Looking for advice on credit card payoff or not

[jpuras73]

Good morning,

   We currently have about $14k in credit card debt. Citi @ 15.99% w/ $4400 bal. and $4500 available, Cap 1 @ 17.99% with $300 bal. and $1100 available, KSCFCU card @ 11.79% with $3900 bal. and $1100 available, Discover @ 21% with - 249 credit. (0 bal.), HH Gregg @ 0% with $1100 bal. and $2500 available, Hudsons furniture @ 0% with about $1200 bal. and $1300 available, and a signature loan @ 12.54% with $3900 bal. with $1100 available. My income is about $140k per yr. We currently have about $8500 in savings. No 401k and no IRA or other retirements. I am 40 yrs old and I really just want to pay off this debt. I am wondering what the best way to go about it would be. Should I just take out the $8500 out of savings and just put it towards the Citi card and the signature loan and just be done with them? Should I just keep some in the bank for emergencies? Or should I just keep sending them my monthly payments. Make note that I always pay about $1000-$1500 a month on them, but my minimun payments are about $400 total.

In case you want to look at the big picure to better help me, here it is .... Our mortgage is $1680 a mo @ 3.25%, my cars are @ 2.24% x $460 a  mo. with about 2 yrs to go on one, and $the other is at 3.24% x 430 with about 4 yrs to go. Both cars have about $12k in positive equity. Other expenses like utilities food, auto insurance and gas add up to about $2200. My credit score is 652 Equifax, and my wife's is about the same.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[chwebb1]

I would personally look into paying off the highest interest balances first (It would appear that it would currently be your Capital One), and then continue doing that. After paying off your Cap 1, I'd pay off your Citi, followed by your personal loan, followed by KSCFCU. When does your 0% financing offer end? If it's soon, and depending on your interest rate after the 0% expires, I'd pay that off before the other cards, since they appear to be store cards, and those generally have extremely high APRs. Do you have any baddies on your CR? If not, once you get your balances paid down to around 30% UTIL, I would consider shopping around for a personal loan to consolidate debt on. It will likely have a lower interest rate than your CCs. The other option might be the Barclaycard Ring at 8% APR.

Good luck.

[longtimelurker]

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@jpuras73 wrote:

Good morning,

@   We currently have about $14k in credit card debt. Citi @ 15.99% w/ $4400 bal. and $4500 available, Cap 1 @ 17.99% with $300 bal. and $1100 available, KSCFCU card @ 11.79% with $3900 bal. and $1100 available, Discover @ 21% with - 249 credit. (0 bal.), HH Gregg @ 0% with $1100 bal. and $2500 available, Hudsons furniture @ 0% with about $1200 bal. and $1300 available, and a signature loan @ 12.54% with $3900 bal. with $1100 available. My income is about $140k per yr. We currently have about $8500 in savings. No 401k and no IRA or other retirements. I am 40 yrs old and I really just want to pay off this debt. I am wondering what the best way to go about it would be. Should I just take out the $8500 out of savings and just put it towards the Citi card and the signature loan and just be done with them? Should I just keep some in the bank for emergencies? Or should I just keep sending them my monthly payments. Make note that I always pay about $1000-$1500 a month on them, but my minimun payments are about $400 total.

@Anonymous case you want to look at the big picure to better help me, here it is .... Our mortgage is $1680 a mo @ 3.25%, my cars are @ 2.24% x $460 a  mo. with about 2 yrs to go on one, and $the other is at 3.24% x 430 with about 4 yrs to go. Both cars have about $12k in positive equity. Other expenses like utilities food, auto insurance and gas add up to about $2200. My credit score is 652 Equifax, and my wife's is about the same.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

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I would be tempted to pay off Citi with a lump sum.  Usually the rule between paying off a debt or not is "Can I get a better rate of return in some investment than I am paying in interest?" and at 15.59% the answer is probably "No".   It depends on how secure you feel in your income stream.   Most people want a emergency fund rather than nothing, but you are paying a lot of interest.   So pay off the high interest loans first, either at once or in stages (but quickly!) and then pay off the lower rates when you feel comfortable doing so.

[jpuras73]

I am commisoned based and my income has been as low as $7700 a mo and as high as $17k a mo. Next month my probabtion period ends here at work and I can feel a littler more secure.

BTW, we had a BK back in 09 that of course is discahrged, so I tend to not apply for too much stuff. Since we just purchase a new home a few months back, we had to rack up the existing cards a bit more and open up the HH Gregg and the Hudsons out of necessity. We still need a bunch of stuff for the house but I am not wanting to add more debt until I pay off or down the existing debt. My wife thinks because it's on sale, we should just charge it. LOL