Current Events > I have $56000 in Credit Card debt and about $69000 in 401K savings

(+) Yeah! (+)

Just go into default and then let the bankruptcy court take your crypto and 401k.

Dat_Cracka_Jax posted...

When do you hit the year mark? Have you just bought and held or have you been actively trading?

I hit the year mark around January 2025. Also if I withdraw in 2025 I won't have to pay taxes until 2026.

I mainly have just bought and held. I try to do as little trading as possible. In recent months I haven't bought at all though due to not having any income

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


The best buy card is usable everywhere, also it has an intro 0% APR for 24 months

Even so I understand, I may not have the best decision making seeing how I got into this situation in the first place regardless

Dat_Cracka_Jax posted...

Were you paying their rent and bills while you were unemployed? I can't imagine anyone in my family allowing me to do that

Yeah even though they'd help me out with a little here and there. They try to pay their bills, but all in all I've basically been the financial safety net for when they are short and it's been killing me for a while. A long with my own responsibilities

One of the apartments is the family home I grew up in, and the second is time that my Sister was recently able to move into. The good things is that the rent is very low and it's rent stabilized in NYC (Rent is $800 a month). I payed the first month and security deposit for her to be able to move in as well as helped her with the paperwork to be able to qualify for it. So now my Sister and my two nieces have a much more hospitable home to live in.

The other apartment that my Sister and I grew up in that out Mother passed down to us, my Nephew (32) currently lives in. It's a one bedroom apartment. Before getting the new apartment they all were living there and it wasn't the best living situation. That costs about $950 a month

My own rent is $1700 a month. We all live in NYC

Recently they've been able to come through with the rent more often but I'm general when things are short I'm the one that steps up to cover it. That's how it's been since 2018 when my Mother passed away

That's not too say I haven't made my own irresponsible decisions, but it's also harder if I have to be mindful for myself and others

WingsOfGood posted...

Lol

My bad I meant Best Buy lol

emblem-man posted...

Short term capital gains tax is just your income tax rate right? How long have you been unemployed? If for most of this year, you might not even have much tax to pay cause your income is so low. If you've made no income from a job this year, you'd just be paying income tax on whatever your crypto gains are for the year.

If you withdraw your 401k, you're paying that income tax + 10% penalty right off the bat.

This may be true. I just know my heart will hurt so bad if I see that I withdraw the crypto and then the crypto surge happens and I look at what my account would have been if I kept everything and is deep into the 6 figure range or more

That's a situation I'm really worried about and don't want to experience

2Pacavelli posted...

This may be true. I just know my heart will hurt so bad if I see that I withdraw the crypto and then the crypto surge happens and I look at what my account would have been if I kept everything and is deep into the 6 figure range or more

That's a situation I'm really worried about and don't want to experience

I know. Gambling is a tempting mistress

I have a friend who made like 150k in 2021 with AMC. He didn't sell because he kept thinking it could keep going higher. He regrets that choice every day.

At least take out the money you put into the crypto and leave the gains, and pay off some of those high interest debt.

2Pacavelli posted...

This may be true. I just know my heart will hurt so bad if I see that I withdraw the crypto and then the crypto surge happens and I look at what my account would have been if I kept everything and is deep into the 6 figure range or more

That's a situation I'm really worried about and don't want to experience

Instead youre trying to liquidate your 401k lmao

might as well just go to the casino and put it all on red

No job with that much debt and wanting to pay it off with savings keeping crypto. Lmao wow

Imo I would. The market has already topped and other major investors have been selling. Best to get out of debt now with the way the economy is going.

Don't listen to these fools, keep your crypto. You could be a millionaire one day.

2Pacavelli posted...

This may be true. I just know my heart will hurt so bad if I see that I withdraw the crypto and then the crypto surge happens and I look at what my account would have been if I kept everything and is deep into the 6 figure range or more

That's a situation I'm really worried about and don't want to experience

If you're 5 figures in debt without a stable income, you really don't have the money to sit around gambling. You're literally considering paying extra to dip into your retirement early rather than using wealth that you already have to pay off your debts.

That's the sort of thinking that lands you in this situation in the first place.

It may be best for you to file for bankruptcy at this point. With no assets aside from crypto you should be eligible. 401ks are exempt from the process but not stocks such as crypto.

Once thats done and over with you should cancel all your credit card accounts and set up hard boundaries with your family never in regard to finances if you cant afford it. Even if it means them becoming homeless.

Reading all that was getting frustrating. Is the chud going to pay off the debt with crypto or be an idiot?

spriga posted...

Reading all that was getting frustrating. Is the chud going to pay off the debt with crypto or be an idiot?

Why call me a chud though?

I'm not a Trump supporter

You fucked up bad if you have $56k in credit card debt. Holy shit.

Imagine if you had paid off the debt using your crypto when it was at 105k instead of the 75k it's now dropped to.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

The allure of gambling got its hold on him. I fully believe this topic considering the amount of gambling and crypto get rich quick advertisment and marketing out there.

As someone who was formerly in debt I used the snowball method to dig myself out. The debt definitely felt worse than the potential gains that I would miss out on had I kept those assets. To me it was worth paying off the debt (especially since credit card interest rates are very high at the moment). You could also consider a personal loan to consolidate your debt but it might not make sense for you depending on your situation. An advisor would be better qualified, especially if they're a fiduciary

dont declare bankruptcy

Interesting how you have that kinda debt but the. All that crypto and have been smart with 401k. You're an enigma

ironman2009 posted...

Sell the crypto before your 401k

definitely

ktownslayer16 posted...

dont declare bankruptcy

I was in a scenario like this when I was out of work years ago and filed for bankruptcy. I was paying bills with credit cards. I was also a homeowner and didn't care about my credit, I just needed those bills to go away and they did.

No regrets. I believe the bankruptcy cost $1800 total which the lawyer took in installments each visit. Having over $1000 a month in credit card payments that would never go away was one of the most stressful things ever.

LeoRavus posted...

I was in a scenario like this when I was out of work years ago and filed for bankruptcy. I was paying bills with credit cards. I was also a homeowner and didn't care about my credit, I just needed those bills to go away and they did.

No regrets. I believe the bankruptcy cost $1800 total which the lawyer took in installments each visit. Having over $1000 a month in credit card payments that would never go away was one of the most stressful things ever.

How bad was the impact on your credit score?

Sell crypto to pay off debts.

Make sure your 401k money is in an index fund, S&P500 or a lifetime fund or something similar. Its alarming that you said your 401k has been stagnant for 4 years.

2Pacavelli posted...

How bad was the impact on your credit score?

Honestly I didn't check it after filing because I knew it would be bad and I always had good credit. Filed in 2016. Now it's over 700.

Why would bankruptcy help him when he has assets that could be used to pay the debt? Won't bankruptcy just force him to sell his crypto?

Yes they will take his crypto.

I mean your probably paying like 25 percent interest on the CC debt and getting a much smaller return on the retirement account

Idk how you managed to rack up that much debt while also saving so much. But you definitely want to address that debt cuz long term you'll be paying way more for it.

ironman2009 posted...

Sell the crypto before your 401k

This should be a no brainer, huh. That gambling mind is gonna be your destruction. Look at where bitcoin is and how it more than tripled in than a year! How the fuck do you think thats sustainable? Hell it touched 70k and quickly fell. Its a fucking pyramid!

Sell most/all of your crypto. You are going to pay more in fees on your credit cards then you will gain from crypto. Plus the crypto route is gambling. It may go up. It may go down. You have no way of knowing, but your debt will continue to grow.

You're actually lucky that you have a 401k and crypto money. Being able to eliminate most or all of your debt will be a breath of fresh air for you. At the very least eliminate any debt that has a high-ish interest rate.

Thanks for the tough love CE. All the comments are appreciated, including the harsh ones. I'm going to do my best to make sure this is handled within the month.

Took all comments into consideration and reflected.

Still debating the direction I'll take, may take equal funds from both of I'm too indecisive. But also will call the 401K accounts to see if the 401K loan is an option so I didn't have to take from any principal of the accounts.

Regardless of anything the plan is to completely clear the debt over the next few weeks so I can start with a clean slate as soon as possible. I also have interviews lined up that Im going to do my best to focus on so that I can take action to replace whatever I take out of either crypto or the 401k accounts that I replace it quickly

2Pacavelli posted...

Mostly gains

I'm also concerned because I'd have to pay short term capital gains if I do withdraw from the Crypto

Unless you were degenerate shitcoin gambling (buying in clearly meme coins designed to be ponzis run up in value because of the hype), keep the crypto. Everyone is telling you to sell off crypto and not the 401K because they don't understand the technology. If you're invested in blue chip crypto like BTC/ETH/Link, you're fine.

Wouldn't you take a big hit for using that money? Would you even get $56000 from it?

Sad_Face posted...

Unless you were degenerate shitcoin gambling (buying in clearly meme coins designed to be ponzis run up in value because of the hype), keep the crypto. Everyone is telling you to sell off crypto and not the 401K because they don't understand the technology. If you're invested in blue chip crypto like BTC/ETH/Link, you're fine.

My top 4 holdings are BTC/ETH/XRP/ICP, and after that a variety of alt coins like FLR, HBAR, ALGO, XLM LTC and others

ICP is the one that has given me the most significant gains in recent months. If I withdraw from it I'm have to pay short term capital gains

jsb0714 posted...

Wouldn't you take a big hit for using that money? Would you even get $56000 from it?

That's also what I'm researching from it.

I know there's a 10% penalty with withdrawal. I'm wondering if they take the 10% immediately then the extra income tax I'll later account for on my taxes.

Or if they immediately take about 35-40% from it upon withdrawal.

Also I'm thinking about if I may qualify for any hardship withdrawal status so I can take it out with zero penalty. Going to make some phone calls tomorrow

But some good news is that I finally started receiving a few unemployment payments so that's good. Plus I have some job interviews schedule for next week. Going to do my best to land a position

Even if you sell your crypto keep in mind you have to pay capital gains, so you CANNOT pay off all your debt with your crypto currently.

2Pacavelli posted...

My top 4 holdings are BTC/ETH/XRP/ICP, and after that a variety of alt coins like FLR, HBAR, ALGO, XLM LTC and others

ICP is the one that has given me the most significant gains in recent months. If I withdraw from it I'm have to pay short term capital gains

Half that stuff doesn't have a future yet they keep chugging along anyhow. XRP is especially egregious because they talk about bringing blockchain technology to banks and yet banks right are talking about how they're integrating Chainlink to connect their blockchains together. Yeah I'm gonna shill link but I'll be honest in that it's been below its all time high since 2020 and hasn't picked up despite the BTC returning close to its ATH. In other words, they're not letting the price pump until people here are using services that are using Chainlink under the hood in the next few years.

But I can tell you HBAR isn't going anywhere, they even had an incident in the last two weeks where they mischaracterized tokenizing Blackrock funds and Blackrock had to issue a statement that they weren't working with Hedera. The price pumped from the mischaracterization and yet the clarification statement didn't bring it back down to the norm.

I won't speak of ICP since it's doing well for you but for the others, unless they're working with smart contract in some capacity, whether supporting Ethereum or having novel technology, I'd consolidate it elsewhere. But I must reiterate, while you definitely need to work on that credit card debt, if you were to ask everyone for advice to invest in crypto or your 401K 3 years ago, they'd say 401K. 5 years ago, 401K. 10 years, 401K again. I think it's very impressive you made it to $75K portfolio, though I should ask how much did you invest in it?

And how the hell did you rack up such a debt anyway?

Sad_Face posted...

I think it's very impressive you made it to $75K portfolio, though I should ask how much did you invest in it?

In total about $25000 or so

Sad_Face posted...

And how the hell did you rack up such a debt anyway?

After losing my job in January, I've been using the cards to pay rent and bills, along with expenses for other family members when in need for rent etc. The debt just ballooned a lot quicker than I expected.

$56k in credit card debt is racking up several thousands in interest annually. nip that shit in the bud immediately by whatever means necessary. (sell your crypto!)

Also, stop handing out money you don't have to family. If they need it so badly, they can borrow it on credit.

What did you buy with credit cards?, so much?

Mearcstapa posted...

$56k in credit card debt is racking up several thousands in interest annually. nip that shit in the bud immediately by whatever means necessary. (sell your crypto!)

Also, stop handing out money you don't have to family. If they need it so badly, they can borrow it on credit.

Wow several thousands in interest annually.....

DoubleOSnake posted...

What did you buy with credit cards?, so much?

Yea. I thought #1 rule of credit cards/loans was only use how much you can pay back in the statement period. If you can't pay off the bill within a month you can't afford it.

Crypto is just gambling with more steps.

ktownslayer16 posted...

Read about Dave Ramsay's snowball method. He's smarter than any of us here.

Start with the lowest and knock them off 1 by 1, etc.

Good luck

Dump the crypto, and pay the debt.

This topic made me remember about the btc I have

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d2da6ffe.jpg

Plus another $2000 in my hardware wallet..I'm thinking I might sell them to be honest and transfer it to pay for some upcoming expenses

I'd say you win here and you win there

2Pacavelli posted...

I also have about $75000 in Crypto I can use as well but it's so unpredictable and the next few months / year is expected to be a bull run so I'm worried about potentially stunting myself if I sell any of it prematurely

Sell that.

Never touch anything in a retirement account if you have any other options.

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

Sell that.

Never touch anything in a retirement account if you have any other options.

Thanks I've been leaning towards taking this advice and selling the crypto in the last few days after reflecting on what CE says.

Regardless my plan is to clear this all within the next month at least, no matter which direction I take

Not only clear the debt, but have a plan to not start racking it back up immediately after paying it off