Savings Vs Debt Pay off? free advice please?

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<p>I also Own a 2002 Ford Focus Wagon. seats 5 lots of room. 23-30 mpg. 40,000 miles and I have the Title in My safe deposit BOX. I got rid of my Jeep Wrangler (damn Gas Guzzler) last November. Thats my FU to Chevron & OPEC.</p>

<p>The ford is the Beater. the MINI is the fun car. MINIs do seat 4 and have 2 child seat points.</p>
 
<p>pay off the debt. Look, if you get an income cut its gonna suck either way. You said you had 4k already in savings. That's good. If you got laid off then you'd obviously only make the minimum payment on your bills until you've got steady income again.</p>

<p>Save in your 401k. Your employer is probably matching a portion of it. In an emergency you can always borrower against your 401k.</p>
 
<p>Lending Maestro- My Goal in July 2007 was pay off all remaining househould debt in one year. Maybe your right I mean thats the plan. Ok. I stick with old Plan. Its very agressive. I can still save 1k a month and put 2400-3K at the MINi payment.</p> <p>Thats The idea i am eliminating. monthy expenses. Credit card gone! Wifes student Loan (90.00 a month) Boom! Gone. MINI 445 a month, my student Loan 73.00 a month Boom boom Gone.</p> <p></p>

<p>Funny story: I have these friends from Italy. we loaned them 2500 to help them buy Car. Scion XA about 13K Loan they payed the whole car off in less than a Year Like 8 months Man!!. HaHa. the Toyota Loan company actualy Called my Freind and Said umm? you must misunderstand? You dont have to pay so much. UMMM whats the rush??. Haha. Oh they understand allright???. I take my plan one month at a time but for now Full Steam Ahead!!! whoo whoo. no more debts!!! Whooo whoo!! haha</p>

<p>Like I said. F&*K BMW Financial Group. I want my Title.</p>
 
<p>Bob, I'm in the same boat except my car loan is only 5%.</p>

<p>I want to just pay it off but I keep stopping myself. After that money has been committed to debt retirement I can't get it back unless I sell my wheels!</p>
 
I'm watching them like a hawk, Troop. If I can't find a safe haven paying close to 5% then the car debt will be toast. I'll probably have my answer within the next month or two.
 
vtb - Good luck with your decisions. It sounds like you will do fine no matter the details as you have the right goals in mind.
 
<p><a href="http://www.mortgage-calc.com/">http://www.mortgage-calc.com/</a></p>

<p>This web site has some nice Tools. I like the Debt invester.</p>

<p>For example my last Big Bill. My wife's student loan Principal 2,223. intrest 7% monthly payment 93.00. we Just PIFed it. Paid in full. we saved. 165.13 in interest payments. and a Guarenteed 7% return TAX FREE. by paying this loan off 25 months early. </p>

<p>The Cooper example is even more telling. My Principal is 16,800 /7.75% monthly payment 445. If I pay an extra 2055 or 2500 Total a month the whole car is paid of in 7 months. April 15th 2008</p>

<p>Interest saved 2,087. That's Cash in My Pocket. and a 14% return Tax Free. This is really a no brainer?? If there is an emergency we have 2 salaries. savings and Family to fall Back on. I will still save. I want to Make the most of 2 incomes while we are still a Pair of DINKs.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the advice.</p>

<p>FYI. My wife contributes 12% to her 401K. I am enrolling in october. plan to add 10%. we will increase these numbers a bit when Debt is gone.</p>

<p> </p>
 
<p>Sorry I'm late to the conversation. </p>

<p>But since you and your wife has such great credit, how about using the 0% or .99% or 1.9% on balance transfers on your credit card to pay off the Mini. </p>

<p>I only advise this because you plan to pay the car loan in less than a year. Which is the time the special interest rate on credit card balance transfers will expire, so you won't be paying the high 9+% rate a balance transfer would normally be.</p>

<p>Note there is usually a cash advance fee of 3% but it maxxes out at $75. Check with your credit card company. </p>

<p>And if it turns out you can't pay the credit card loan off before the interest rate resets then you can refinance the now paid off car with a credit union, which has lower rates than 7.75%.</p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>
 
Slightly off-topic. . . my car lease is ending in the 6 months. . .lease v. buy?





I do have travel some for my job (although I no longer have to commute 2 hours a day) thus the wear and tear issue is somewhat a concern to me. . . if I lease, I don't have to worry about anything other than gas.
 
Lease = rent.





I'd suggest buying. No worries about mileage caps. If you're worried about wear and tear, get something reliable (e.g., Honda, Toyota, etc.).
 
<p>Given a choice between a subvented lease deal or a loan at market rate, I might go for the lease deal. Just gotta run the numbers to see what works. </p>
 
<p>-IrvinesfoBro. I think puting 16,800 on the credit card is a very risky proposal. but I ran the numbers through my Calculator. If I pay off car in 7 months save 2,087 in interest.</p>

<p>If I pay of car in one lump sum today save 2,410 in interst I save. 323.00 big DEAL. Also There is no EFFing way i will be able to convince my wife its a good Idea to put 16,800 on our Credit card. WE Just Paid off a 9,000 dollar Balence and that took some doing let me tell you. This Will Never Happen! EVER!! She does not have a FICO score of 798 bacause she takes risks with her finances.</p>

<p>-then we put our selfs in the situation where WE MUST pay of car in set time. right now its a Goal. Not a Must. What a crazy Idea you know thats alot LIke and ARM For my car payment. Somthing Happens we dont pay off in time BOOM new Rate 14% on the Car. THats way to risky for a savings of three or 400 hundred Dollars. Also I dont think its looks right either. in future credit reports like robbing Peter to Pay Paul.</p>

<p>I apreciate your suggestions. but thats not for me. Dont you think 5-6 times monthly is agressive enough? Who Does That? anyhow thats only a plan. it may take a bit longer.</p>
 
I agree... Credit card balance transfer arbitrage is dangerous unless you have a backup plan. I only do it because I have plenty of other accounts to where I can stuff the balance. If I only had 1-2 cards with enough "room" to carry the balance, I'd never try it.
 
<p>-Irvine renter. I agree Leasing is a rip off. I think you should look for a nice used car for 10K with less than 30,000 miles. you will save a bundle. its predepreciated. That what I did.</p>

<p>I sold my 1999 jeep wrangler for 8,900. it had 80,000 miles. I looked all over for a nice Wagon type. (forester, Volovos, old 5 series BMW, Focus, scion XB and Honda Elements) bottom line i had only 8900 to work with and thats all.</p>

<p>3 weeks on craigs list and i found my Gem. 2002 Focus Wagon. it had 22,000 miles on it almost MINT condition. I paid 8 grand Cash. that car had a list of 17,900 in 2002. So It depreciated 9 grand but it has only 22,000 miles thats nothing.</p>

<p>Just look for 2-5 years old. less than 40K miles. new cars Rip oFF. leases Rip Off. </p>
 
<p>Agree, used car is a better deal. However, it is a personal preference, some people (like my wife) just do not like used cars. And if you've had a bad experience with one, it's tough to go back to one. I haven't bought a used car in years, but that would be my preference.</p>

<p>IF you were buying a new car, however, leasing is a viable option. Just don't buy it after the lease expires, that works out to be a bad deal most of the time. For example, I had a lease on a $30,000 car for $440/mo for 48 months. That works out to about $21,000 in payments, while purchasing one would have run $29,000 in the same period. It turns out to be a savings of around $7,500, if you were disciplined enough to do so, which could go in for down payment on the next car. If you were to sell this car if you purchased, it probably would net you around $3,000 after you pay the car off. So, you're saving a little money.</p>

<p>To me, leasing was a hassle although it saved me money on a car I knew I didn't want to keep. If you want to keep it, I'd definitely buy it. Once you pay it off and hold it for a few years, it turns out to be a better financial deal. If you pay it off and then get rid of it immediately, it often turns out to be a worse deal than leasing.</p>
 
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