should I ???

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-20-2004
should I ???
3
Fri, 07-15-2005 - 4:00pm

I owe Best Buy $300. I have the money to pay it off, and it is my current target because it has the lowest balance and if it isn't paid off by October, I will owe a lot of finance charges (one of those no interest deals) Next month I will have
a lot of medical bills coming in, some of which I'll be able to pay off without any trouble, and at least one that will be a bit of a challenge. (I've been looking over the EOBs as they have posted so I won't be too surprised)

I also have a big trip to a conference in New York in September, which I will have to pay for airfare, rent a car, etc. (Can't cancel it because it is for my daughter's therapy, and I already have $900 into it, which is nonrefundable) We are considering driving to conserve funds, but we are not bringing our girls with us, so we are already majorly inconveniencing my brother who is going to fly in from another state to take care of them. (Driving would add at least another two days to the trip.)

Oh, am I anxious to cross another account off the list. Just not sure its the most logical thing to do right now....hmmm.....Heather

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-18-2004
In reply to: herege
Fri, 07-15-2005 - 4:53pm

Will you have Best Buy paid off by Oct anyway? I know you really want to cross it off your list but ask yourself some questions. Will paying off Best Buy now put you in a financial crunch? Will you have it paid off by Oct if you pay according to a regular schedule? How much of your trip will you have to put on a cc (if any) and how close to your credit limit on that card are you? How much will your medical bills be.

If you won't be able to pay off Best Buy without the money, I say pay it now and be done with it. I don't know how much you owe to Best Buy but I have one of the similar deals with them and if I don't have it paid by next April, right now I would owe $500 in finance charges so it would make more sense for me to pay the $300 KWIM?

It can be a hard decision on who to pay and what to do, especially when it involves your children and your health. However, you have to do what is right for you. If your trip were just a vacation, I would say cancel it and not spend anymore on it, just lose the $900. However, since it is for your daughter's therapy, you HAVE to go. Some may say I am wrong to feel that way, but I think most people will agree that parents will go into deep debt and hock everything they own if it gives their kids a better, brighter, medical future.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Kellie

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2005
In reply to: herege
Fri, 07-15-2005 - 5:38pm

I can relate to that, we owe $2000 for some treatments that my baby daughter needed this year (and that is even with our lousy insurance) and oh it was so painful to know we would have to pay for that later when we were just trying to get out of debt,,,, but I would do anything for my dd so we did it without
hesitation. HOpefully when we get out of debt we can start putting the money aside for these types of things so they won't hang with us for years.

Good luck,
Shannon

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-07-2003
In reply to: herege
Sun, 07-17-2005 - 10:04am

Hey Heather...

I, *personally*,would pay off the Best Buy now.

Medical bills suck, so I hear ya...but I'll tell you what I blame for most of *my* debt...when the medical bills came in, with the note tht insurance hadn't paid in however many months and I had to pay Right Then or they would send it to collections...I put it on a credit card (I was 24 or 25 and soo afraid of the word "collections")...and the bills kept coming, I had no idea what was left to pay for each time, because I kept assuming my insurance would eventully pay Something. ha.

Anyway...by the end of 2003 I had emptied my savings paying for medical bills (kidney stones), then I quit my high-stress job, was paying insurance premiums out of pocket and yet, by the end of 2004 I had another $8000 on CC that was medical debt. THEN..yet ANOTHER bill came. My cards were maxed, I didn't know what to do and I said, "fine, send me to collections." -- Yea....they sent me to an IN-hospital collection agency to setup a payment plan. It doesnt even SHOW on my credit report. I'm paying off that last $400 at 12%, $36 a month with no early pay-off fee. Which isn't great, but since the other $8000 is between 16 and 29% on my CCs, you can see I wish I had sent ALL the bills that way! Oy.

Which does NOT mean Im advocating not paying the bills or thinking its OK that you spend more this month and dont have it to pay next month. But, as you say, if you Don't pay off best buy you'll be hit with MORE finance fees...better to have it free & clear, and not weighing on your mind and soul. STICK to your Budget & your plan. if it's your target card, PAY it.

You say you'll be able to pay most of your medical bills OK either way, so that's good.

If you're just a small percentage short, and they are all from the same hospital, be sure you call. I had a $4000 bill from a hospital in Denver (im from KC, the original kidney stones hit out there), and after 6 months of insurance not paying it below that $4000 mark, and 5 more months of ME ignoring it hoping insurance would eventully cover it. heh...They offered me a deal. What I eventully paid was just under $2000. 46% of what was left of my bill. and its free and clear and marked paid in full. So, if, say, your total bills are $5000 and you know you can pay $4500 of them, I would call and try to get the biller to eat the $500 in return for you paying in full that month. ;)

As for the traveling....i've got all sorts of "cheap travel" thoughts running thru my head, as I LOVE to travel.
in the fly vs drive, figure your gas & hotel room if needed (one night out from New York is Ohio, so figure about $65 for the room). AND, if you're going to NYC...figure the cost of PARKING your car while you're there. Extra missed work for a longer trip, etc. BUT...you'll be able to bring groceries, wont have to eat out, etc. Also figure an extra oil change and tune up for the car, as if its adding 2 days to your trip, you're probably going to add a few thousand miles to your car.
then, head over to www.travelocity.com and see what the going rate for tickets is. If the total numbers are within $100 of eachother....its cheaper to fly. You can sign up for travelocity to let you know when the price drops, and you have 2 months to track it and get it when the price falls into your budget, plus, I have had some Great luck with www.hotwire.com and www.priceline.com, both of which you buy the ticket BEFORE you know the flight info.
As for a rental car...if you're going to NYC you probably wont need one. Driving in NYC is a pain no human should be subjected too, anyway. If you're headed someplace upstate and DO feel you'll need one....www.hotwire.com and www.priceline.com would DEFINITELY be my route. -- a 2 week rental in Boston is listed at over $500 after taxes, Hotwire lists it as just over $300, and on priceline I could have gotten it below the $300 mark. (I've instead decided to have a friend driveinto boston to get me, and I'll just do a one day rental to drive BACK into the city, which is about $20)

Anyway...I know that's LOTS more then you wanted, and you prolly already knew all that...so i'll get back to my point...I would Definitely pay off Best Buy if it was me, for peace of mind and sense of accomplishment in both sticking to my plan & eliminating a debt.
(I just paid off my 2 department store debts and it felt sooooo good)

~ Teresa

Teresa
http://www.affordingpickles.blogspot.com