Debt Snowball, order

**gmarie** · 08-13-2010, 09:32 AM

Did everyone do their debt snowball in exact order? Do you think it really matters if I take care of higher interest/ payment debts first, if they will be paid off in a matter of months anyway?

I have 11k cc debt left that I am planning to pay off before December. I am paying around 2k/ mo. The last three months, I have paid off a card every month, which has been very rewarding.

I'm tempted to go out of order and pay off my highest interest card - 29%. the balance is around 3k, min payment is $110 and I don't know if I can pay it in full this month, but I can try! (working on ebay listings this weekened and yard sale next week!)

I was planning to pay another card with 17% interest and a balance of 2k. The payment is $54.

I am skipping over another card as well, a CC with about 1700 on it and 7% interest.

I had skipped this one last month b/c I wanted the satisfaction of paying off a card I had for 10 yrs - it was almost always maxed out! It felt soooo good to pay that off!

Anyway, is it okay to go out of order? I don't want to set myself up for failure.

Thanks!

**Josephhgoins** · 08-13-2010, 09:42 AM

I have been paying mine with highest interest first and its been working well for me.

I think its just what works best for you and keeps you working on it. I have an excel sheet that shows not only my individual accounts but also my totals and my average interest rate. I do whatever I can to get both totals going down.

**Russ** · 08-13-2010, 09:51 AM

Paying them off that fast is not going to matter that much in interest.

And ... WAY TO GO!. You are ROCKIN!

**Greebo** · 08-13-2010, 09:52 AM

The reason the debts are paid smallest to largest (as opposed to by the math) is to reinforce behavior changes. As Dave says - if we were doing math, we wouldn't be in debt to begin with.

IF you can keep up the motivation and new behaviors, stay on a budget, take on NO NEW DEBT, and focus on interest rate first, that's fine - but if your motivation wavers, you might instead want to try to get a lower rate on the card in question, and get the QUICK WINS under your belt to show you a tangible increase in your snowball quickly.

If you knock out 3-4 debts in a row fast, it's easier to wait out the bigger ones. If you have to wait for a year to pay off a debt cause of the interest rate, you can lose focus very easily.

**ncarr** · 08-13-2010, 12:44 PM

At 29% interest if you can pay it off this month I would do it.

**frugalwarrior2** · 08-14-2010, 07:52 AM

I'm more emotional about it. I hated my street accessment because I didn't agree to it.So that motivation was easy. If someone was charging me 29% it would irritate the heck out of me. That would HAVE TO GO!!!!
It doesn't really matter as much how you do it as THAT you do it. Your gearing up for battle again. You killed 3 now who else is going to stop you from a secure retirement. Go get em. And don't stop getting them til your free.

**gmarie** · 08-14-2010, 03:50 PM

Originally Posted by frugalwarrior2

I'm more emotional about it. I hated my street accessment because I didn't agree to it.So that motivation was easy. If someone was charging me 29% it would irritate the heck out of me. That would HAVE TO GO!!!!
It doesn't really matter as much how you do it as THAT you do it. Your gearing up for battle again. You killed 3 now who else is going to stop you from a secure retirement. Go get em. And don't stop getting them til your free.

Yes, the 29% does irritate me especially because it's my own bank!! They bought the original creditor, and when we moved to NY it made sense to go with them b/c they have banks everywhere and we were using a credit union.

The interest went WAY up on all of my cards in the past year for absolutely no reason. I've called them all and they refuse to lower it. Did that happen to anyone else?

**erin** · 08-14-2010, 08:36 PM

My credit card interest rates went way up also for no reason. I actually had to close some accounts before they were raised. I'll deal with a lower credit score. I'll be d@#ned before I give up more of my hard earned money for interest!

**lparker** · 08-16-2010, 02:09 PM

I paid off three smaller cards first and am hammering on my 27% card now ( was on a payment plan on that card last year - $100/mo and no interest). And Yup, I closed all my cards because of interest rate hikes.

**gmarie** · 09-01-2010, 08:51 PM

update:

So I paid off the lower interest/ balance card in full. so another $2k credit card and $53 min payment is GONE! The 3k CC @ 29.99% interest is next.

Our overall debt decreased by $2,557.22 this month. Not bad!