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macey_gw

85 Year Old Mother in CC Debt - Help!

Macey
16 years ago

My mother is 85 years old and my family just found out that between five credit cards, she has 60K in credit card debt from a business she no longer owns. Her income is around $2,100 per month. She is paying around $1,500 each month just to service the interest or make minimum payments. Then you add in her other fixed expenses of $1,400 (utilities, medical, etc., she is in the hole about $700-$800 before she has any general living expense money. She has just about depleted all of her savings just to pay the credit card interest.

Looking forward, I am seeking advice on how to help her. She owns a house and we are planning to sell it. She will clear around 40K after paying off the credit cards. From there, she will move in with one of my brothers. At that point she will have a positive cash flow and feel much better about herself (we hope).

The house is on an acre of land and has become a burden on her. So, selling is something we all feel is in her best interest anyway. She has seen the financial numbers and is in agreement that selling the house makes sense. I think? The hook is in paying $1,500 in interest each month, we need to sell the property FAST.

Options are Sell the house, seek debt consolidation (heard of it but don't know much about it) or file for BK. Any advice on how we can deal differently with this credit card situation?

Macey

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