I have $56,628 in credit card debts!

Howdy!

The average American has about $8,000 worth of credit card debt, I have about 7 times that.  I owe $56,628 to 5 credit card companies.

Here’s a list of my credit card debts:

Discover Card $3296

USAA $9811

ATT Universal Card $10986

Chase $15137

Bank of America $17398

Add that all up and you get over fifty six thousand dollars worth of debt.

And the worst part of it all is that I do not own an Ipod, a big screen TV, a fancy stereo or home theater system.  I do not drive an even remotely new car.  I drive a 1994 Toyota Camry.

So how the hell did I get so much debt in the first place?

Here’s my story…

It all started back in college about 11 years ago.

I was just starting school and if college wasn’t hard enough, I decided to throw in a wife and a set of twins into the mix.

Most people do no make near enough money without a college degree to support a family of 4.  And that’s when my debt habits started to appear.

Charging gas, groceries, gum, just about anything.

I also had an entrepreneurial bug in me too.  I wanted to start my own business and provide for my family in a way that a regular JOB could not.

I bought thousands of dollars worth of ebooks and marketing courses trying to find the one that would lead to financial success.  And yes, I even tried MLM/network marketing.

I had very limited success and my ever increasing credit card debt said the same thing.

My debts kept going up and up and up.

I had one year where I sold magazines online and earned over $10,000 in one month and paid off a big chunk of my credit cards.  I went from $27,000 in credit card debt down to $18,000.  I was starting to see the light at the end of my debt tunnel.

And then BAM!  Divorce.

#$!@%^$&#@&&!*#^~#$^#

In between trying to save my marriage and work and running a home business, my debts went spiraling out of control.  I racked up over $20,000 in debt in less than a year.

My debt finally peaked at $62124.  That was back in Feb of this year.

It was at that point in time that I gave myself the talk.

I told myself that if I ever wanted to get out of debt I had to stop charging stuff and spending money.

I told myself I had to use my debit cards instead of my credit cards for my online business.

This is what my debts looked like 4 months ago:

Discover $5992

USAA $9967

ATT Universal Card $11641

Chase $16056

Bank of America $18468

As you can see I’ve paid off almost $6,000 in debt in less than 4 months.

I am currently using the debt snowball method to attack my Discover card and get that sucker paid off ASAP.

I learned about the debt snowball method from reading The Total Money Makeover which I highly recommend.  Basically, you pay off the debt with the lowest balance and then work your way up.  The benefit of using this method instead of paying the highest interest rate is that you see results quicker and they keep you motivated.

That’s my credit card debt story, I’d be interested in hearing yours.  Leave a comment and share with me and with others.  You and I are not alone in wanting to pay off our credit card bills.

-The Credit Blogger