Happy New Year

I'm truly hoping for a Happy New Year. I'm glad to see 2007 pass and I'm looking forward to a fresh start in 2008.

I'm currently looking at approximately $133,000 in credit card debt and I'm setting a plan on how I will settle this debt with my creditors. I'm putting together what I think my settlements could be and hope that I can do this as planned and my settlements won't be much higher than my projections. I only have a set amount of money to work with and I want to settle this whole mess this year:

Creditor Balance Possible Settlement
BOA $52,300 $15,000
BOA 6,400 2,500
Chase 17,500 7,000
Citi 24,400 10,000
Sears 6,700 3,000
Discover 25,500 11,000
$132,800 $48,500

Wow, now that would be great, but is it realistic? The total payout is at about 37%, my guess is that I will be more at 40% and with interest and late charges, my balances will be much higher by the time I can settle, probably about $150,000 in debt at 40% will be $60,000, I can probably have that much together by June, 2008. I hope to settle this mess by August.

This is an aggressive strategy and it would be a huge relief if it works. So here's to a Happy New Year.