Question

Advice please!  Between my husband & I, we have 3 credit cards left to pay off.Advice please! Between my husband & I, we have 3 credit cards left to pay off. (We recently paid off the lowest 2 with our tax refund! ) The ones we have left are: Capital One: $700 at 21. 3% interest Elan: $1950 0% promo until 10/20 Chase: $3000 0% promo until 02/21 We have been paying $350/month towards debt each month. But, we have $3000 in savings. A big part of me wants to take a chunk of that to pay off the Capital One, & then continue paying $350/month between the other 2 cards. ($300 on the Elan & $50 on the Chase. & when Elan is paid off, then I'll pay $350 on Chase till that's paid off. But I also really hate using my savings. What if something happens & we need it? We just bought a house last year & what if something breaks? I don't want to regret using the savings. But I also want to be debt free asap! What would you do if you were me?  

Answer 1

I would pay off the $700 and make sure that I could pay off the 0% by September so I wouldn't be charged back interest. Then roll all of that to the other before it ends as well. If I couldn't do it with my monthly amount, I would take it from savings except the $1000 EF. If all that makes sense

Comments

@izard This card actually wont charge back interest, I made sure of that before I got it. So if I owe only $500 by October, I'll only get charged interest on the $500, not the original $3500 I did for the balance transfer

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That's awesome!  

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@izard :) I would still like to pay it off before October, but it won't be thaaat much of a big deal if I can't

Answer 2

I would pay off the $700! This day one year ago, I paid off my student loan by taking a huge chunk from my savings (but keeping an emergency fund). It ended up saving me so much money because I was going to have to make the payments either way, but the way I did it (huge chunk to finish it off) I didn't have to pay all that added interest. Looks like you are in a good spot to do it, too!  

Comments

@guess6598 I am so glad to see this. I just dipped in my savings to pay my LAST student loan. I argued with myself over it but I just want the debt gone! Now all I owe on is my HELOC for the house. Very exiting day for me!  

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@foveola WHAT A HUGE MILESTONE! Congrats my friend! My post about paying off my student loan popped up today on FB from 1 year ago exactly. Feels so good! NO REGRETS about paying that one off early! :)

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@guess6598 thanks! I found this group a year ago Feb thinking how can I get rid of debt on a salaried position w no side hustle. I am the first to say it has been eye opening and rewarding!  

Answer 3

I’d do that for sure. 21% is a lot of interest.  

Answer 4

That is exactly what I would do! You would have all your CCs paid off by the end of the year meeting both of the 0% deadlines.  

Comments

@hauteur your comment made me realize my mistake in my post. We owe $3000 on chase, not $2000! Big oops lol I edited it

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@mernamero I would still do it this way and at the end of January take from savings what you need to fully pay off the last CC. You never know what might happen between now and then and you may find extra money to throw at it paying it off quicker. Then in Feb 2021 you can start putting the $350/m back in savings.  

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@hauteur good idea! Except I'll probably use my tax refund at the beginning of next year to pay off the rest. I just wrote out a plan for it, but like you said, I might have extra $ to throw at it throughout the year too

Answer 5

Just realized I made a mistake on the original post! We owe $3000 on the chase card! Not 2! I edited it

Answer 6

Pay off that interest. that could be $ in your bank

Answer 7

Pay off the 700 then divide the chase and the other by how many months you have left with that card for example you have 1500 until Oct ÷ that 8 months is 187. 50 so pay 188 each month on that card and the same for example for the other

Answer 8

After having a 1K emergency fund, use your savings to pay off what you can and then continue $350 towards the chase!  

Answer 9

Personally I would take from savings and then pay that off and then pay back savings in 2 months and then start paying the debt again!  

Comments

And then when 0% ends, if there is still a balance I would pull from savings again and then replenish. At least this way savings can stay in tact as much as possible