CC Interest

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
CC Interest
5
Thu, 11-03-2005 - 1:10pm

One of the things that I track is the amount of interest paid on each card each month.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-04-2004
In reply to: cl_phocid
Thu, 11-03-2005 - 4:37pm

Good for you! Just think, every year it will get smaller and smaller and every payment you make, more of it goes to principal. Those spreadsheets can really be a good motivator to see how far you have come and to see where you are going. Keep up the great work! :)

~leanne

~leanne

deciding to be happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect, but that you had decided to look beyond the imp

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: cl_phocid
Thu, 11-03-2005 - 6:17pm
Does that include your mortgage interest? I never looked specifically at what we paid in interest each year but after seeing your post I quickly calculated it and we will pay about $2700 this year including our mortgage interest. I don't consider us to have much debt ($48000 mtg. at 4% which will be paid off in 2 years and $9000 on a citibank CC at .99% for life of loan) so $5000 doesn't sound too bad to me. By the way, I still consider ourselves debtless because we have the money to pay these debts off but instead choose to keep the money in an ING savings account earning 3.4%. I consider that our emergency fund. Always wanted to ask this board if they thought this was a good idea or not and if you would consider yourselves debt free in this situation.
Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: cl_phocid
Thu, 11-03-2005 - 10:41pm
Oh wow - I wish it included mortgage.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: cl_phocid
Sat, 11-05-2005 - 8:22am

For me I wouldn't consider myself debtless with still having a balance on a credit card even though you have the money to pay off the cc - things can always happen. For example (sorry if I sound so negative) what happens if you loose your job or get sick and you end up needing to use your emergency fund to pay for the basics.

See this is about to happen to us. I am going to loose my job soon and we may well need to use our savings/emergency fund to survive. The money I have in that account could pay off the rest of the cc but I can't do that right now as I may really need that money to pay the mortgage.

When my cc are paid off I will consider myself cc debt free. When and if I ever get the mortgage and the van paid off I will consider myself loan free.

I will consider myself debt free when the time comes when as soon as a monthly bill (utilities whatever) comes in the mail and that same day I can turn around and pay the bill without having to dip into the savings account to pay the bill.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2005
In reply to: cl_phocid
Sat, 11-05-2005 - 9:08am

You are a braver woman than I looking at the CC interest you pay each year. I cringe to even think about it. That being said, I finally dug the Quicken that I've had laying around the apartment for months out and set it up yesterday at least as well as I can until the next bills get here from the credit card companies. I'm so bad that I don't even know the interest rate I'm paying on some of my cards. Hopefully in the next couple of months I'll have a handle on exactly what I've gotten myself into and what it will take to get out of it.

Heck just looking at the total CC debt, and the car loan, and the student loan, I have is enough to make me sick to my stomach. Never again, I keep telling myself that. Never again, will I have debt like this.