@Anonymous wrote:2.29% on the loan, $8,000 of $19,000 left. Payments have been double, with the second one as additional principal and not just double payments.
Oh, Stop that. Pay the regular payment, not double payments. Here's the reason. Your auto loan is now in the sweet spot of less than 50% owed, and the longer you keep it reporting at such a low and declining rate, the better it will help your score, the longer it will help your score. The APR on this loan beats any credit card you could hope to get, over the timeframe that remains. Good job on getting to this point, but it's time to coast this one out.
If you don't believe me, wander over to the "Understanding FICO Scoring" and start scrolling through all the headlines; "Paid off my auto loan and my score dropped 20 - 30 - 40 points". Seriously. It's a daily occurrence that at least one person posts such a headline.
Instead, route your extra payments to the Freedom, to show good paydown in the next two months as you prep for the CSP app.
Good luck!
@Anonymous wrote:That makes it even better, I can save more towards my travel plans next year. So just make the $250 payment on the auto loan, and would you still recommend $100 monthly on credit card? It's too bad that the scoring works that way but I guess when you think about it makes sense.
@Anonymous wrote:That makes it even better, I can save more towards my travel plans next year. So just make the $250 payment on the auto loan, and would you still recommend $100 monthly on credit card? It's too bad that the scoring works that way but I guess when you think about it makes sense.
Well, you want to get on your 12-month plan to pay the Freedom to zero, might as well start now. But yes, not overpaying your car loan does make those funds available to avoid carrying balances on other, more expensive credit cards if you have travel expenses coming up.
I would go ahead and pay the Freedom pretty heavy these next two payments, reroute those extra car payments to the Freedom. After that, after you app the CSP, then you can slow the Freedom payments to a measured pace.
Edit to add: You aren't really saving any funds by slowing your car payments, what you are doing is managing cash flow, a slightly different concept, and one of the purposes of having good credit, low cost credit, in the first place.