I put myself in a lot of debt since my third year in college. At first I had one credit card with a $500 limit, now $700. I was working part time and managed to keep it down. At the time I had a credit score in the low 700s. My last year in school, I got approved for a $2000 card that got bumped up to $2500 shortly after. Through a series of dumb mistakes, including using money from a scholarship to buy a car after the school accidently sent the money to my checking account, I ended up with a $5500 loan. I was originally going to graduate with no student loans since I had a "last dollar" scholarship. They wanted the money I used back so I had to get a loan. I could have had half of the loan I took, but I used the rest for other expenses. I ended up maxing out both my credit cards because of repairs to my car, bad spending habits, and not being paid back for money I lent to family.
After graduating, I bought a new car for 27K although the car is only worth 20k (warranties) and the payments are a quarter of my monthly income. Earlier this year, I got another credit card that currently has a $500 limit on it. I managed to keep that one down, mostly, and stopped using the others to pay them off. I also have an Old Navy credit card that went from a $500 limit to a $3500 limit. I rarely use it so that card is the reason my utilization went from 90% to 40%. I also cosigned two loans for my sister totalling around $9000 (instant regret).
At this point, my credit card debt is about $2500 out of my $7200 limit. My student loan debt is around $5100 and I make extra payments to pay it off way faster than expected. My car has just under $24000 left on it. I've made significant improvements since graduating and I've tried to keep my spending habits in check despite being a major impulse buyer. I estimate that I will be free of this debt by 2023 at the rate that I am going. However, my savings is non-existent. I've managed to save money multiple times but when it gets significant I usually put it on my credit cards (or do something dumb). With my salary and expenses, I could save at least $2000 a year. But if I use it on my debt, I can be debt free much earlier than 2023.
I should also note that my credit score dropped to the mid 500s before I graduated and is now almost 680.
What are the suggestions for my situation? Should I continue trying to save money or just use my extra money to pay off my debt faster? I want to try to buy a house before I'm 30 (currently 22) so I'm not sure what to do.
Submitted September 10, 2018 at 09:36AM by cherry14ever https://ift.tt/2CAUSPv
