12k credit card debt not sure what to do.
I have about $12,000 total across two Chase credit cards. My minimum payments recently jumped from around $60 on one card to about $225 each, so now I’m looking at roughly $440/month total. I can’t afford that long-term.
I called Chase asking about hardship options. From what I understand, Chase does not seem to be offering me an internal hardship plan that keeps the accounts open. The option I was given involved closing both accounts and paying around $293/month total.
At first I thought this was a Chase repayment plan that would report as “paid as agreed,” but then I was told it involved a third party. The third party said I have to miss payments first, then they negotiate, and then I pay them. That sounds more like debt settlement than a normal repayment plan, and I’m worried about the consequences.
My questions:
- Is a third-party program that requires missed payments basically debt settlement?
- Should I avoid this if my main goal is protecting my ability to rent an apartment?
- Does Chase offer any real internal repayment/hardship plan where the accounts close, APR drops, and payments report as paid as agreed/current?
- Would nonprofit credit counseling/debt management be safer than this third-party settlement route?
- For $12k total debt, is bankruptcy/default overkill compared to a repayment plan?
TL;DR:
- Total credit card debt is about $12k combined
- Both cards are Chase
- One card is about 15 years old
- I need to be able to qualify for an apartment in the future
- My credit is already being hurt by high utilization
- I cannot keep paying $440/month
- I could maybe manage something closer to $200–$293/month if it is legitimate and does not destroy my credit worse