If You Have More Than $10K in Debt, Make These 5 Moves (2024)

FAQs

How to clear 10k of debt? ›

Having any credit card debt can be stressful, but $10,000 in credit card debt is a different level of stress. The average credit card interest rate is over 20%, so interest charges alone will take up a large chunk of your payments. On $10,000 in balances, you could end up paying over $2,000 per year in interest.

1% of the balance plus interest: It would take 29.5 years or 354 months to pay off $10,000 in credit card debt making only minimum payments. You would pay a total of $19,332.21 in interest over that period.

To pay off $9,000 in credit card debt within 36 months, you will need to pay $326 per month, assuming an APR of 18%. You would incur $2,735 in interest charges during that time, but you could avoid much of this extra cost and pay off your debt faster by using a 0% APR balance transfer credit card.

For many people, a debt management plan (DMP) is the best way to reduce credit card debt. DMPs involve a structured plan to pay off your eligible debt, with direction and support from a certified credit counselor. Typically, the accounts you include in a DMP will qualify for waived fees and/or reduced interest rates.

$10,000 with a 20% APR: Your minimum payment would be $266.67 per month and it would take 346 months to pay off $10,000 at 20% interest. You would pay $16,056.59 in interest over that time. $25,000 at 20%: Your minimum payment would be $666.67 per month and it would take 437 months to pay off $25,000 at 20% interest.

What is considered really bad credit card debt? ›

If your total balance is more than 30% of the total credit limit, you may be in too much debt. Some experts consider it best to keep credit utilization between 1% and 10%, while anything between 11% and 30% is typically considered good.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a government-sponsored program for credit card debt relief. In fact, if you receive a solicitation that touts a government program to get you out of debt, you may want to think twice about working with that company.

Typically, a creditor will agree to accept 40% to 50% of the debt you owe, although it could be as much as 80%, depending on whether you're dealing with a debt collector or the original creditor. In either case, your first lump-sum offer should be well below the 40% to 50% range to provide some room for negotiation.

How do I know if I am eligible for debt relief? To be eligible, your annual income must have fallen below $125,000 (for individuals) or $250,000 (for married couples or heads of households). If you received a Pell Grant in college and meet the income threshold, you will be eligible for up to $20,000 in debt relief.

Generally speaking, most mortgage lenders use a 43% DTI ratio as a maximum for borrowers. If you have a DTI ratio higher than 43%, you probably are carrying too much debt because you are less likely to qualify for a mortgage loan.

For example, say you have a credit card account that charges 18% interest, and you have $10,000 in credit card debt. If the minimum payments are equal to interest plus 1% of the balance, it would take 342 months to pay off the debt by making minimum payments alone.

What's considered too much debt is relative and varies by person based on the financial situation. There's no specific definition of “a lot of debt” — $10,000 might be a high amount of debt to one person, for example, but a very manageable debt for someone else.

But say you put yourself on a one-year payoff plan. Unfortunately, due to interest, you can't just divide $10,000 by 12 and pay $833 a month — interest tacks on a pretty large amount. But you could pay off your credit card in a year if you paid roughly $950 a month for 12 months.