PLEASE ADVISE --- how to handle massive credit card debt

[wunder]

That's actually not true. You can take out private educaiton loans from a handful of lenders that do not require school certification (Chase Education One loans come to mind, but there was a list floating around on here a little while ago with more of them) and do not use 'cost of attendance minus financial aid received' to cap how much you can get. they have a maximum amount, yes, but i think Chase's was 40K.   

Now that's good information to have.  Thanks for the post.

[aerynn]

I only know that my loan had as a condition that it was used for educational expenses and living expenses, and they specifically said that it wasn't to be used to pay other debts such as my car payment.

You would have to call each bar with a debt portion to their C&F and find out what they are looking for.  I imagine even if you have high debt but a good reason (like a medical problem) they would excuse it. 

[baytostay]

Let's not forget that there is a direct relationship between having a lot of consumer debt and defaulting on debt payments.  If the OP tries to go to law school with 20K in consumer debt still hanging over his head, HE RUNS A VERY HIGH RISK OF DEFAULTING ON HIS PAYMENTS because they are going to be in the hundreds of dollars a month, during a time that he will already have a low income and be living on a tight budget.  THIS is the main reason that it would be irresponsible of the OP to go to law school before addressing his debt.

["V"]

Let's not forget that there is a direct relationship between having a lot of consumer debt and defaulting on debt payments.  If the OP tries to go to law school with 20K in consumer debt still hanging over his head, HE RUNS A VERY HIGH RISK OF DEFAULTING ON HIS PAYMENTS because they are going to be in the hundreds of dollars a month, during a time that he will already have a low income and be living on a tight budget.  THIS is the main reason that it would be irresponsible of the OP to go to law school before addressing his debt.

The risk is not essentially higher whether he goes or not. It has less to do with his income than it does with budgeting and spending habits. If the OP finds a reliable means to make the monthly payments while in law school, it's risk is not any higher than a reliable means OUT of law school. Provided he can get family aid, additional loans, or part-time work, etc. as a means to make the minimum payments each month, I see no reason to brand it as 'irresponsible' for him to manage both at the same time.

Many people not going to school and working full time still don't make their payments. And many people who have low incomes always manage to pay on time. The issue isn't his income/tight budget, the issue is his planning and bugetING skills.

[baytostay]

Not quite.  Technically, if the OP isn't allowed to use his school loans to pay off CC debt and isn't allowed to work during 1L (like the rest of us), then he would by definition not have any income to pay off these debts.

[rbb]

I have a lot of credit card debt too.  I've been out of school for a long time, making very little money doing a non-profit job... it adds up.  It's hard for me to understand where all this harsh judgement comes from?   Life is messy sometimes.  We mess up.  Big deal. 

I think I can still make the minimum payments in law school.  That's what I'm going to do.  And then I'll pay it off eventually. 
My advice-- make sure you can get it all at a low enough interest rate that you can make the minimum payments through school.  You'll pay it off when you get out. 

[queencruella]

My issue is that law schools are up front about needing to minimize debt before starting school, yet people on here are asking what to do a mere month before school starts. There are plenty of options available to people who have consumer debt such as going part-time and/or choosing a lower-ranked school to get a better scholarship. The OP has chosen to go to one of the most expensive schools in the nation in terms of tuition/COL when there are other closely ranked schools that are in cheaper areas that would have made making the minimum payments more manageable.

["V"]

My issue is that law schools are up front about needing to minimize debt before starting school, yet people on here are asking what to do a mere month before school starts. There are plenty of options available to people who have consumer debt such as going part-time and/or choosing a lower-ranked school to get a better scholarship. The OP has chosen to go to one of the most expensive schools in the nation in terms of tuition/COL when there are other closely ranked schools that are in cheaper areas that would have made making the minimum payments more manageable.

I agree that financial stability and good spending are important, but I also don't think the OP should necessarily have to give up going to Columbia just because he previously had bad financial problems. Whether he pays off the 20k or doesn't before graduating is fairly unimportant (he will have much bigger debt and much bigger income to compensate, the 20k will be marginal). What is important is his credit, which will be mostly influenced by if he's been able to make his payments. If he can manage his minimum payments, he will be in essentially the same position. I see no reason he should have to 'take it on the chin' for past problems if he is capable of dealing with them now.

In fact, if he CAN manage minimum payments, then I think he'd have been a fool to take the 'higher scholarship' school just to pay a little extra each month. In the end, all that matters in him making on time, and minimum, payments. If he can do that at Columbia, more power to him.

[aerynn]

I have a lot of credit card debt too.  I've been out of school for a long time, making very little money doing a non-profit job... it adds up.  It's hard for me to understand where all this harsh judgement comes from?   Life is messy sometimes.  We mess up.  Big deal. 

I think I can still make the minimum payments in law school.  That's what I'm going to do.  And then I'll pay it off eventually. 
My advice-- make sure you can get it all at a low enough interest rate that you can make the minimum payments through school.  You'll pay it off when you get out. 

I've been in massive debt before.  Any of my advice in this thread is coming from someone who has dug her way out the very hard way.  If I came off as cranky it isn't because someone was irresponsible with credit cards, it is because some of the people in the thread have been coming down like the idea of paying off credit card debt before school is the dumbest idea ever and the world owes the original poster Columbia tuition and credit card payments until the OP earns the JD and THEN the world owes the OP a big fat high paying job.  Sometimes it doesn't work that way.  And it isn't because someone is a bad person for having debt.  It is just that if you want these things, you have to earn them.

I've been posting from the perspective that the OP didn't have a chance at making those minimum payments while in school.  If he or she could, there is no need to ask for advice.  Just hang in there until you can make more than the minimum payment.  Starting from the premise there is no way s/he could make the minimums, what is the advice?

[shaz]

cc debt sucks.  i just paid a couple of bills on line and it's like my debt didn't even move!  minimum payments suck!  the scariest thing is that i will be living off my cards for atleast a month until my aid kicks in.  there's just no way to avoid buying a bed, a desk, office supplies, and food.  i might have to get milk crates for everything else.   

with all the extra expenses of relocating, securing and furnishing an apartment, why don't schools set the 1L budgets higher than 2&3L? 

i have @$3700 in cc debt that could easily be closer to 5/6K! by the time my refund check comes in.