rhinocl wrote:
Given your situation, instead of paying on low balance card first,pay off the highest interest rate card first-everything towards that the rest get minimum payments. The way to get cards paid off is to make more $ go towards principal paydown and the best way to do that is to eliminate the highest interest card balances first. This might not be true if you had a bunch of cards with minimum payments and your high interest cards had very high balances. But it is true here so the decision is a no-brainer in my opinion.
I see your point. That 28% card is killing me psychologically and financially - and it's not that high a balance. I will be calling them and a few others within a few weeks to see if I can get rates down. If I have some success, I may re-evaluate my approach. However, I think I need to get a couple of the smaller ones gone first just to eliminate some payments... Both approaches have merit.
Another benifit of hitting up the smaller CL's first is they will be $0 faster and looking at that $0 balance gives you motivation to keep plugging along 
I still log in and just stare at my $0 balances, it's like a sense of accomplishment that motivates me to keep spending at a bare min and keep chipping away at my higher balances. Got to remember, finance although mostly just number and dollars, it's biggest challange is the emotional part. If you can keep the "I will never get anywhere" thinking out of your head (ie Stareing at a $0 balance), it makes everything a little bit easier!
I still log in and just stare at my $0 balances, it's like a sense of accomplishment that motivates me to keep spending at a bare min and keep chipping away at my higher balances. Got to remember, finance although mostly just number and dollars, it's biggest challange is the emotional part. If you can keep the "I will never get anywhere" thinking out of your head (ie Stareing at a $0 balance), it makes everything a little bit easier!Something I do just to keep the $0 CL's active is I have a card for entertainment, another for Gas, Another for Food, and one for work (they reimbursed me) and I pay them all off in full every month. That is a great feeling when you can select the "Pay Full Balance" option every month!
George2037 wrote:
rhinocl wrote:
Given your situation, instead of paying on low balance card first,pay off the highest interest rate card first-everything towards that the rest get minimum payments. The way to get cards paid off is to make more $ go towards principal paydown and the best way to do that is to eliminate the highest interest card balances first. This might not be true if you had a bunch of cards with minimum payments and your high interest cards had very high balances. But it is true here so the decision is a no-brainer in my opinion.I see your point. That 28% card is killing me psychologically and financially - and it's not that high a balance. I will be calling them and a few others within a few weeks to see if I can get rates down. If I have some success, I may re-evaluate my approach. However, I think I need to get a couple of the smaller ones gone first just to eliminate some payments... Both approaches have merit.Another benifit of hitting up the smaller CL's first is they will be $0 faster and looking at that $0 balance gives you motivation to keep plugging alongSomething I do just to keep the $0 CL's active is I have a card for entertainment, another for Gas, Another for Food, and one for work (they reimbursed me) and I pay them all off in full every month. That is a great feeling when you can select the "Pay Full Balance" option every month!
George - Yes, when I've paid off cards in the past, I did the same thing. I remember just looking at the $0 and smiling... 