Do You put more money.........
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Do You put more money.........
| Wed, 01-11-2006 - 9:15pm |
towards the debt with the highest interest first or the one with the smallest balance?
Holly
| Wed, 01-11-2006 - 9:15pm |
towards the debt with the highest interest first or the one with the smallest balance?
Holly
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I think that that is a personal preference. I like the smallest balance, as then I have the satisfaction of paying something off sooner. However, once I have a small balance paid off, I do like to throw some money at a medium balance with a killer interest rate. So, I guess I go back and forth, but I do like to have 1 thing paid before targeting the next thing.
-Sarah
Sarah
Mom to Gina & Tony
I do the highest interest but I know debt experts are divided. Our biggest factor was that we had multiple debts at about the same amount so the argument that you would pay the smallest off very quickly and then have more to snowball didn't matter as much in our situation. But, we shifted the 2nd mortgage from 8.45 (I think) to a credit card with a 3.99 interest rate until the balance is paid off. Because that had been our target debt for over a year and both of us were so focused on paying it off we didn't shift to having another debt as our target.
Taleyna
Holly - we decided that for us, we would pay the interest to the account that would give us the greatest satisfaction of paying it off.
All my best,
Danni
Our biggest credit card debt is the highest interest.
I feel that I need to pay that first----I can't stand the interest. All of our other credit card debt are zero interest---but for a limited time!!
I don't know what to do now!!!
Holly
We are paying our credit card that has a ridiculously high interest rate first. Normally, I would pay off the smallest amount first because I like the idea of having the less numer of creditors but for us, mathamatically, we HAVE to get rid of the high interest card. I think it all depends on the kind of person you are.
Since your other cards are at 0%, I would definatly work on the high interest card.
Good Luck,
Cristin
Holly - don't get paralyzed with indecision.
All my best,
Danni
I completely agree with the stupid tax thing. I figure I made the bed I'm lying in and I will deal with paying for it. And hopefully this will teach me a lesson that I needed to learn. Mainly, I can not handle having credit cards. I am keeping one for emergencies and such but that's only until I get my emergency fund built up.
I'm paying smallest balance to largest balance for a couple of reason. I hate having so many payments to make each month and so many debts to keep tract of. And I get a real sense of statisifaction from paying off one of my debts. My highest interest card is right in the middle so only two more cards to go before I pay it off. And it's neat to have one balance to focus on and get excited as it goes down.
So really it's just a personal decision, the most important thing is to pick one debt and focus on it.
Good luck with however you decide to handle your debt.
Hello,
I have posted this before, but I use the following calculation:
Balance / Minimum Payment = # of Payments to Payoff
Example:
$2000 Balance / 20 Minimum Payment = 100 payments
$5000 Balance / 100 Minimum Payment = 50 payments
I choose the one with the smallest # of payments needed to pay it off, which isn't always the smallest balance, as the above info shows. This is obviously a rough estimate, but *most* of my credit card debt is currently on 0% APR cards, so I don't have to worry about the interest until January 2007. It is really nice to see those balances go down without interest taking out big chunks of the payment!
Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke
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Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke
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