Reader Question – Were Our Minimum Payments Ever More than Our Income?

A while ago, I asked if anyone had questions for me. Here’s one from The Money Wars:

“Iâ€™m just getting started at getting out of debt after a lot of mistakes I made right after graduating. And I was wondering was there ever a point where your income was less than the minimum payments of all your credit cards?”

To the best of my memory, there was never a point where our minimum payments were more than our income. But there were points where our income covered our payments and our main bills (rent and utilities) and nothing else.

When that happened, things like groceries, diapers and gas went on our credit cards. It feels like you are barely treading water when that happens. You pay money to have your debt go down, but you turn around and charge more on your card. Thinking back to how I felt back then, I do not want to go back there ever again.

If anyone else has any questions, feel free to ask

Posted by Tricia on April 29, 2007 at 11:59 PM in Credit Cards, General Debt | 6 Comments »
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Matt responded:
Posted: April 30th, 2007 at 7:06 am
having your minimum payments just covered by your income or worse still not even covered by your income is not a very happy place to be in. Scrambling to make ends meet is never a good way to live your life.

I’ve been in both situations as well as where my minimum payments were what I made plus I was maxed out on pretty much everything. At that point you have to juggle your payments on your cards only to have to use them again. Its a very stressful situation to be in.
Chris responded:
Posted: April 30th, 2007 at 10:59 am
How did you manage to pay for food on the credit card while still making the minimum? Credit card minimums are SO low you end up mostly just paying the interest, so was your balance rising? I can see why credit cards can be such a black hole.
Sam responded:
Posted: April 30th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Perhaps the reader could call their credit card company and explain the situation. Maybe they can offer them a lower rate or something. In my experience if this is the only way they are going to get paid, they are more than willing to help!
Fellowes responded:
Posted: April 30th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
I’m getting dangerously close to the point where the collective minimums are exceeding my income after my basics i.e. rent, utilities, etc., are paid for. This is exactly why I am trying to negotiate with my creditors at this point. I don’t want to fall behind in the near future and want to maintain my credit history as much as possible. I’m hopeful that given my payment history and my intent to avoid Credit Counseling and/or Bankruptcy, my creditors will work with me.
maureen responded:
Posted: April 30th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Good idea, Sam – - I have found that creditors can actually be very helpful in these cases. They can’t make the debt go away for you, but they would much rather help you proactively than have to send your debt to collections.
Jack B responded:
Posted: May 24th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Been there, done that! I had several months whereby I wasn’t able to pay some of the minimum monthly’s on my credit card &/or store credit cards. This really hurt & put a huge strain on my wife who was pregnant at the time. It was really very stressful and at the time I remember thinking that I could still work it out myself & that this was just a small rut we were going through. I’m not sure what it was but one day I woke up & realised I needed help.. that my pride wasn’t worth sacrificing my marriage (my wife had stopped talking to me apart from the essential things like “take out the trash”!). I could go on about this for ages but the big point to this comment is for us American men who let ego stop them from seeking help! If I had done this several months before I would have saved literally thousands on interest & it wouldn’t have taken us so long to fix our credit afterwards.