save or pay off card

[disneysteve]

No, I won't have enough money to pay off 6, since I also am planning to pay higher payments on No 1.

Then I would pay off #6 since once the 0% expires, that will be your highest rate card. Pay it off before it starts accruing interest.

[PRICEPLUS]

Me I would pay off 5 and 6 and clear them off the chart and then I would go after #2.

The Amex is essentially 2 loans because the 4000 at 15.29 is not going to be touched as you pay off the 8500 at 5.99 fixed. Don't put anymore debt on that card. That is what absolutely killed me the last time my wife went on a spending binge! (That is another story-read my blog)!

The killer is that the 4000 at 15.29 is variable rate. Geez don't make a late payment. I don't know if the 13000 on the AAA is variable but the amount and the interest at the present time makes me say pay it down. Reassess as time goes by!

Compare mortgage rates, home loans, CD rates, auto loans, credit cards, mortgages and more has excellent calculators for you to analyze your credit card payments!

Well that is my take on it for what it is worth. Once you pay off two then attack the last one and get yourself out form under. I did it and so can you! Good Luck!

[cptacek]

I would immediately pay off #5 and #6 because #5 is 23% interest and #6 will be 18%. These are your highest rate cards, and the refund will allow you almost wipe them away (add some other money to them to get them completely paid off), freeing up some of your cash to put towards other debts.

Now, I've had this work sometimes before, sometimes not. I've included a note with my payment to a card similar to your #1, with two different interest rates on the balances, and asked that they apply the payment to the higher percentage. Like I said, sometimes it works, but it usually only works once. I would try to scrape together a pretty big amount and do it once. If they don't apply it to the higher amount, they will at least apply it to the lower amount. If they don't allow you do do it, then concentrate on #2.

The reason I say concentrate on #2 is that if they don't allow you to pay down the higher interest rate on #1, then you have to consider that as one debt. You have $8500 @ 5.99% and $4000 @ 15.29%.

Interest on the $8500 should be about $42.43 per month (Principal * Rate * 1 month / 12 months in a year) or ($8500 * .0599 *1 / 12) = $42.43

Interest on the $4000 should be $50.97 per month ($4000 * .1529 * 1 / 12) = $50.97

So you are paying $93.40 on a debt of $12500. That is an effective interest rate of 8.96% per month. It's not important, so if you want to skip this part, that is fine, but I got this by:
=> Interest = Principal * Rate * 1 month / 12 months in a year
=> Interest * 12 months in a year = Principal * Rate * 1 month
=> Interest * 12 months in a year / Principal = Rate
=> $93.40 * 12 / $12500 = .0896 = 8.96%

So, now you have one debt of $12500 @ 8.96% and one debt of $13000 @ 13.99%. So, I would pay off card #2.

[mercuryguy]

Thanks for the replies, very helpful!!!

I'm planning on doing this

* Pay off 5 ASAP ( $1,250)
* Put $2,000 into the ING saving acct
* pay the rest of my tax refund ($2,000) to No. 2
* I can make payments on No. 6 since its still on 0% APR for 5 months.

What do you guys think?

Thanks.

[disneysteve]

I'm planning on doing this

* Pay off 5 ASAP ( $1,250)
* Put $2,000 into the ING saving acct
* pay the rest of my tax refund ($2,000) to No. 2
* I can make payments on No. 6 since its still on 0% APR for 5 months.

What do you guys think?

I think the 5 people who have replied all said the same thing: pay off 5 and 6 first. Then work on 2. I'm not understanding why you are still planning to do it the way you say above. Your refund is large enough to eliminate 6, which has the highest rate once the 0% expires. You've said you don't have enough to pay off 6, so in essence, your above plan is focusing on a 13.99% debt instead of an 18% debt which doesn't make sense.

[anonymous_saver]

Also, I wouldn't be opening an account with ING, their rates are relatively low at 4.5%. You can get 5.05% with Emigrant or HSBC (it is 6% until April 30th, but by the time you get enrolled it really would only be a few days of 6% interest).

I have an account with all three. I have $1 sitting in ING just in case they ever raise their rates significantly. I like Emigrant the most.

The Ultimate Interest Rate Chaser Calculator » My Money Blog

This link is kind of interesting to play with some numbers to see how much you would gain/lose by switching to different interest rates.

Good luck.

[mom-from-missouri]

Review the terms on your card. Will the interest start in June effective in June or will they BACKDATE the interest like they do on those 0% furniture loans? I'd pay it off cc first.