Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with payoff

How can I dig myself out of this credit card hole?

arniec — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:31:48 -0800

Given the current economy, would doing a "charge-off" on my credit cards be a reasonable option, and how would I go about doing it for my biggest benefit? Many years ago I had a college credit card that I couldn't afford to pay off. I finally asked about a charge-off on it; about 80% of the card's balance is as low as the company would go. Given that the balance was about $2000 I don't feel the charge-off was really worth it, so I didn't do it.

Soon after that, I bought my first house.

Now however I find myself in much worse credit card debt, nearing $30,000 over a span of 6 cards. The two highest cards have $8,000 balances, and then a few thousand on various other cards. Most of these cards are charging me 30% interest. I have taken a second job, well paying, just to pay off these cards but the interest rates are so high that I just can't seem to make a big dent. Working all of 08 putting all my 2nd job's money to the cards, not using the cards and I'm only in 3k less debt than I was.

I know of some people who told me that they were able to get cards charged off for pennies on the dollar without declaring bankruptcy. I told them it probably hurt their credit, but they were just happy to have the debt gone and credit scores recycle every 7 years anyway...

So I'm reminded of my charge-off experience and that they'd only go t 80%...if I could get even 50% on one of the $8k cards, I could pay that now and save myself so much in interest and use the snowball method to pay down the others...but when I tried last time they just wouldn't go that low.

Complication: My wife and I DO plan to move before the next 7 years, which would involve selling our current house and buying another, so I really DON'T want to nuke my credit where I can't move for 7 years.

Any suggestions on what to do here?

Pay off second loan or enjoy tax break?

seinfeld — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:07:33 -0800

Finance Filter: I have a second loan on my condo at a rate of 7.75%.. I did this to avoid PMI. I have the cash to pay it off.. 35k or so.. Is it likely a good idea to pay it off and forgo the tax breaks I'm getting on the interest, to avoid the 7.75% rate? I'll take all responses at face value.. I'd like non-professional advice before seeking a financial adviser..

Thank you

Pay off my house, or put it in the market?

wflanagan — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:03:29 -0800

Pay off my house, or put it in the stock market? I have the opportunity, via a "windfall of cash" to have enough money to buy my house. I owe about 40% of the current value of the house. With this windfall, I could pay it off, and have some cash left over.

The other option is that I put the money into the market, where it will (hopefully) get more interest.

The payments aren't a stretch for me now. However, I'll also be unemployed via this windfall, and if I were to pay off my house, I'd have no payments other than ongoing utilities. That would put me in a position to either 1) last a while, or 2) take some risks and go for a big pop at at startup.

So, what do you all think? Given the prevailing winds, should I buy my house, or put it in the market?

Oh, one other thing, I have a variable rate mortgage, that will need to be refinanced in about 1.5 years. Right now, it's reallly low (like 3%) so I expect that it will go up significantly.