#how to pay off debt

[bitchesgetriches]

Hi Bitches! First, thank you for all of the help and advice you guys offer 💜 I had a question for you - I currently have some credit card debt, and I pay the minimum payments every month, but I’m trying to figure out a method to pay it down faster with my limited funds. Currently, I have 10% of my paychecks going into savings automatically. Do you think it’s wise to pause that for the moment and put that 10% towards credit card payments? This would mean about an extra $250-$300 towards a card per month, but my savings is just over $1k at the moment, so I’m hesitant. Anyway, just wanted to get your thoughts! Thank you again!!

Honey, we are THRILLED that you are thinking so logically about this. You're doing us proud and we know you're going to be fine.

So the first thing to decide is how big of an emergency fund you need to be safe. Here's our guide for that:

You Must Be This Big to Be an Emergency Fund 

Once your savings reaches your emergency fund goal number, then you should treat your debt like an emergency. That means putting what you WERE saving toward the debt instead. The ONLY way to successfully pay down debt without paying out the ass in interest is to pay more than the minimum. Here's more advice for how that works:

How To Pay off Credit Card Debt: From the Snowball to the Avalanche Method

Season 4, Episode 3: “My credit card debt is slowly crushing me. Is there any escape from this horrible cycle?” 

{ MASTERPOST } Everything You Need to Know about How to Pay off Debt

You got this, kiddo!

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[1smolbean]

the whole “a submarine that costs 250k per ticket and is made up of cobbled-together parts that you can only open from the outside because it is secured by 17 deadbolts went missing while carrying several very rich people to tour the wreckage of the titanic, a ship that over 1500 (mostly working class) people died on, a ship whose wreckage should not become a tourist attraction because people fucking died there” situation that’s going on right now is just. so much in a way that i can’t really describe

[iampikachuhearmeroar]

hell. hell. hell.

[a-queer-seminarian]

kinda fascinating to be in a situation where I've had to call / online chat with insurance representatives during the whole UH CEO fallout. I have BCBS and maaaybe they're always this helpful but idk, they just seem so responsive and taking extra steps to help me out and it turns out the issue I'm having isn't even on their side, it's the dentist's! also their online chat is a real person??? I don't have to work around the AI before it finally transfers me??? Incredible

anyway turning this post into a psa to 1) ALWAYS check that your medical bills match what your insurance's Explanation of Benefits (EOB) reads (you do this by checking what amount your insurance says "patient owes" in the EOB and if your bill doesn't match that, your provider is overcharging you) and 2) DO NOT Get Your Dental Care At Great Expressions Holy Shit I'm Pissed

My wife and I went to the dentist in fall 2022 for the first time since the pandemic started, and the bills we both received were so high i've never gone again since then, because i don't wanna spend 500 bucks on a basic cleaning + X-rays. But my wife has continued to go twice a year cuz her teeth suck so the frequent check-up matters more for her.

And lordy, we've been naive lol. We've heard dental is expensive so we've just been resigned to the high costs; we also both have terrible executive functioning around all things financial and are woefully under-educated about how bills and insurance work — but the latest bill we got was just too damn much and I finally mustered up the spoons to figure shit out.

Aaaand it turns out that, while the dentist charged nearly one thousand dollars for her three fillings, the EOB shows we only owe $128. Buck. Wild.

So I've gone through every charge we've gotten over the years and they are all hundreds of dollars higher than the EOB. Great Expressions has been taking advantage of our ignorance and naivety to rob us for two fricking years.

If I understand what one insurance rep told me, since Great Expressions has a contract with BCBS they're supposed to charge us an in-network rate, which is far cheaper than out-of-network rates. Basically they send their proposed bill to our insurance, who send back a fraction of the money proposed as decided in the contract between them; insurance also tells the dentist the cost the dentist can then charge us.

But Great Expressions is pocketing the insurance money and then charging us the remainder of their original proposed cost instead of the contracted rate. So they're clearly aware that we are in-network, but still charging us like we're out-of-network. WTF

Anyway thank you BCBS reps who helped me figure all this out, incredible to actually have some non-AI customer service in this age lol. And everyone else please wish me luck as I make a chart of each dental bill we've gotten since 2022 versus what the EOB states — and then take it to the dental clinic in person because they are Not Helpful over the phone lemme tell you

The plan is to try to talk it out with them myself, and if I can't get them to listen to me I'm going to call an BCBS insurance rep while in the clinic with them so they can talk it over lmao. And if that doesn't get me the past years' charges back...idk if i can consult a lawyer or whatever but I'm gonna get this damn money back.

also we're going to get a new damn dentist. obviously

[witchzvamp]

i am crying after finishing the first ep jesus this series gonna be a hit for real

[pumpumdemsugah]

2 more payments until I don't have credit card debt 🤼🏾‍♀️🥳

God bless 19 months long zero interest balance transfer credit card for making this possible. My interest payments have been holding me back for years. If I knew about this, I could have cleared this 5 years ago

[cultivating-wildflowers]

.

[golden-lovers]

MIYAWAKI SAKURA VS MATSUI JURINA - August 29th, 2017

[fuckinmemesman]

alright i'm gonna end it all, everyone

[francisforever2014]

most of the time i feel like it really just Is Not That Serious and really truly believe that everything just works out and sometimes i’ll be hit by a fear of the future so debilitating i actually wanna throw up

[bitchesgetriches]

Debt consolidation.

Hey bitches, I have heard of debt consolidation and I don't know if it's beneficial or a scam. But I have over 20k in credit card debt and I just got a few K in medical debt and I'm kinda freaking out. My interest on my credit cards is just making it harder to pay off.

Any advice would be awesome.

Hi sweet pea! We wrote this specifically about consolidating student loan debt, but the advice is the same for credit cards:

When (And How) To Try Refinancing or Consolidating Student Loans 

It is NOT a scam, so long as you work with a reputable financial institution. Also, keep in mind you might have other options for that medical debt, which we write about here:

How to Pay Hospital Bills When You’re Flat Broke 

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[zetobii]

… I took my old position back at work. I’m a keyholder again 🫥

[goldengodcannibal]

Man, I hate living in debt.

[justanechoflower]

You are teleported near the nice cream guy.

APOLOGIZE

*A while later, Flowey gets his uniform, a mini cooler, and has been given a basic rundown of his responsibilities...*

15/25 - Soul

[tearfest]

sorry to log on n rant but i need to rant

[loversarcanas]

i h8 inst/acar/t