Pay in full or spread over 2 months?

**858Smith** · 09-16-2009, 01:25 AM

i have $3,335 in savings. i have a lowe's card with a balance of $1,800. i was thinking to split the payment into 2 by paying $900 (plus 6% interest), but then i was like, why not take it outta savings and just pay it off and take that $900 and put in savings, while also saving about $100 in interest?

if i pay it in full, instead of putting $500 into savings as if i was paying $900 instead for 2 months, i would be putting $1,400/month into savings.

am i really stupid or does it not matter either way? it's 12:24 AM here and i'm half asleep lol i also have that fear in the back of my head, what if an emergency happens and we only have $1,535 in savings til next month?

what would you do?

thanks

**frugalfranny** · 09-16-2009, 01:42 AM

Don't know what DR would say.....I am not for paying interest.

Is your savings earning more than 6%? (I doubt it).....then I would pay the card.

**Preston** · 09-16-2009, 02:34 AM

Pay off in full.

then rebuild savings

it is better use of money to avoid paying interest if you don't have to. You may lose a month of savings interest this way but since savings accounts earn so little (Mine is like .25 percent right now) it should not even be considered.

**Preston** · 09-16-2009, 02:34 AM

oh yeah... and 'a penny saved is a penny earned'

**Greebo** · 09-16-2009, 06:13 AM

What Preston said.

**Denvergirlie** · 09-16-2009, 09:24 AM

write the check, get it off your back, it's a non-issue.

**wwe11** · 09-16-2009, 09:36 AM

I would pay in full.

**Sassyclass** · 09-16-2009, 10:09 AM

PIF. Get rid of the debt like the others said.

Cat

**missmanny** · 09-20-2009, 09:37 PM

I too would pay in full.

Actually at the end of my debt snowball I did almost the same thing.

I had about $700 left to pay on my last debt and the EF was just under $1500. I decided to pay that last sucker off from the EF and then to next pay replace the EF money rather then leaving the money in the EF and then using the next snowball payment to pay off the debt. I was just desperate to have it all gone.

**Preston** · 09-21-2009, 03:33 AM

Originally Posted by missmanny

I too would pay in full.

Actually at the end of my debt snowball I did almost the same thing.

I had about $700 left to pay on my last debt and the EF was just under $1500. I decided to pay that last sucker off from the EF and then to next pay replace the EF money rather then leaving the money in the EF and then using the next snowball payment to pay off the debt. I was just desperate to have it all gone.

Not desperate, just smart. It made sense to get rid of the stupid balance when when you are that close. When I get close to paying a CC off I will just pull from the EF just to wipe it out. The sooner I am done paying interest the better. I have done this with just about every card that I have paid off when I get it under $1000. I find it easier to replace the EF than to continue paying interest when I don't have to.

**hotprincesscm** · 09-21-2009, 07:39 AM

Pay it off!! You'll feel so much better having that debt off your back! Good job, having the savings there to be able to do that with!!!

**MomToTwoBoys** · 09-21-2009, 09:40 AM

Originally Posted by 858Smith

i have $3,335 in savings. i have a lowe's card with a balance of $1,800. i was thinking to split the payment into 2 by paying $900 (plus 6% interest), but then i was like, why not take it outta savings and just pay it off and take that $900 and put in savings, while also saving about $100 in interest?

if i pay it in full, instead of putting $500 into savings as if i was paying $900 instead for 2 months, i would be putting $1,400/month into savings.

am i really stupid or does it not matter either way? it's 12:24 AM here and i'm half asleep lol i also have that fear in the back of my head, what if an emergency happens and we only have $1,535 in savings til next month?

what would you do?

thanks

I would pay it off and then put that money afterwards into savings. I don't think there's a large enough emergency to delegate keeping that debt and what you have that's in savings right now.