Do you have any fixed expenses you can eliminate or knock down? You probably already combed through these but anything you are paying that you can live without for 6 months?
And well done to you for tackling this. You have given yourself some good spend down options. I hope 2024 is better than the last 2 years.
Do you have any fixed expenses you can eliminate or knock down? You probably already combed through these but anything you are paying that you can live without for 6 months?
And well done to you for tackling this. You have given yourself some good spend down options. I hope 2024 is better than the last 2 years.
MM is always ready to help with a budget! We have some really knowledgeable folks!
I would get rid of the monthly fee one first. At $8, with such a low balance, it has an effective interest rate of over 27% just from the fee. Then, I would close it. That fee needs to go!
I would then knock out 5.
And get to the high interest rate one. 5% of its balance is under $50 so it is costing you approximately $50 extra per year by delaying it after the others (and actually less as you pay minimums and the balance goes down).
Then the high balance.
All of this is negotiable in my mind except the fee card.
yeah, I hate how certain things affect credit and they are certain quick at dropping it.
I bought a car last year (I was rear-ended and they totaled my car) and went to 1 dealership and got dinged 12 times! I think those are gone now but I haven't pulled my report in quite a while. I have the free experian so I know 1 of my scores and can see increases/decreases and a little activity but not a complete report.
It's so hard to get it to go up. Opening my available credit I'd helping. Slowly! lol
It’s so frustrating because it feels as though you have to always utilize debt to have a good score.
After we paid off all our debt we actually closed the cards. Our scores took a dip, but it wasn’t too bad. After about 5 years we each opened a new card and our scores went up. We rarely use them, but maybe just enough to not tank our credit. Mainly we use them to book airfare and hotels and when we travel.
yeah, I'm going to keep most open. I'm only planning on closing the fee card and using the others for things like gas and paying off.
Do you have any fixed expenses you can eliminate or knock down? You probably already combed through these but anything you are paying that you can live without for 6 months?
And well done to you for tackling this. You have given yourself some good spend down options. I hope 2024 is better than the last 2 years.
thanks. I've combed through all that and there's no more cuts that can be made.
Getting a second job helped a lot. It allows me a bit of wiggle room in my main salary/household budget so I'm ok with just using whatever I make there to pay them down. I technically could put a bit extra but I save a good 20% of those paychecks for fun stuff too.
Do you have any fixed expenses you can eliminate or knock down? You probably already combed through these but anything you are paying that you can live without for 6 months?
And well done to you for tackling this. You have given yourself some good spend down options. I hope 2024 is better than the last 2 years.
MM is always ready to help with a budget! We have some really knowledgeable folks!
Oh - does card 3 charge the fee even when there’s no balance? Ok then I change my advice to paying that one off first (after 4 of course) and closing it. I don’t think the length of credit is worth paying nearly $100 a year in fees.
I am in a similar boat! My CC balances are higher than yours, and I am committed to not using the cards and also doing a monthly check in with sadlebred! We are friends in real life, so I show her my graph that I created at the end of each month. I am snowballing because I know I need the satisfaction of knocking a balance out and then moving on to another card.
Knowing I need to tell her helps me a lot and motivates me. Something to think about if you need motivation