Not sure how to explain this....

[BlingBling]

But it worked for me! Several years ago I almost lost it all. Home ect. I went through a year of back injuries, workmans comp, horrible.

It took me two years of struggle but I got bk on my feet. Late last year, I ended up with 3 jobs. 2 wah. I worked for a texting co. and a call center. I did hospice care on the side. The texting co. paid weekly and well and I worked like a dog. I decided online banking would at least allow me to take care of business at home and give me less errands to run.

My online banking cost 4.99 a month, I have since found out that Bank of America offers this service for free. Is anyone using it?

Here what happened though. I listed all my cc's. Normally I would make miniumn payment and pray for the day that I could pay more. It never happened as I would worry about making a big payment, what if I needed it later? No savings. Scared to let go of a dime because of fear.

Still, I had that weekly paypal deposit. Soon, I was like heck, I can make another payment! To make a long story short, I made weekly payments through online banking on the cc's and a few odds and ends like hospital bills. I went from making that miniumn monthly payment to tripling that monthly payment and did not feel any pain, did'nt miss the money but sure enjoyed seeing the bal. drop dramatically every month. They were soon paid off and I was in shock, good shock

I think the weekly payment kicked the interest in the behind but I am not positive about that. Do you all think so? I am considering doing this with my remodeling loan but I've yet to get up the nerve, to try it.

Can anyone help me with this. I know I did something good, just not sure how I did it but man, it was fun.

[terry1156]

Great Job - paying only the minimum will mke it take years and years to pay off your debt because almost everything you pay is interest and only a a bit of the amount you owe.

What you did was start paying off more than the minimum and by doing so greatly increased the payoff time. It's agreat example of why you should always pay off more than the minimum.

It didn't really affect the interest rate itself, but made a huge sifference on what you'd have to pay in the long run. It's kind of like <A HREF="http://www.savingadvice.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30">bi-monthly mortgage payments</A>. The same principle.

[Tree0164]

Congrats on paying your debt down It makes a world of difference when you pay more than the min amount.

[BlingBling]

Thanks! Now on to that remodeling loan.

[Amy752]

Great idea! I have 2 CCs to pay off and pay online as well. I was thiking about at least throwing money at them every paycheck instead of every month. Once I figure out a way to raise my income, I may do it weekly too! Thanks - and congrats! That's awesome!

[BlingBling]

You can do it Amy! Just remember that you want to make the miniumn payment before the due date and then for the remainder of the month, do whatever you are comfortable with. I just made a game out of it and it became a habit. Some weeks it was very little, others it was more then I would have thought possible. It also helped to cut down on careless spending as I was always like well, I could put that towards the cc and go home and do it right then.

Another thing it did for me, was put me back in control.

[Tree0164]

Amy Do that. I would focus on paying off the highest interest rate first and the mininum on the lower rate. That is call the snowball method.

[Amy752]

Great advice! I made a payment yesterday actually (a second one for the month). I felt great about it! Thank you!!!

[squirlma]

I, too, will make multiple payments on cc's using the websites. This is a great way to throw any "extra" money towards those balances, so you don't accidentally spend it before the next bill comes. However, one card - Bank of America - won't ever post any payments until the actual due date, even if they are made two-three weeks ahead of time. I suppose they do this so they can charge the maximum amount of interest. Very annoying.