worry about your student loans. Those are low interest and considered "good" debt.

The best advice anyone ever gave me was to snowball your debt payments. Pay the minimum payments on each card except for the one with the highest APR/interest rate. Pay that one down as fast as you can. Once it is paid off, take that money and put it towards the card with the next highest rate.

I also cook every night, and DH takes leftovers to work. We save $$ by buying necessities at BJs and we have a Target debit card that gives is 5% back just for using it (the $$ comes out of our bank account and doesn't accrue interest).

Good luck. It's hard but it can be done. Even if we hadn't moved, we would still be using MMI, and we would be saving our money in other ways, such as by cutting out cable and our home phone.