Doing the right thing.....GAK!

**Cricketlegs** · 04-05-2009, 10:12 AM

I owe(d) $1500 on my CC.--(the only CC we have and the first debt in the snowball although I pay about $80 a month extra on the car...)

Dh had a good check and will have good checks all month soooooo

I just paid $1000 on the card. This will leave me at a balance of $500 plus change.

I think I need to throw up.. only in a good way...

I am very excited and I will probably get the card paid off this month or next month.

I am ahead on my car payment 6 months and don't HAVE to make one until September but I HATE to not make it(the car pays off at the end of this year following snowball numbers so it will all even out if I miss this month) so I have to decide.

Make a $400 car payment and pay cc off next month

Skip car payment and make the last $500 on the cc this month and be done with it and start up with $700($300cc+$400 car)=new car payment) on the car next month.

Am I being stubborn about my car payment because the balance is really going done fast? Shouldn't I WANT to have one less debt(cc)??

It is just one month, why am I holding on to that car payment so strongly..I think maybe because of the TRUTH.

What is the truth-I will tell you....

When you get a cc and you charge that sucker right up to the max and then you go to pay the stupid thing off and it is HARD and at the end of the day all you have to show for all you paid and all you sacrificed is a little piece of stupid plastic and nothing real in your hand. We just whip it out for crud and have crud to show for it.

Am I right? I think so.

Then there is my car. A simple interest loan. You pay and the balance goes down. You pay more than the payment and the balance really goes down, you keep paying more and they start to give you "free" no pay months so they can wring a little interest out of you but you are smart and say No way SUCKERS and you pay some more and then when you get it all paid for what do you have to show for it????

A car--gee makes cc seems even dumber doesn't it lol.

So I think that is my block.

I owe $3900 on my car and it will get paid off this year on time if not sooner.

So....I am paying off the card.....right????

Chime in guys!

**frugalwarrior** · 04-05-2009, 10:24 AM

I'm a bit confused so I am not sure. You said the car is simple interest. I then assume a credit union loan. If its a car loan then the interest is front end loaded. In otherwords all the interest gets paid first. Hopefully its not this way because you don't save anything by paying early. I hope it is true simple interest. You said 6 months ahead.I hope that was figurative and not 6 months xtra payments in advance because you pay interest on each of those. I hope instead you told them to put the extra directly to principle. Then though they wouldn't regard you as ahead and you couldn't skip the car payment. Also, you do not say what interest percent your credit card is at and whether you will be able to leave it alone all together or pay entire balances when used? I would dump the credit card balance,put it away or use it and write a check for payment simultaneously. If you have a interest first loan on the car I would build my e-fund higher and taller. (6-8 months in a good area,8 mo.-1 year here in Detroit) Keep watching for signs of trouble. When?If? the economy resumes to grow job loss will take longer to dissipate. JMHO.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 04-05-2009, 10:49 AM

I think you're doing well by paying off the CC in that much of a huge chunk. No concerns about that $1000 needing to be used for something else later on this month? If not, awesome! I'd probably do the same thing that you are with the car thing and tell them to stuff it, it's getting paid off faster than you want it to be.

Don't give them the satisfaction of wringing more money out of you in interest than they want! YEAH!

I think everyone needs to take a good look at what you're doing and what the rest of us are doing in cutting that CC debt down as fast as humanly possible. Perhaps it'll set a really great example for people to rethink what they're doing with their CC in the first place, fostering better payoff habits in the future.

**ladytoysdream** · 04-05-2009, 11:07 AM

I vote for paying off the plastic this next month.
Then go after the principal on the vehicle loan being you are ahead on the monthly payments.

GOOD JOB

**rainbowgc** · 04-05-2009, 12:34 PM

I vote for paying off the plastic this next month.
Then go after the principal on the vehicle loan being you are ahead on the monthly payments.

I totally agree! You are heading for a homestretch - I admire you for getting it done!

**Marie78** · 04-05-2009, 12:46 PM

I see what you mean and have had all the same thoughts as you in regards to paying down CC debt and car loan. I would put the money towards the CC debt if it were me. We are debt free (1st month of being debt free in 7 years). I had a hard time when we paid off the last credit card last month. I felt like you do...what do I have to show for it? In my case it was dental work. I guess I bought more time with my teeth and less pain, but it was awful having to charge the $2,000 at the time and when we paid it off I felt a relief that the debt was gone, but I did feel empty because the amount of money spent to have a tooth fixed just seems so unreasonable.

**Cricketlegs** · 04-05-2009, 03:43 PM

Originally Posted by frugalwarrior

I'm a bit confused so I am not sure. You said the car is simple interest. I then assume a credit union loan. If its a car loan then the interest is front end loaded. In otherwords all the interest gets paid first. Hopefully its not this way because you don't save anything by paying early. I hope it is true simple interest. You said 6 months ahead.I hope that was figurative and not 6 months xtra payments in advance because you pay interest on each of those. I hope instead you told them to put the extra directly to principle. Then though they wouldn't regard you as ahead and you couldn't skip the car payment. Also, you do not say what interest percent your credit card is at and whether you will be able to leave it alone all together or pay entire balances when used? I would dump the credit card balance,put it away or use it and write a check for payment simultaneously. If you have a interest first loan on the car I would build my e-fund higher and taller. (6-8 months in a good area,8 mo.-1 year here in Detroit) Keep watching for signs of trouble. When?If? the economy resumes to grow job loss will take longer to dissipate. JMHO.

I am 100% positive that my car loan is a simple interest loan. I went to the bank and checked it out just for that reason. All extra money applied to the note goes to principal and basicily what has happened is that after over a year of paying $90 extra on my car when I make a payment the payment is more than the payment and the interest.

I did say it was September but it is August. I made a mistake there.

Also, as I do it they send me my bill and the payment I have to make goes down until I flipped and I got a "free: month" well I didn't fall for it and not only made my next payment but I made it at $90 over all this time(since Feb of 2008) and when I got my last bill it says next payment of $19.24 due July 2009. I made my payment so it doesn't show on this statement. So in July(bill for 3/23) I had a payment of $19.24 but in March I made a $400 payment.

This would be the first month I didn't make a payment. If I so choose. I still have the money to make a $400 payment.

Would it not be against the law to tell me I don't have to make a payment until August(in writing on my bill) if it wasn't true??? and also to put it in their common asked questions sections that it is a simple interest loan??

I can go back and check again but I do know what my current bill says.(although it is Marches bill and I am waiting for my current bill)

**LastDragonfly** · 04-05-2009, 03:50 PM

Cricket, you also want to make sure that if you"skip" a payment it wont be reported as a "missed" or "irregular" payment to the credit bureau....that happened to me about 10 years ago...when I paid my van off early...

**Cricketlegs** · 04-05-2009, 04:09 PM

Another thing is that I got my car used in late 2005. It is a 2005 so as you can see I didn't start making early payments on the car until feb 2008 and the balance was lower(but not that low! lol) I am really thinking I have in the end cut off about a year with the extra payments.

Misti, thanks for the heads up.

**Cricketlegs** · 04-05-2009, 04:10 PM

Okay now I am just paranoid.

I guess I will pay one more month of interest on the cc and make my car payment.

Crud, and I finally got up the nerve to skip the car payment too......

**kmonokwe** · 04-06-2009, 07:13 PM

Cricket, here's what I was thinking. The numbers are a little confusing, but it seems to me like you can make both payments. If you're only billed about $20/month for your car right now, why don't you ONLY pay what you're billed, and throw the rest at the CC? Since I'm confused by the numbers, how would that work out?

I agree with your first comment - the CC is gross, get rid of it!

**Dancing Lotus** · 04-06-2009, 07:48 PM

Get rid of the plastic, it will feel great!
It's only one month and you are so close to paying off the card.

My hubby paid off 3 debits in one month and let me tell you it was something to celebrate.

**FrugalMomof3** · 04-06-2009, 09:05 PM

I say pay off the credit card and focus on getting the car paid off. Take the money you were paying the CC every month and add that to your car payment and you'll be done in less than a year!

**craftypam** · 04-06-2009, 09:43 PM

From what I understand you cannot skip car payments. Better check with the credit union. Our son wanted to do that and they said he needs to make 1 payment each month.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 04-06-2009, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by AnnK

Get rid of the plastic, it will feel great!
It's only one month and you are so close to paying off the card.

My hubby paid off 3 debits in one month and let me tell you it was something to celebrate.

I have to second this. When we paid off the Best Buy and the Wells Fargo accounts within a month of each other, it was the most fantastic thing ever.

I say pay the minimum on the card, slap the rest on the CC to pay that off faster and then pay on the car again.