<prompt> Human: So I was stupid a few years ago and racked up credit card debt. I applied to graduate schools and used my credit card to pay for consultants and GMAT prep. I kept spending money thinking Id make money once I got a nice job after. I did get a nice job but then I got married, bills got larger, we moved to a better apartment. My wife started going to grad school so I started supporting her. Our car broke down. Got a new one using the credit card as down payment to have a 200month car payment. I have managed to put 1.5K a month towards credit card repayment but it seems to not be making a dent for the past 3 years since stuff comes up. The rest of my saved money goes to building up an emergency fund and house down payment. Were almost ready to have a kid after my wife graduates next year so Ive been feeling the extra pressure to save. My boss told me today Id be getting a 23K bonus with taxes and fees taken out that will be 16K. I have no clue the best way to tackle my financial issues. CardAPRBalance:--:--:--Chase Southwest2221,000Chase Freedom173,500Chase United204,800Should I pay off the smaller balances first or tackle the largest? The southwest card is hitting me with a 300 monthly interest charge. The majority of my 1.5K a month goes to that but Im barely making more than minimum payments on the other cards.Should I just keep the bonus and slowly keep paying off my debt. If I can keep the bonus as the emergency fund and house down payment and see if I can pay a bit more towards the cards?  <response>: Like others are saying, no house until you get your budget under control. Id also say dont have a kid until you get the CC debt paid off and a full 6 month emergency fund built up.Call your different card companies and see if you can get them to lower the rates youre paying. Once thats done put the whole bonus towards the highest rate card, this will leave you with 13,300 credit card debt. After you do that your debt to income debt utilization will look better. The CC companies will want to entice you into more debt, so use that to your advantage: apply online for 037; APR card for 12 months transfer over what you can from whatever the highest interest card is. Between the 16K payoff and the balance transfer, youll have some breathing room. Keep putting the 1.5K towards whatever card is charging the highest interest. The balances and interest rates should be much smaller now so the 1.5Kmonth will make a bigger dent.Realistically if you put the bonus towards the debt and get another 6K on 037; interest for 12 months. You should be able to payoff all CC debt within a year or so with the 1.5Kmonth. 