Another Debt scenario

[disneysteve]

we do have $1500 in savings i would like to put that in a high yield savings account while we pay off the rest of our debt. Any suggestions on which bank to go with. I am looking at Ally.

Ally is a great choice. I just switched to them from Capital One and my daughter has been with them for a while. Great customer service and they are very quick to up their rate anytime they can. In fact, it just went up from 1.65% to 1.75% this past week. No minimum required.

[scfr]

Any suggestions on which bank to go with.

DepositAccounts.com is a great place to compare savings accounts.

https://www.depositaccounts.com/savings/

Be aware that the top 4 on the list (the ones above the "blue line") are sponsored links so they aren't necessarily the highest.

[Jluke]

So here I am midway through the year

Vehicle loan $5962 @ 3.5

Credit card $0

Student Loan $21531

So IRS really set us back this year. But we were able to pay them and our state taxes and property taxes in cash. We will now be going to aggressively pay off our vehicle loan with 1900 a month. However we do have $1500 in savings i would like to put that in a high yield savings account while we pay off the rest of our debt. Any suggestions on which bank to go with. I am looking at Ally. I would like to put more towards debt but DH works outside and is sent home often in summer due to heat. It’s unpredictable when he is sent home and what days so he is unable pick up 2nd job.

$1500 in savings. Is that it?

If so I would consider taking that $1900/month car payment and saving $1000/month of it until you have $5k in savings. That car loan is not a debt emergency and if you need to borrow money for whatever reason you won’t find a rate that low these days.

Also, will you be in the same position with the IRS etc again?

Great job on the credit card debt.

[asb2012]

Yes we have $1500 in savings I can’t honestly think of a scenario where I would need more than that right now. seeing as i renting my home all repairs would go to owner. Recently had maintenance done on both vehicles however i honestly can not think of having car repairs more than $1500 but if i do i can not make a 1900 payment one month. If i was in car accident my deductible is $750. I also have health insurance and a health savings account. I think $1500 for next 3 months is fine. Also my cell phone is paid off and if something happens to it i just plan on getting a cheap phone. I feel like i have thought of most emergency that could happen that would cost significant amount of money. After 3 months i plan on saving for my payment towards IRS Which is due in April also starting to pay towards my student loans. I saved last year for IRS payment but I didn’t realize it would be that much more this year. Although i do my taxes myself this year i had tax pro look at ours (for free as A favor they owed me) i was right that we owed more.

[disneysteve]

Yes we have $1500 in savings I can’t honestly think of a scenario where I would need more than that right now.

I feel like i have thought of most emergency that could happen that would cost significant amount of money.

I think the #1 emergency people don't necessarily think of is loss of income. What happens if you lose your job tomorrow? What happens if you get sick or injured and can't work for a while? You health insurance will pay most of your medical bills but you'll have no income if you're in the hospital for a week or home recovering for a month or two.

[asb2012]

Very true which is why i love this site you guys are honest maybe i can put $900 towards car while $1000 to savings

[Nutria]

Very true which is why i love this site you guys are honest maybe i can put $900 towards car while $1000 to savings

Exactly. Killing the "hair on fire" CC debt was of prime importance, and spending savings for that purpose is Best Practice.

But now you can do both save and put extra towards debt. Once you've saved 3-4 months worth of expenses in this split manner, then go back to hitting the debt with all your extra income.

[disneysteve]

Very true which is why i love this site you guys are honest maybe i can put $900 towards car while $1000 to savings

Sounds good.

The biggest "emergency" I've ever had was when I quit my job kind of suddenly and was out of work for 3 months. When I did start a new job, it was at a lower income initially than my previous job. I would never have been able to do that if not for a fully funded emergency fund. A couple thousand dollars would have been gone in no time.