Great job in paing off your debt. I had sears card with CL of 1500 and i had 1800 on it. They closed my account and i just paid it off. You should listen to Dave Ramsey.I play both fields financial peace and some credt. I love my credit cards but I also have them under control. I only have 800 charged. But its nice that you are paying them down. Your credit will increase once utilization goes down.
Ok, I really don't want give you a way out ......(you seem to fell you need the gun-to-head pressure to keep yourself sraight)
but anyway your minimum (assuming, you're not adding new debt) is actually going down as you pay over your minimum b/c you are reducing
your prini balance so actually if you KEEP UP the good work your doing your debt clears faster....b/c your 'overpay' is overcoming
a) the added % and
b) the balance is sliding downward
Please don't take this as a pass to pay less...pay as much as you can if the way you're paying you could pay every 2 weeks (if that's how you're paid) and kill this debt even better, b/c again you'd be slashing % and chopping into that principal balance every 15 days vs 30 days.
I normally preach to round up car payments for the same reason.
Ex:
Got a car recently payment was $137 and change to me that means $140 within 4 payments the minimum was down to $126 and change, so by doing nothing $14 extra is doing towards principal in a few more payments the minimum will be closer to $100 then again by making the same payment $40 bucks goes to principal...killing the loan off quicker on the back end, making half a year of payments or more disappear....payments you don't have to pay is money saved.
Now of course the CC works differently b/c the % isn't fixed however if new charges aren't happening (in this case your maxed anyway) you'll see how your statement how much % was charged the month prior, use that as a baseline for what your % will be monthly and KILL that well beyond that amount, again understanding that it gets more powerful each month b/c your avg daily balance gets reduced as you keep paying.....again meaning your $305 or wnatevery has more power every month .....as long as you don't take 'vacations' from making payments.....
Don't get discouraged you paid over your minimum this past mark .....you didn't go BACKWARDS, your step forward just wasn't as large as b4...do not give up.
You are doing fine, friend think in terms of $305 x 24 = `7k now remember should do a bit better than that as you're overpaying monthly.....
don't try to overdo what you can do and get yourself all freak up in the head....
You may credit-depending be able to pay on this thing for say 10-12 payments reducing your debt and prehaps your credit may warrant a fixed rate loan to finish it up cheaper and easier but WORSE case you KNOW you can kill it in 2, like a small auto loan.
The BEST thing is you would have 'trained' yourself the pay/save that amount per month w/o uncertain DEATH....so moving forward you can cut it in half and build yourself and your family a cushion going forward, b/c of the safety net you would have PROVED to yourself that you CAN build.
Many times, I have clients do the exact same thing b/c most times ppl just want 'DO IT' w/o the gun-to-head, so after you're done with the real one, keep it up for an extra year, 12 payments for you to you, then 12 more at a lower rate and you'll rarely if EVER be in this situation ever again...and if you teach your kids, if you have 'em they'll never be a long tail cats in a room of rocking chairs themselves.
Good Luck, you're doing fine keep the faith
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One other thing I like to have folks add to their habits, again just friendly advice ...make an appt to spend 20 minutes on your finances every 10 days...no more than 20 minutes or you'll quit due to, too much work to big a task....remember NO MORE than 20 minutes, if you chew off too much it'll become a hassle and you'll quit.
But if you keep it lite and quick to plan, pivot and correct to incoming and outgoing of funds you'll more quickly realize '**bleep**' are we/am I doing before things get out of hand.
I tell ppl to chose a number between 1-8
they say ok 5
I say ok, so your appt dates will be the 5th, the 15th and 25th of every month
just to give your finances a quick once over towards your plans for the incoming and outgoing
with a DATE to revisit it in 10 days, a week and a half...after awhile it becomes 2nd nature, especially seeing
that most ppl start to 'get' they only get new money every of often, there only so much one can actually spend
w/o a new source of dough or their ASKING for the poor house.
Last thing only one date can bne on a payday, I don't like payday as the money planning day....too stressful, it's needs to be a
we will and we we need to fix type deal....same thought pattern behind shopping on an empty stomach isn't ideal b/c you'll forget
the staples better with a list of 'to do's' or you wind up with snack food and no flour or milk or eggs and crap paper for the bathroom
Just keep doing what you've been doing attacking that debt. You've done well sticking to your plan every month.
