Hi all, I was wondering if the crowd could provide some advice for my situation. I'm a current college junior, and between paying part of tuition, books, travel, etc and the attractiveness of 0% apr credit, I've racked up quite some debt. I currently have the following (but next year, first semesters' tuition is all paid up): Debt of $7500 (credit line $7600) on a Citibank Platinum, on a 0% offer till June 2006 -- no problems making monthly payments. Debt of $8800 (credit line $16000) on a American Express inNyc card, 0% till May 2005 -- been making payments regularly. Debt of $500 (credit access line $11500) on a FirstUSA/United Airlines Mileage Plus Visa -- going to clear this balance this month from bank acct. The other cards' debt is mostly from balance transferring off this card over the last year. Debt of $0 (credit line $2500) on a MBNA/Merrill Lynch+ card (2.99% offer on it right now). Debt of $0 (credit line $4500) on a American Express Blue Other card that shows up on my credit report, but isn't actually mine (i'm an authorized user on my parents card. not sure why its on my report): Debt of $0 (credit line $25000) on a Citibank Platinum. Now that tuition is paid, and I have a summer job starting next month that is very well paying, I can live completely off my income and will not accumulate debt anymore. My summer job is on Wall St and should lead (hopefully!) to an offer next year, which would have a substantial salary and signing bonus (based on current seniors from my school) so everything should be able to be paid off then. I need someway to tide myself over through next year. My options, as far as I can tell, are: a) Apply for a new card w/ 12 months of 0% to transfer from AMEX, and pay everything off next year. I just got an offer in the mail from Chase offering 16 months at 0%. But, I'm concerned because all these inquiries are on my account in recent months. My MerrilLynch is from January; My Citi Platinum is from March; My AMEX inNYC is from last Nov; My United Visa is from last June; My AMEX Blue is from 2 years ago; My authorized user Citi card is from 1997 (but again, its on my credit report). I also saw an offer from Discover for 0% for 12 months. I've never had a late payment on anything. Despite all this debt, PrivacyGuard says my score (on the various reports) is between 680-710. Most are around ~700. I'm mainly worried about 3 things: a) Crashing my credit score for the future b) Employers freaking out about my credit/debt (my summer job says they'll pull a credit report...is the above likely to raise flags?) c) Companies pulling their 0% offers from under me What should I do?? Please help! On a tangent -- I'm surprised I've accumulated this much credit in my current position. I make ~4000 a year in my campus job, made ~12000 last summer, and earn another ~2000 in misc. grants, etc. I also get another ~25000 from parents towards tuition, room, board, etc (paid to me). My school costs closer to 40,000 and I'm not getting any financial aid at all . Thanks very much in advance! Scott A couple more details from my credit report (from Privacy Guard): 1) My AMEX high balance card doesn't appear on my report at all... Which is extremely odd?? These are my current inquiries: CITI Banks and S&Ls Feb XX, 2005 MBNA Bank Credit Cards Feb XX, 2005 _ AMEX Banks and S&Ls Nov XX, 2004 _ CITI (I got this Citi card too, but merged the credit line with my Citi from March (above)) Banks and S&Ls Nov XX, 2004 _ _CITI Credit card and travel / entertainment companies Jul XX, 2004 _ FIRST USA BANK Bank Credit Cards May XX, 2004 _ FIRST USA NA Banks and S&Ls Nov XX, 2003
congrats on doing so well this long! have you thought of doing a consolidation loan or refinancing your auto?
