Plausible, until you take into account the computer advice FFB asks from time to time. "Did you forget to turn the monitor on? Yeah, you're welcome." I'm also dying for an explanation on the car payments. This will be a very interesting story. Sounds like she bought her car from 'Sopranos and Sons' or some other shady place. I wish I could offer advice, but this deep in the hole it basically boils down to a lifestyle change. Actually it already has considering she's struggling to put food on the table.
If she traded in her previous car and she was upside down on that one, then she'll owe more on her new car than what it's worth right off the bat. I was stupid enough to do the same thing. And typical Clutchfans thread when someone's asking for advice. Let's just rail the person instead of offering real advice. Jesus. I'm not sure what the cost of living is in Phoenix, but I'm pretty sure it's higher than it is here. If I was making $75k in say California, it wouldn't go as far as what I'm making here now.
Key words here are the KBB which means it's worth $21K now but prolly bought $30K+ new. And 9% interest rates which is pretty damn high.
No more going out for about 6 months, no eating out, no buying CDs, no movies, etc., until you can see that the payments are better. I was in debt once, and I hated every minute of it. I punished myself by not buying anything I didn't need, and nothing I would call LUXURY. Common, yes. Alike, no. I know you don't listen to me, but listen to this piece of advice : Once you get out of the debt, do NOT close the credit card (unless the yearly payment is HIGH and you won't use it later), for credit score uses history and it will show that you can't keep one. Get out of the debt, and every 3 or four months or so, pay with one of those that had a high balance, then turn around and pay the credit back the next month right away.
Arrange to have it stolen Drive it off a cliff Just don't accidentally roll back inside as you jump out
http://www.financeforfamilies.com/upside-down-car-payment.html For those that are upside down in a car loan, there is a way to get out of this situation and cut your losses. Just like getting out of credit card debt it is painless and you will have to sacrifice, but for the well being of you and your family’s financial future it is the right thing to do. Let us use an example to illustrate the solution to the upside down car payment problem. Let’s say you have a car that is worth $10,000 and your loan balance is $15,000. The way to remedy this situation is to sell your car and get a loan for the balance owed, plus about $3,000 extra to purchase a cheap car to drive. In this example you would have to get an $8,000 loan to accomplish this. It is then much easier to pay off the $8,000 than it would have been to pay off $15,000 and you can eliminate this debt along with your other bad debts. Just include this $8,000 and pay it off as fast as you can. You will likely have a higher loan rate on the lower loan amount, but do not worry about this. You will be paying off the loan as quickly as possible. If you were making the payment on the $15,000 loan you can continue to make the same payment on the $8,000 loan and pay it off much quicker, if this is the only loan that you have.
So basically she makes 75K a year, but lives like she makes 150K a Year. There's something missing to this story, because there is no way she should be struggling to eat making 75K a year.
I also have a hard time seeing how she's struggling to get control over this amount of debt (not all that terrifying, unless there's more) on a $75,000 income. I'll assume that after Federal and State taxes, she brings in $36 thousand (should be more). Car payments: just shy of 9 thousand per year Consolidated CCs: I'll assume $2.1 thousand, paying off 20% of the debt per year We'll say $18 thousand a year in rent/utilities -->Leaves $575/month for groceries and spending money Assuming she sticks to a budget and has it knocked into her how much money she has per month to spend at will, she should be okay by the last year of paying off the car. It's crucial that she not fall into a trap of thinking that extending payments will help the situation. Take it on the chin for a few years, and come out debt free. I would also be VERY careful with the finances and not let her near them should you choose to live together or marry. Joint account for bills, and dole out an allowance to her personal account for spending. Evan
My wife and I make about 75K takehome a year and we've got 2 kids. Our daycare alone is $1,000 a month yet we're doing fine. We're actually paying off about $1,000 a month to debt and will have nothing but student loans and a mortgage in 6 months. How someone can be single and struggle making over 30K a year in Texas is crazy. Tell your girlfriend to go here... www.daveramsey.com and sign up for financial peace university. It's a 13 week class that will change your complete financial plan at home.
uh, what? the car payment is ridiculous but at 75k a year it should be absolutely no problem. i'm assuming this is a single woman? clearly the only problem here is she's spending a whole bunch of money on crap she doesn't need.
Would you struggle to eat? And if you did, would you expect people to be sympathetic with your $740/month car payment?
Who cares? He asked for advice about a specific thing, not freaking judgment from a BBS. I'm pretty sure he never asked for sympathy nor expected any. He simply asked if anyone knew how to help his friend out with this issue. Yet the vultures had to remind everyone else about how perfect their lives are and how stupid and r****ded they think his friend is.
Thank you for this "back to reality" reply. I was starting to think I was the one out of touch with reality but I guess I'm not the only one that was amazed at 75k not that great.
Salary in Phoenix AZ: $75,000 Comparable salary in Houston TX: $65,902.85 If you move from Phoenix AZ to Houston TX... Groceries will cost: 15.953% less Housing will cost: 31.148% less Utilities will cost: 18.082% more Transportation will cost: 3.382% less Healthcare will cost: 0.365% less http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html
Well guys, I guess there is more to the story, maybe? But you are all seriously jumping to conclusions. First of all, I'm not dating the girl and I have a girlfriend. This girl is a friend of my sister. I'm good with money and with my finances so I've been asked as a favor to help out. Now, for those of you who think 75k is a lot of money. I will agree that it is good money, but not great, especially for Scottsdale, Arizona. This is one of the most expensive places in the USA to live. 75K is not all that great out here. She brings home about 4k per month. Her rent is $800, that is really really cheap for a 1 bedroom apartment out here, it is not a nice apartment, it is average at best. She pays $735 on the vehicle, $550 on the consolidated credit card payment, $150 for car insurance, apartment rent and bills for cable/internet/electricity that totals around $1200. And $250 per month on her student loans. After all that, with a 75K salary, she has the rest of her money left for food, gas, and mild entertainment. She doesn't spend much on designer clothes and crap like that. The car situation.... She was living with a guy a few years ago and his car was in her name, they split up and he ran off, so she traded in both her car and his car at the time and was about 7K upside down total. Her new car, an acura cost around 32K and she rolled the negative 7K into that loan, and now this is where she is with the $740 payment. Yes it was dumb, very dumb, but hey, it happened and now shes trying to get out of this mess. I love how you guys get on your high horse with threads like this. So the girl made a couple of financial mistakes, she learned from them and now she needs help getting out the mess. Simple as that.
