Help me figure this out-getting rid of CC payment

[Norasmomma]

I know there many women on here who are great at this. Here's our situation, we don't really have that much debt, but it drives me crazy the things we do have.

We have a mortgage, that is 764 a month, we pay 800 most of the time.
Furniture:110, this is interest free and will be gone Jan 09
WaMU card: this is what annoys me, high balance of 5,400. We used this after DD was born for "stuff", have been paying 125, would like to start paying more.
Insurance:150 monthly(house, cars)
Then of course necessary utilities, phone, internet, cell phone(must have for DH), garbage. 200

DH makes about 3000 a month b4 taxes(which takes out at least 100 every check): We are coming out of a slow time for him where we were living off unemployment, so it was a no frills time. Now we have done a big stock-piling of many things, and will be doing another in a few weeks. My thoughts have been that once the furniture is paid off start taking that payment and applying it to the WaMu card, I would also like to look into getting a lower interest rate for that and also our house. Those of you who have called credit companies about this, were you successful? I've been thinking of playing the game where I say I got a new offer, etc, and am debating a balance transfer. What to do? If you have any advice it would be appreciated. TIA

[RoadWorkAhead]

OKay, so you just listed 2500 coming in and 1385 going out. SOunds like somewhere in that other 1200$ you might be able to find a lot more towards paying off the furniture and then snowball thw whole amount to the CC.

I find it really easy to get lower rates when the company themselves sends me add'l card offers at better rates

[nd_deadhead]

What is the interest rate on your mortgage? Unless it is pretty high, and you expect to stay in the house a long time, it might not be worth it. You will most likely roll the closing costs into the new mortgage, which will increase your principal amount - maybe even make it higher than the original, if you haven't lived there long.

Instead of paying more on the mortgage, I would put that extra $36/month on the credit card.

Did you get a tax refund this year? If so, have your DH adjust his tax withholding so you get more each month, which can be used to pay on the credit card.

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by nd_deadhead

Instead of paying more on the mortgage, I would put that extra $36/month on the credit card.

This was my first thought. Credit cards have WAY higher interest than mortgages. Put the extra toward the card instead.

Usually if you call a credit card and tell them their rates are too high and you want to switch your balance to a new card unless they can offer you lower rates, they'll work with you on that. You might want to have a new card in mind to switch to, though, in case they just tell you you can close your account. They want your money though, so I'm betting they'll try and get you to stay.

[xekomaya]

It can't hurt to ask your credit card company for a lower rate. It might work.

You should only be pre-paying on your mortgage if they has the highest after-tax cost of debt of all your current debts. I'm going to guess this isn't likely so you should definitely put that 36$ toward the ccard.

Were you saying you were looking to refinance your house for a lower rate? There are a lot of numbers to take into consideration for that - just because its a lower rate doesn't mean its better overall, but if you want to post the exact numbers, rates, closing costs etc, I'm sure we can offer advice and help with the calculations. If you were considering rolling in the credit card payment -- i would say its definitely not worth it even if the rate is lower. Because of the amortization schedule, it almost never works out better.

And whats the full story with the furniture? Are you paying a minimum payment? Fixed payments? I wouldn't pay ahead on the furniture even if you can since every extra dollar you pay toward the credit card saves you money in interest, where as paying early on a debt with 0% doesn't save anything. I know its not quite as gratifying, but it makes more financial sense.

And of course every extra $ you can toss toward the credit card will help.

[nd_deadhead]

I have a 0% interest furniture deal too (Slumberland), and I get a statement every month with a fixed (minimum) payment. The payment is enough so that it will be paid off before the interest kicks in (though I intend to pay it off a month early, just to make sure). If it isn't paid off by the stated date, they charge you ALL the interest back to the beginning - in my case, 39 months!

[Knittin' in the Shade]

Then of course necessary utilities, phone, internet, cell phone(must have for DH), garbage. 200

Man, I wish all my utilities and everything else you listed totalled $200! Is that a typo, or are you just the luckiest person around, LOL?

[Norasmomma]

Sorry I double posted this, This server was having issues at the time, and I didn't know that there were 2 posts. Anyway, when I posted I did forget a couple of things. The house interest rate is 7.25 fixed. We had an ARM, but quickly did a refi to get the heck out of that before our rates drastically jumped. The furniture is interest free and I have been paying the minimum, but sometimes I do pay more. The utilities really are $200, a month, except every 2 months our electric bill comes and it is about 200-300 for 2 months(depends on the time of year.) We have DH's tax info where it should be(at least I think it is). We did get a return(it went to paying some things off and stocking up on things for our house). I know there is more money I could put toward it, the problem is that DH's job can be kinda quirky, last week he worked 40 hrs, but then he may only work 20 another. I have been thinking about trying to pay $200 to the credit card, and more when the furniture is paid. I didn't put food expenses either, which usually total 75-100 a week. I'm pretty good with that budgeting. IDK, I just really hate it and I want to try to get it down.