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I have about 6k in credit card debt. 2k is from my major card and the other 4k are from three different retail stores. It shouldn't be an issue paying them while in school because the minimums amount to less than 200 a month. I was wondering however if there would be a better way to work on paying them down. Would I debt consolidation help at all? My credit history isn't terrible but I had two things go into collections that should not have 5 years ago that I am pretty much helpless at getting them off. I have no other debt and my COA will only be about 50k (12k being subsidized). Sorry for rambling I have a beer buzz.

Roll them over into fed loans. Just take out more than you need for cost of living and use the proceeds to pay off and cancel those credit cards. You'll also have lower rates + potential forgiveness with the Fed loans.

^yeah that's what I'm doing with my 2k cc debt.

For credit score purposes, I am keeping the cards open though.

Nova wrote:^yeah that's what I'm doing with my 2k cc debt.

Don't cancel the cards though. Just pay them off.

Can you explain more how this works.

bubba wrote:Roll them over into fed loans. Just take out more than you need for cost of living and use the proceeds to pay off and cancel those credit cards. You'll also have lower rates + potential foregiveness with the Fed loans.

I plan to take out the max for COA and am just a bit nervous because I have never not worked and the whole big lump sum in the beginning scares me.

JDndMSW wrote:

Nova wrote:^yeah that's what I'm doing with my 2k cc debt.

Don't cancel the cards though. Just pay them off.

Can you explain more how this works.

bubba wrote:Roll them over into fed loans. Just take out more than you need for cost of living and use the proceeds to pay off and cancel those credit cards. You'll also have lower rates + potential foregiveness with the Fed loans.

I plan to take out the max for COA and am just a bit nervous because I have never not worked and the whole big lump sum in the beginning scares me.

max COA isn't actually the max

JDndMSW wrote:

Nova wrote:^yeah that's what I'm doing with my 2k cc debt.

Don't cancel the cards though. Just pay them off.

Can you explain more how this works.

bubba wrote:Roll them over into fed loans. Just take out more than you need for cost of living and use the proceeds to pay off and cancel those credit cards. You'll also have lower rates + potential foregiveness with the Fed loans.

I plan to take out the max for COA and am just a bit nervous because I have never not worked and the whole big lump sum in the beginning scares me.

Well if you run out of money you've got at least 6K in credit to draw on.

JDndMSW wrote:

Nova wrote:^yeah that's what I'm doing with my 2k cc debt.

Don't cancel the cards though. Just pay them off.

Can you explain more how this works.

Pay off your credit cards. Cut them in half, stop using them. What part don't you understand?

JamMasterJ wrote:

JDndMSW wrote:

Nova wrote:^yeah that's what I'm doing with my 2k cc debt.

Don't cancel the cards though. Just pay them off.

Can you explain more how this works.

bubba wrote:Roll them over into fed loans. Just take out more than you need for cost of living and use the proceeds to pay off and cancel those credit cards. You'll also have lower rates + potential foregiveness with the Fed loans.

I plan to take out the max for COA and am just a bit nervous because I have never not worked and the whole big lump sum in the beginning scares me.

max COA isn't actually the max

So how would I go about taking more out? I understood that what the school deems is the COA is all you can borrow unless you need something like a laptop or extra for childcare?

guano wrote:

JDndMSW wrote:

Nova wrote:^yeah that's what I'm doing with my 2k cc debt.

Don't cancel the cards though. Just pay them off.

Can you explain more how this works.

Pay off your credit cards. Cut them in half, stop using them. What part don't you understand?

Where am I getting the fucking money?

JDndMSW wrote:

guano wrote:

JDndMSW wrote:

Nova wrote:^yeah that's what I'm doing with my 2k cc debt.

Don't cancel the cards though. Just pay them off.

Can you explain more how this works.

Pay off your credit cards. Cut them in half, stop using them. What part don't you understand?

Where am I getting the fucking money?

Student loans. Take out 20k

from the government

JDndMSW wrote:

guano wrote:

JDndMSW wrote:

Nova wrote:^yeah that's what I'm doing with my 2k cc debt.

Don't cancel the cards though. Just pay them off.

Can you explain more how this works.

Pay off your credit cards. Cut them in half, stop using them. What part don't you understand?

Where am I getting the fucking money?

You can only borrow up to your schools COA (with the exception of one-time budget increase for laptop). So use the extra money to pay them off, and if possible, transfer the balance onto one card with lowest interest rate so you have one payment (in the event the amount of $ you take out in loans doesn't cover the full amount you need to pay it off, or if you need to keep that money to actually live on)

JDndMSW wrote:

guano wrote:

JDndMSW wrote:

Nova wrote:^yeah that's what I'm doing with my 2k cc debt.

Don't cancel the cards though. Just pay them off.

Can you explain more how this works.

Pay off your credit cards. Cut them in half, stop using them. What part don't you understand?

Where am I getting the fucking money?

From the money tree.

I'm in a similar situation as OP. I've always had a job and it'll be strange not having an income when law school starts.

I've also heard that using student loans to pay off credit card debt may be illegal? Can anyone comment on this?

caligirl8 wrote: I've also heard that using student loans to pay off credit card debt may be illegal? Can anyone comment on this?

umm Ive never heard that

Nova wrote:

caligirl8 wrote: I've also heard that using student loans to pay off credit card debt may be illegal? Can anyone comment on this?

umm Ive never heard that

You're supposed to only use loans for the items listed by the school as composing the cost of attendance but no one is going to prison for paying off CC debt. At the end of the day the amount you can borrow is limited and it's up to you to decide what to do with it.

I pay off my credit cards with loans and then use my credit cards for COL

its a depressing cycle

Nova wrote:I pay off my credit cards with loans and then use my credit cards for COL

its a depressing cycle

Haha I think we all do. I mean my friend does.

Tiago Splitter wrote:

Nova wrote:I pay off my credit cards with loans and then use my credit cards for COL

its a depressing cycle

Haha I think we all do. I mean my friend does.

so we're all your friend. how nice

Read some of Dave Ramsey's books about getting into CC Debt.

I had a good laugh reading through these posts, especially because I can relate to a lot of what was mentioned... but also because of the cynicism meeting the naivety of others. En fin, I agree. absorb it into your student loans.

One hope is to land a 1L SA spot. You’ll only have a couple shots at making that happen….just make sure you nail one. CC debt is great motivation!