Personal Finance and Investing

After everything is paid, i/e., rent or mortgage, car, insurance, utilities (including phone and internet) and food, how much is left? If it is less than the minimum payment asked for on the credit card statement, then a couple of larger questions have to be asked;

How long do you want to carry this burden? What is the worst case scenario if you don't pay the credit card bill?

Answer: They wont put you in jail. We don't have debtors prison in this country (not yet, anyway). There are ways to avoid paying the debt but they aren't without consequence. If you ignore paying a large credit card debt, expect your credit rating to plummet. But that's not permanent. I speak from experience, having come from a rating in the low 400's to over 800 now.

It's risk vs. reward. I don't advocate shirking responsibility by any stretch, but at the end of the day, it is unsecured debt. The credit card companies know this, and as a result, they can go and pound sand.

If she defaults on the $25K balance, the absolute worst thing that can happen is it will be more expensive to get cheap credit for a few years. That's it.