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Dear Mixed -
I couldn't agree more. I also will pay off my Chase card and leave a small small balance and try to tie up their credit line as long as possible.
PS - Financial planners should probably stop advising people to take advantage of low interest cc offers to manage their cc debt. (are there any such offers anymore?? lol)
The other thing to do is not invest in Chase. I plan to avoid mutual funds in my 401(k) that have significant holdings in Chase.
@Anonymous wrote:
Ok, for those interested in a practical solution for a real person with budgetary and time limits. Here is what I decided to do. With a combination of balance transfer and my property tax rebate I am going to pay this card half off in the coming months before or as the policy change takes hold. My monthly payments will still increase, but not more than double. The new minimum payment will be similar to what I paid before because I usually round up to the nearest $10 above the minimum anyway (even on my lower rate cards [others I pay much more]). The remaining balance will still be at the great "life of the loan"rate and I will have payments I can manage. When I pay this card off most likely I will let my Chase card die of inactivity, because of higher underlying rates Chase charges and how they treated me over the years.
Hopefully your cash "shell game" will also be equally met by budgeting, saving and increasing you available cash by evaluating how you currently spend and use money.
The average person who has not taken a magnifying glass and a deep look at their inflow and out flow can save between $200-$500 a month with little to no trouble.
An extra few hundred dollars a month can easily pay off your bills much faster, and allow you to save and invest money when you are paid off.
@Anonymous wrote:
realistically, if you are trying for a house with maxed out cards I think you should reconsider trying to be a homeowner
Who said anything about cards being maxed out?
DH and I for example have limits of about $30,000 between us - for us we have about $9,000 in outstanding CC debt (mostly from before DH was husband and when he used the card to pay for everything for 6 months after being made unemployed and his roommate moving out and stealing most of his belongings when he went)
It's entirely possible for someone to have $10,000 of debt without being maxed out on their cards
@Anonymous wrote:Who said anything about cards being maxed out?
DH and I for example have limits of about $30,000 between us - for us we have about $9,000 in outstanding CC debt (mostly from before DH was husband and when he used the card to pay for everything for 6 months after being made unemployed and his roommate moving out and stealing most of his belongings when he went)
It's entirely possible for someone to have $10,000 of debt without being maxed out on their cards
OK rephrase:
If you are 150.00 away from Maxing out your DTI to get a house maybe you should reconsider choosing homeownership.
Since it is a very realistic expectation that the joys of homeownership can come with unexpected 200 a month emergencies.
Eh, I guess that would be true for a lot of people but my income is not currently being included in the DTI (although my car loan payments are as we live in a community property state)
On top of what is being counted as income we actually have another 2000 a month Income that is not included in the calculation (that's net after my tax, health insurance (and DH's), dental insurance, IRA contributions, car payment etc)
So we actually have plenty of income to play with... just not for the DTI calculation unless we put me on the mortgage and include my income