the 8300 is racking up interest all the time, maybe its costing you 50 a month or so just in monthly interest. you just need to stop using the cc. perform a detailed analysis of your weekly/monthly spend and ruthlessly eliminate unneccessary spending. to tackle the 8300 balance either get a personal loan from eg credit union to pay it off at once or do a balance transfer to a new cc which would have 0% interest for 6 to 9 months, close the old cc and pay off the 8300 balance on the new cc as much as possible during the 0% interest time period. The 0% interest period on balance transfers would give you some breathing space as no interest being charged. you have to be disciplined and pay off any spare cash every month off it.