Well my husband and I got in a little arguement about money today. Our credit card debt is at about $6000 (you don't want to ask...) and that drives him crazy since neither of us have ever had that much on credit cards before and it just seems to keep going higher.
I'm not as worried about it as him because we have money in the bank and our net worth is positive...around $18,000. I would rather have $12,000 saved for a down payment on a home w/ $6,000 in credit card debt, rather than only $6,000 saved for a home downpayment and no credit card debt. Does anyone agree w/ me on this?
Does it make sense to anyone other than me?
May 31st, 2007 at 06:12 am
May 31st, 2007 at 11:29 am 1180610973
May 31st, 2007 at 12:19 pm 1180613956
If you've got that much cash saved, then pay off the credit card debt in full. You'll do your credit score a BIG favor, which helps you out when you go to buy a house WAY more than how much you have to put down. My husband and I have really good credit, so we were able to get a great interest rate, and the bank was willing to work with us (waiving brokerage fees, accepting a lower down payment) because of our good credit score.
May 31st, 2007 at 12:20 pm 1180614053
May 31st, 2007 at 02:10 pm 1180620646
At least if you take a larger mortgage it should be a lower interest rate. Though I recommend paying it off and then waiting until you save it back up. There is no hurry with the housing market these days.
May 31st, 2007 at 03:49 pm 1180626587
May 31st, 2007 at 04:18 pm 1180628283
May 31st, 2007 at 04:19 pm 1180628396
May 31st, 2007 at 05:37 pm 1180633065
There is also a psychological aspect to this -- a mentality that credit card debt is ok and "not a big deal" does not lead anywhere good. It is a slippery slope. Credit card debt is not OK and is a big deal.
May 31st, 2007 at 06:50 pm 1180637429
May 31st, 2007 at 07:20 pm 1180639246
1&2 can be deadly when paired up like that so best to split them up, don't you think?
May 31st, 2007 at 08:56 pm 1180644994
Good luck
May 31st, 2007 at 09:06 pm 1180645597
June 1st, 2007 at 03:30 am 1180668619
I think I'm going to leave the 0% card balance a while longer, but pay off the 16% right away! Thanks you guys for all the advice, though I hate to admit to my Hubby that he was right!
June 1st, 2007 at 01:22 pm 1180704122
June 1st, 2007 at 09:21 pm 1180732863
June 2nd, 2007 at 01:38 am 1180748293
June 2nd, 2007 at 03:04 pm 1180796687
June 5th, 2007 at 09:04 pm 1181077489
June 11th, 2007 at 09:47 pm 1181598422