I have a credit guide somewhere I can send to you if you'd like, and offer any help I can. I've just seen far too many people get into credit counseling and it takes them much longer to repair it.
I'd appreciate that--profile address works.
I'm supposed to call the credit union back in a couple of hours to see if we were approved for a smaller amount than my original request. I asked about getting enough to cover any or all of the three of our five cards that have the highest interest rate, all of which come from a place I'll call Evil Bank, because that's how I feel about them right now. Of the other two cards, one comes from Not-So-Evil Bank and has a slightly lower rate, and the last one is a new Discover Card that's currently in its 0% on the first year on balance transfers and is set to have the lowest rate of all, actually a bit lower than the credit union's loan rate, once that expires this fall.
Anyway, regardless of how the revised application turns out, I've decided to treat this as if I'd been given a loan. I'm going to figure out what it would take to pay off the debt in five or six years if we don't incur any new debt, and I'm going to pay that amount every month. (Though, given the number of different interest rates involved, the idea of that calculation makes my head hurt.) Whatever money we have left each month after paying our bills and that amount is going to go into a savings account until we build up a cash reserve of $2500. Once we've done that, extra money can go toward paying the debt faster.
Needless to say, I'll adjust as circumstances warrant, seeking lower interest rates, increasing the monthly debt payment amount if our salaries increase or other expenses drop, etc. And I know we might have to use the cards if something drastic happened (like emergency expensive car repair or needing to travel for a family emergency) before we build up the cash reserve. But that way I can create for myself what I wanted from the loan--a sense of control, and a date where this will be over.