2week snowball effect.........

[luvnspnful]

I'm so excited! from the 2 wks I've lurked and learned valuable info at this site, I became truly motivated. I even purchased TMMO and read it cover to cover in bedtime reading stretches. Gives me hope Here's a quickie breakdown on my progress:

april start:
total CC debt: $17915.29- broken down into these amts;
Visa: $9118.35.... made 1 payment of $1000 ( income tax refund) and another today of $18.35... ending total: $8100

Amex: $5623.94. payment today of $323.94.... ending total: $5300

Line of Credit: $3172.92.... payment april 16 of $250, and another of 29.22 today. ...ending total: 2900.

total monthly payout: $1615.29. and my budget was $1400

Great start if I do say so myself I cant bring myself to only pay minimums on the smaller amounts. I must pay it to an equal amount. the great thing is that according to my snowball calc, i will be debt free for the first time in 9 years within 11 MONTHS(not including my car loan....that'll take me 3 yrs). WOOHOO.

thanks to everyone for all that you share and the encouragement ive received from this wonderful place.

[JanH]

Wow, what a start! That's great! Your needing even amounts sounds like my Hubby. He has to pump gas to an even amount--has to end on a zero. lol

[luvnspnful]

Lol on your hubby. Im the same way. Must be a Type A personality thing or the fact I'm a Taurus. I just find it helps me see my progress easier, and do some mental math in a jiffy.
Thanks for your encouragement

[puck36]

april start:
total CC debt: $17915.29- broken down into these amts;
Visa: $9118.35.... made 1 payment of $1000 ( income tax refund) and another today of $18.35... ending total: $8100

Amex: $5623.94. payment today of $323.94.... ending total: $5300

Line of Credit: $3172.92.... payment april 16 of $250, and another of 29.22 today. ...ending total: 2900.

total monthly payout: $1615.29. and my budget was $1400

If you are truely doing the Debt Snowball you would have to do the following.

1. List Debts smallest (amount) to largest.
1a. Line of Credit - $2900
2a. Amex - $5300
3a. Visa - $8100
2. Make the minimum payments on all debts
3. Take any extra money and pay down the smallest debt
4. Once the smallest debt is paid off, take that payment/extra money and add it to the next smallest debt.
5. Repeat Step 4 until you are DEBT FREE

I followed Dave's Plan and I was debt free within 2 years. By following the Debt Snowball, I found myself making 3 payments a month on my car. Each payment was $251.81 ($755.43).

Read what Dave says about the Debt Snowball.
Dave Ramsey's debt snowball plan - a great way to get out of debt

[luvnspnful]

i have DR's TMMO. im only using it as a guideline. im paying highest interest debt first (visa is 18.5 %, vs 10% for my LOC). i took the debt calulator payments and upped them to pay the interest down faster. if i only pay the true DR way, it will take me 18 months instead of 11 to be debt free. the visa has balance insurance on it that costs roughly $55 monthly on top of the interest, making the finance charges more than the minimum payment. that, and the finance charges of almost a hundy on the amex are more than my biweekly car payment! ergo, paying the biggest balance first, and so on. once the visa is paid off, i will switch wholeheartedly to the purest snowball method

[tinapbeana]

it's not about which method is the right or wrong one, it's about which one is the right or wrong one FOR YOU. if paying the highest interest rate off first is what will keep the OP motivated, then by all means do it. if you're someone who likes to see results fast, paying the lowest balance off first might be the method that works for you. doesn't really matter which one you choose, the difference in interest is typically only a couple hundred dollars over the course of a few years. what matters is that YOU DO IT and are motivated to KEEP DOING IT.

congrats to the OP for finding a method that works for them

[Ima saver]

I agree with tina, just do what works for you and keep up the good work. What does TMMO stand for?

[disneysteve]

What does TMMO stand for?

Total Money Make Over

[Homebody]

Thanks Steve and Ima. I was wondering that too. I was thinking Dr. TMMO. What doctor has written a book on money?? But then I call customers, patient's. Comes from being in health care support for over 30 years I guess.

[autoxer]

i will be debt free for the first time in 9 years within 11 MONTHS(not including my car loan....that'll take me 3 yrs). WOOHOO.

When all of your credit cards & line of credit are all down to $0, then you can snowball all of those payments on the car loan & it will be gone in much less than 3 years.

the visa has balance insurance on it that costs roughly $55 monthly on top of the interest, making the finance charges more than the minimum payment.

$55/month for balance insurance? Is that necessary?

[anonymous_saver]

i have DR's TMMO. im only using it as a guideline. im paying highest interest debt first (visa is 18.5 %, vs 10% for my LOC). i took the debt calulator payments and upped them to pay the interest down faster. if i only pay the true DR way, it will take me 18 months instead of 11 to be debt free. the visa has balance insurance on it that costs roughly $55 monthly on top of the interest, making the finance charges more than the minimum payment. that, and the finance charges of almost a hundy on the amex are more than my biweekly car payment! ergo, paying the biggest balance first, and so on. once the visa is paid off, i will switch wholeheartedly to the purest snowball method

What is the interest rates on your car and your Amex card?

Also, I just wanted to say congratulations, being debt free in 11 months is not that bad at all. Good job!

Did you set aside a small amount of money for an emergency fund first? Just curious, because you may want to set aside a few hundred dollars at a high interest rate so that if an emergency happens, you don't have to use those credit cards again.

Have you tried to lower your rates on your cards at all?

[luvnspnful]

good morning all!

to answer a few questions:

- the $55 on the balance insurance stinks, but RBC wouldnt let me cancel it as apparently its part of the original contract(i wouldnt have accepted this act if id known that). i tried to drop it, but im stuck. grrr
-i tried to lower all my interest rates, but was told I had to switch to new cc products to do that........that would kill the age of my accounts, and I dont want more cards.
-the Amex is 16.99%.......as soon as the visa is paid off, im attacking it in a huge way. should be paid for by Mar '08.
-car loan is 8.5%- chrysler is a PITA. im getting my utilization down to under 50% then im trying at work again for a LOC- we get 3.8% below standard as employees. should save me couple grand in interest.

EF has 2900.......2nd EF has 1100. im aware i should use some of it towards debt, but im in the middle of a seperation from the Hubster, and if things get ugly, i need that cushion to survive on.
-after snowballing on Cc is done, im going to save more, but pay double on the car each month. i could be really aggressive, but want more $ saved in a high yield GIC.

thanks to all for your help and support.

[autoxer]

- the $55 on the balance insurance stinks, but RBC wouldnt let me cancel it as apparently its part of the original contract(i wouldnt have accepted this act if id known that). i tried to drop it, but im stuck. grrr
-i tried to lower all my interest rates, but was told I had to switch to new cc products to do that........that would kill the age of my accounts, and I dont want more cards.

Combining the balance insurance with the interest rate, gives an effective APY of around 26%. You could save a lot of money in interest/balance insurance if you could do a balance transfer to a card with a lower rate. You don't have to close your old account, so you can keep it's history on your credit report.

[luvnspnful]

:e APY of around 26%ek: .

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little . I didnt do the math on that one........in a way glad I hadnt. yikes........I 'spose I could transfer about half the balance on that visa to my PLOC and the rest to my lower rate visa ( which has 0 balance) and save a bunch, but not until after the $1800 of my BT is paid for( hopefully in june). then im moving that heart-attack inducing portion over. Thanks for the heads up

Does anyone know of any decent low % cards in Canada? we dont get all the different offers like the USA. thanks much

[krayziebone33]

I'm so excited! from the 2 wks I've lurked and learned valuable info at this site, I became truly motivated. I even purchased TMMO and read it cover to cover in bedtime reading stretches. Gives me hope Here's a quickie breakdown on my progress:

april start:
total CC debt: $17915.29- broken down into these amts;
Visa: $9118.35.... made 1 payment of $1000 ( income tax refund) and another today of $18.35... ending total: $8100

Amex: $5623.94. payment today of $323.94.... ending total: $5300

Line of Credit: $3172.92.... payment april 16 of $250, and another of 29.22 today. ...ending total: 2900.

total monthly payout: $1615.29. and my budget was $1400

Great start if I do say so myself I cant bring myself to only pay minimums on the smaller amounts. I must pay it to an equal amount. the great thing is that according to my snowball calc, i will be debt free for the first time in 9 years within 11 MONTHS(not including my car loan....that'll take me 3 yrs). WOOHOO.

thanks to everyone for all that you share and the encouragement ive received from this wonderful place.

This is actually a heck of a start. Keep it up.