How would you pay off $75,000 in revolving debt?

[omgitsMatt]

(If this isn't the right subforum, sorry.)

Everyone has a reason why they’re buried, some stories clearly couldn’t be helped, and some would have certainly been prevented with some discipline. I could write several pages on how it happened, and you would possibly empathize and not judge harshly.

I could explain the extended time off from work to care for a parent who was dying and how I was paying their bills and mine with credit while having no income or I could explain the three funerals I paid for in an 18-month period. Maybe then I would talk about how the covid lockdowns cost me a job for a year while at the same time getting ready for the birth of my first child. Finally, about the slow trickle of work when I got back. As I was doing exactly that, writing all that up, I realized I don’t want to dwell on that right this moment and I should probably stick to what I'm trying to accomplish.

I have the means financially to resolve it, which wasn’t the case the last two years as I treaded water and made only minimum payments while not actually using anymore credit. I did a hard pivot on the type of work I did for making a living two years ago and started a new career, giving me no time to think about anything except a handful of things such as learning a complex trade, going to school full time and then working full time with a new born on top of it. These last two years have been minimum payments only, while I tried not to fail at my job, school and home.

I nailed all three things and doubled my base income and my wife went up 30% herself. I accomplished what I needed to and now have the time to tackle this. I have spent the last three months working on building emergency savings and digging through my finances with a fine tooth comb and organizing as much as I could.  I have enough information to now come here and start asking questions while being able to provide relevant information.

I could use insight and perspective from forum regulars. I’ve been participating since 2019 and lurking longer. When I started visiting this forum regularly, I enjoyed experimenting and learning. I learned a lot of important things but there’s so much more I don’t know or I misunderstand. I could use some insight from regulars who have some constructive criticism or validation where I might be trending in the right direction. This is the best community to do this in I think.

I’ve read that when you start a diet, quit smoking or start an exercise regime it’s always helpful to publicize what you’re doing in some fashion. Wheter that's telling family, annoying friends on social media or harassing strangers. It’s a very effective tactic to psychologically bully yourself into sticking with a goal. I’m going to be camping on this thread until it’s done, which is going to be at least two years if things go well, probably three though.

I’ll reserve the next few original posts very quickly so I can split data into sections, if that’s okay with the mods. I’ll edit this original post and the reserved posts as they change over the coming months and years while cleaning up data as we go.

It’s going to take me a few days to build each section appropriately so it can be digested quickly and easily, I’ll start one at a time and work my way through until they’re done. I'll post my credit profile first, but you won't see the debt until I can work on posting my wife's a day or two from now. It's there and spread across four low interest credit cards.

• I’ll break down my credit profile. The debt is sitting on my wife's credit accounts, so isn't influencing my profile. I'll talk about where it's at.
• I’ll break down my income flow, expenses and budget. I'll build a budget so I can estimate how much I can afford to pay down debt beyond the minimum payments.
• I'll finally start sharing some ideas on how to move the debt around so it's eventually all in my name at promotional rates, hoping to get feedback wheter it's constructive critism or validation.

I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to peek at any of it and tell me what they think, I can't stress how grateful I'd be.

[omgitsMatt]

The debt is all in my wifes name, giving me the appearance of a solid credit profile.

Total Debt Owed: $75,405
Min Due Monthly: $1,389

Citi - Balance: $7,664 - Min Due: $77

Rate: (0% APR until January, 2026)

Amex - Balance: $4,543 - Min Due: $93

Rate: (0% APR until December, 2025)

BoA - Balance: $10,952 - Min Due: $106

Rate: (0% APR until August, 2026)

NFCU - Balance: $37,118 - Min Due: $785

Rate: (13.24% APR)

NFCU - Balance: $15,128 - Min Due: $328

Rate: (13.9% APR)

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FICO Scores (2/15/2025):

Experian FICO 8 - 789

Equifax FICO 8 - 804

TransUnion FICO 8 - 806

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Age of Most Recently Opened Account:

9 months

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Age of Oldest Account:

6 years 3 months

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Average Age of Accounts:

4 years 2 months

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Equifax Inquires:

Citi - 1/18/2024

TransUnion Inquires:

US Bank - 8/9/2023

Chase - 2/22/2024

Experian Inquires:

Wells Fargo - 8/9/23

Discover - 8/9/23

Wells Fargo - 10/17/23

Chase - 2/22/24

Embark/Celtic - 4/11/24

USAA - 11/13/24

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Miscellaneous:

Individual Income: $92,000

Joint Income: $164,000

TCL: $165,000

Utilization: 1% (AZEO, my $55,500 NFCU Flagship is the one that reports)

Personal DTI: 13.8%

Joint DTI: I don't know yet.

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Open Revolving Accounts (12):

CU Visa (Joint) - Open: 3/2019 - Limit: $15,000

NFCU  CLoC - Open: 11/2019 - Limit: $3,000

AmexHH - Open: 11/2019 - Limit: $6,000

NFCU Flagship - Open: 11/2019 - Limit: $55,500

Sync Prime CC - Open: 3/2020 - Limit: $10,000

PayPal CB - Open: 3/2020 - Limit: $13,600

PenFed Plat - Open: 3/2022 - Limit: $5,000

Sync Premier - Open: 6/2022 - Limit: $10,000

WF AC - Open: 9/2023 - Limit: $16,400

US Bank Plat - Open: 8/2023 - Limit: $5,400

Discover it - Open: 8/2023 -  Limit: $6,000

Citi Diam. Pref. - Open: 1/2024 - Limit: $7,600

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Authorized User Revolving Accounts (2):

KeyBank CC - Open: 5/2013 - Limit: $9,500

Cap1 Quicksilver - Open: 6/2017 - Limit: $4,000 (Only reports to Equifax)

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Closed revolving accounts (16):

Cap1 (AU) - (4/2018 to 1/2024) - Limit: $2,000  (Only reports to Equifax)

Cap1 - (10/2018 - 3/2020) - Limit: $600

NFCU CC - (5/2019 - 1/2025) - Limit: $7,500

NFCU CLoC - (11/2019 - 4/2022) - Limit: $3,000

Discover - (11/2019 - 3/2021) - Limit: $1,000

Cap1 - (11/2019 - 12/2024) - Credit Limit: $3,500

NFCU CC - (2/2020 - 1/2025) - Limit: $24,000

PNC Bank - (2/2020 - 12/2024) - Limit: $500

USAA - (2/2020 - 12/2024) - Limit: $2,000

USAA - (2/2020 - 12/2024) - Limit: $2,100

Citizens Bank - (3/2020 - 12/2024) - Limit: $500

Capital One - (3/2020 - 12/2024) - Limit: $300

BofA - (12/2021 - 12/2024)  - Limit: $1,500

Citi - (2/2022 - 11/2023) - Limit: $1,500

Citi - (3/2022 - 10/2023) - Limit: $1,000

CB/Embark - (4/2024 - 12/2024) - Limit: $2,500

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Open Installment Loan (1):

Auto Loan: $2,096/$18,047 (11.6%)

Opened 3/2019 - Last payment is 8/24/2025

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Closed Installment Loan (1):

NFCU Pledge Loan: $0/$3,001

Opened 3/2019 - Closed 12/2023

[omgitsMatt]

I can’t be certain I didn’t miss something crucial while working on understanding all the things going on in my finances these last two months, there’s still work to be done before I can be confident in a plan. The brunt of my first two months has been resolving the most impactful things and then easiest things first. I tried to focus on the things that had the most impact or the things I could do the quickest. Essentially a snowball method but for this work that needs done instead of the structure of how you pay down debt.

I’m at a stage where I am starting to see less quick and efficient things to resolve. Most of everything else that needs to be done will take time and consistent grinding.

I’m going to do a rough draft of my ideal plan but bear in mind I need at least two months to see in/out flow of money to accurately know what’s feasible or not. I only just got auto-pay set on everything and then making sure every expense goes through a single source. Now making it possible to track trending spending habits better. To minimize mistakes and workload, I made certain everything is set to autopay. I also had a bad habit of manually paying all my bills way ahead of their due date. I didn’t see the issue until just a week ago, but it’s making it very difficult to get an accurate idea of the flow of expenses when I pay some things ahead, and others I don’t pay ahead.

As I only just finalized centralizing and organizing all the above, I won’t see what I’d call a “traditional” month until March is out. I’ll adjust anything that I can, then hopefully April will give me a really strong sense of the in/out flow.

These are the most important numbers below for now that I am formulating a plan around, I'll circle back and fix them as I make more progress.

I underestimated my net income, over estimated my minimum credit card payments due and over estimated my total montly expenses. These numbers will change when I get a better sense of what's real next month and the month after.

Net Income: $9,100

Min. CC Payments Due: $1,400 ($625 is interest, only $775 is towards principle)

Total Monthly Expenses: $6,100

What’s Left: $3,000

Citi - Balance: $7,664  - Minimum Payment: $77  Rate: (0% APR until January, 2026)

Amex - Balance: $4,543  - Minimum Payment: $93  Rate: (0% APR until December, 2025)

BoA -  Balance: $10,952 - Minimum Payment: $106 Rate: (0% APR until August, 2026)

NFCU - Balance: $37,118 - Minimum Payment: $785 (416) Rate: (13.24% APR)

NFCU - Balance: $15,128 - Minimum Payment: $328 (200) Rate: (13.9% APR)

[omgitsMatt]

I'll wrap up and polish my information later.

For now, I wanted to get the bare minimum data  at the very least. I'll do more of this later

[GZG]

step 1 is to go through your budget again and make sure your expenses are actual expenses and not just stuff you're buying because you have money. if you don't need it to breath or live, you cut it from the budget. 

People around you should look at you just a little bit crazy because the only way you get out from under $75,000 in debt is to do it fanatically.

step 2 is to make sure whoever ran up $75,000 in debt is physically incapable of doing that again. some people aren't credit card people. when you run up $75k in balances, you're not credit card people. if you think it would help, both of you switch to your debit cards. 

step 3 is to pick a way to go after the debts, snowball or avalanche

I would probably suggest snowball (makes you feel better, isn't the mathmatically best option), so I'll just describe that here. 

You have about ~$4k per month you can put towards this, right?

So after minimums, let's just say $2500 per month. 

Month 1: pay minimums, put it all into Amex. 

Month 2: pay minimums put it all into Amex. Amex is now paid off, move to the next card.

Month 3: pay minimums, put it all into Citi.

Month 4: pay minimums, put it all into citi

Month 5: pay minimums, put it all into Citi. Citi is now paid off, move to the next card. 

...

Month 10: pay miniumums, put it all into BoA. BoA is now paid off, move to the nfcu balances.

you can knock out three giant balances in under a year and now you're only left with two balances to go. not math smart, but really sastisifying to see and if it helps, it's worth the cost.

if you want to move balances to 0% apr cards and do something similar or just work on the avalanch method, you can do that, you just need to write the plan out.

Step 4: Sanity check the plan/math with a BK lawyer to see what your options are because $75k of debt is a ton, but given it's at 13% and not 30%? payoff feels a lot more possible 

[omgitsMatt]

Oh f', I have to type this up a second time lol. My original reply didn't send properly and I have to start from scratch. It took me two hours! Maybe I'll do better?

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@GZG wrote:

step 1 is to go through your budget again and make sure your expenses are actual expenses and not just stuff you're buying because you have money. if you don't need it to breath or live, you cut it from the budget. 

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The first pass was to see what was being spent, how it was being paid for and then either cutting out of the monthly expenses or having it charged to one specific place I decided upon so all charges were going through a single place.

The second pass was to double check that I didn't miss anything and that every was really necessary and that it was definitely going through a single source when it was being charged, that way I could then more easily and quickly scrutinize where money is being spent because the transactions are all in one place.

This third pass will give me the least amount of results versus the first two. I will gather data on my results from the first two passes and figure out how to make the groceries, household expenses and other genuinely necessary things leaner.

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@GZG wrote:

People around you should look at you just a little bit crazy because the only way you get out from under $75,000 in debt is to do it fanatically.

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We're there. I just had to argue my case on why I wasn't being as present and communicating as well in couples counseling. The wife was hurt I was on my phone or my desktop all the time and not communicating as much.

I told her in November what I was going to work on, then again in December. But go so invested I stopped communicating what and why I was doing things, all she saw was me on my phone or computer.

Once I whipped out 10 word .docs on a swath of different topics and notes (yes, really, 10) and she saw how much work was being done, she understood and has been very supportive.

I've done better at communicating what I'm doing and why and she's been very supportive.

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@GZG wrote:

step 2 is to make sure whoever ran up $75,000 in debt is physically incapable of doing that again. some people aren't credit card people. when you run up $75k in balances, you're not credit card people. if you think it would help, both of you switch to your debit cards. 

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I'll have to talk more in depth about this another time, because my original post that got wiped out was a good and in depth response and it made me feel better to just type it out and share.

The gist of it was, life genuinely got in the way and only picked up this last year.

The only thing that went on credit these last two years, and I truly mean the only thing, was for continued schooling and only after I wiped out emergency savings first.

I had to choose between sinking the savings into paying down debt or transition into a more stable career by starting an apprenticeship and school. It was a terrifying and enormous gamble to do that, but two years ago our total household net income was around 105k with 60k in debt and 15k in savings. Even if I sunk that 15k into paying down some of the debt, our income and new expenses with a new born that needed expensive daycare and had expensive medical bills on top of that didn't support us paying down any of the debt, we'd still only pay the minimums.

Two years ago we were at 60k and now we're at 75k. The only thing that went on credit was school. It was an enormous gamble, but a calculated one that paid off. After my apprenticship and once I was licensed as an Engineer in my state, I took a new job last year. Six months ago I scored an enormous raise, at least to me. My wife has done the same this last year, two large raises.

Last year our total income was about 105k, now a year later it's 164k.

I did a better job talking about where the original 60k came from over several years and where the last 15k came from these last two years. I'll have to touch on it again another time, but I only have 15m to finish this post.

I ended my original response by saying there's no one, thank god, that I have to box out of juggling the household finances and I could be wrong, but I truly believe we'll do well knocking this down and never having unsecured revolving debt at this quanity again.

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step 3 is to pick a way to go after the debts, snowball or avalanche

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I decided on the avalanche method early on.

23k is spread out on the three smaller balances at 0% and those weren't free, they cost me BT fees. It's best I utilize all the time they'll give me and pay down the higher rates that are at 14%. Between those two balances, I'm losing about $625 a month on interest where only $775 is towards principle.

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Step 4: Sanity check the plan/math with a BK lawyer to see what your options are because $75k of debt is a ton, but given it's at 13% and not 30%? payoff feels a lot more possible 

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That's great advice, originally two years ago that was going to have to happen. But I decided to try and get a more stable, in demand and higher paying career. It paid off, so I backed off of that.

I have an enormous amount of data gathered over the last two months and the in/out flow is better managed to where it's easy to track, I just need to spend the next two months polishing everything up and coming up with final plan. I have a very fleshed out rough plan, but before I talk to a BK lawyer I want all my ducks in a row.

I wasn't going to do that, but you make a wise suggestion. It can't hurt and it would only help.

But since we're very capable of paying down 4k a month now on priciple, not just interest, I doubt that is an option anymore like it was two years ago.

I need to be certain about all that and will talk to a lawyer and see what a professional thinks, that's good advice.

Thank you @GZG, I appreciate your time and thoughtful reply.

I'll circle back later and elaborate on some important things I couldn't do since I lost my original post.

[omgitsMatt]

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@omgitsMatt wrote:

I underestimated my net income, over estimated my minimum credit card payments due and over estimated my total montly expenses. These numbers will change when I get a better sense of what's real next month and the month after.

Net Income: $9,100

Min. CC Payments Due: $1,400 ($625 is interest, only $775 is towards principle)

Total Monthly Expenses: $6,100

What’s Left: $3,000

Citi - Balance: $7,664  - Minimum Payment: $77  Rate: (0% APR until January, 2026)

Amex - Balance: $4,543  - Minimum Payment: $93  Rate: (0% APR until December, 2025)

BoA -  Balance: $10,952 - Minimum Payment: $106 Rate: (0% APR until August, 2026)

NFCU - Balance: $37,118 - Minimum Payment: $785 (416) Rate: (13.24% APR)

NFCU - Balance: $15,128 - Minimum Payment: $328 (200) Rate: (13.9% APR)

---

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@GZG wrote:

you just need to write the plan out

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First stage of plan:

1.) Open a checking & savings account with Wells Fargo. (DONE)

• This is to build a better "relationship" with Wells Fargo in anticipation of an application in the future. It’s been reported that they are more apt to lend to those who bank with them.

2.) Freeze the $16,400 Wells Fargo Active Cash and don't use it for six months. (DONE)

• Older data points from several years ago in the myFICO forums indicate that Wells Fargo would let you reallocate credit limits from a previous Wells Fargo credit card, but the donor account had to have no transaction history for six months.
• The card has been frozen, and the last transaction was 2/7/2025.
• It’ll be six months on 8/7/2025.
• New data reported in myFICO forums on 2/8/2025 indicates that you no longer need to have six months of no activity, having no balance is enough to initiate a credit limit reallocation.
• Just to be cautious, because policies with lenders change often, the account will remain frozen and unused for six months.
• The last payment for the auto loan is 8/24/2025.
• When that shows as paid in full, I’ll lose some points. I need to study up and see if that really matters, because it’s possible my profile and scores are more than well enough to still get the accounts and limits I need.
• What difference does a 770 versus an 810 make? Possibly not much, or a lot.

3.) Have the household net income direct deposited into the Wells Fargo checking account.

• The entire income flow needs direct deposited into the Wells Fargo checking/savings account with the idea of building that “relationship” with them.
• Maybe I should split the direct deposits with another institution for possible "relationship" building as a safety net? I’ll have to dwell on it.
• I'll continue to put all the monthly spend on the Flagship, while paying down any purchase same day with Wells Fargo doing transfers every few days to the NFCU checking account.
• That's as close as I can get to treating it like a Debit Card while still fostering a "relationship" with NFCU.

4.) I need to decide on a time frame to apply for the Wells Fargo “Reflect” credit card.

• The promotion is 0% on Balance Transfers for 21 Months (5% BT Fee).
• They usually pull Experian; it’s verified they have pulled that bureau on me last time I applied.
• I did the pre-qualification on the main website on 2/8, there were no offers.
• I did the pre-qualification on the main website on 2/17 once more, there were six offers, including the “Reflect” credit card.
• I was offered a firm APR of 23.74% when I skimmed the pre-qualification terms. Getting a firm APR is usually a good sign you’ll be approved, but not always. I need to research this for Wells Fargo specifically.
• When I look elsewhere for the broader terms provided for anyone who doesn’t pre-qualify, they have three tiers of APR rates which were 17.24%, 23.74%, or 28.99%
• Does that mean since I got a firm rate and it wasn’t at the moderate APR, I’m likely to be approved? I will research.
• The $16,400 Active Cash was opened 9/2023 it would be 23 months old in August.
• The earliest I would apply for the “Reflect” is August, which is when the last payment of the auto loan is scheduled. 
• I’d be 0/12 and 4/24 on new accounts in September. October I'd be 2/24 on new accounts. November 1/24 on new accounts. I need to consider this when picking a date to apply.

5.) When I get approved, I’ll reallocate the credit limit from the “Active Cash” to the “Reflect”.

•  If there's any hiccups at this step, I’ll take a moment to gather my thoughts, then move forward with about a dozen well researched alternative promotional offers elsewhere.

• I need a plan for what I'll do if I get denied altogether
• I need a plan for what I’ll do if they won’t let me reallocate or it’s just not enough of a limit either way.

Second stage of plan:

6.) Put all projected expenses feasible on the NFCU Flagship and keep it paid every day. This is to be treated like a debit card, if it’s used for anything cash needs to be moved to cover it immediately. (DONE)

• For relationship building with NFCU it’s best to keep using their credit card.
• Six years as a member and multiple accounts will already be quite a relationship, but who knows? If I keep cycling normal expenses on the card and paying it down, it’ll make it more likely that I’ll be approved for a new card with a promotional rate.

7.) I need to reallocate the credit limits of the NFCU Platinum & NFCU cashRewards to the NFCU Flagship. (DONE)

• It was finalized on 2/5/2025 and 8/5/2025 would be six months.
• The max limit is three cards with Navy, so I needed to close two of my three cards if I wanted to apply for a new credit card with a 0% promo and 0% BT fee for 12 months.
• Once I finished doing that, I had one credit card with NFCU that has a $55,500 credit limit.
• It’s been reported in older threads on the myFICO forums that NFCU will allow you to reallocate credit limits if your donor card is a year old and has no balance and is eligible for a CLI.
• Hard to say if that’s still the case, but just in case I made sure to line up the CLI eligibility date to land 8/5/2025

7.) I need to decide when to apply for the Platinum with NFCU.

• The promotion is 0% on Balance Transfers for 12 Months (0% BT Fee)
• They pull TransUnion and I'd be 0/12 and 1/24 on inquiries at the time of the application.
• I’d be 0/12 and 4/24 on new accounts in September. October I'd be 2/24 on new accounts. November 1/24 on new accounts. I need to consider this when picking a date to apply. 
• $55,500 is a lot of credit, for all I know I could be at the max threshold, or I could have room and clout to get to 80k total with this app(?) I can’t know for certain until it’s time.

9.) Once approved, I need to try to reallocate the credit limit from the Flagship to the Platinum.

• This is where it gets tricky, I’ve not been able to find anyone who’s reallocated limits twice like I’m trying to do and talked about it. It might not be possible, we’ll see. I groomed and prepared everything as best I could, there's a real chance it'll work, or I wouldn't have wasted my time.
• I've read many conflicting data points all the way from 2018 to this year, NFCU adjusts their policy often and what one rep says no to, another may say yes to hours later. If it doesn't work with the first rep, I'll try again several different times and several ways until I'm certain it can't be done.

10.) Calculate the limits of the WF “Reflect” & NFCU “Platinum”, then choose how to allocate what amounts each card will cary.

• If things fall apart this early on and I don't make it here, I have many alternative plans that have already been heavily researched, they just need written out properly like this battle plan here.
• If things went well, I'll have a very good idea how much of the NFCU balance can be paid down in 12 months before the promotion expires. I'll only put exactly that  on the “Platinum”, so it gets paid down to zero before the promotion ends.
• I need to be conscious of that 5% BT fee and mitigate it as best as possible. I'm not worried about utilization on the NFCU credit card at this point, strictly finances. I'll push this one to the max possibly to avoid having to use the Reflect any more than I need to.
• If I have enough of a limit on the "Reflect", I'll move what’s left there. If it's close but not enough, we’ll just pay the difference rather than try for another account.
• If it's not close, I'll have a well-researched list of alternative promotional credit cards and will grudgingly weigh my options.

11.) Pay it down!

• I want three months of solid savings before starting to pay beyond minimum payments, I should have that in April.
• That'll be six months of savings if only _one_ of us is out of work, but three if both of us are out of work for some horrible reason. The savings are for emergencies such as car troubles, surprise doctor bills or other short term surprises not budgeted for.
• By August I should have the savings acquired and would have also paid down $12,000.
• I'll have 12 months to zero out the "Platinum" balance. It will get done.
• I'll then pivot to the "Reflect" which will have 9 months left at 0% when Navy is done.
• I'll dwell on the pace and progress as things progress then reevaluate and come up with a plan for what'll I'll do with whatever is left when the "Reflect" promo ends. If there’s anything left!
• If my estimate of being able to pay $3k a month was close or even under, I'll have paid down $36,000 when the NFCU card ends it's promo, then another $27,000 just as the Reflect is ending.
• I really underestimated the $3,000, I'm hoping it's more and I have to fix my estimates in two months.
• June 1, 2027 the balance should be $0 and we should have about $15,000 in emergency savings.

[omgitsMatt]

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@omgitsMatt wrote:

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@omgitsMatt wrote:

I underestimated my net income, over estimated my minimum credit card payments due and over estimated my total montly expenses. These numbers will change when I get a better sense of what's real next month and the month after.

Net Income: $9,100

Min. CC Payments Due: $1,400 ($625 is interest, only $775 is towards principle)

Total Monthly Expenses: $6,100

What’s Left: $3,000

Citi - Balance: $7,664  - Minimum Payment: $77  Rate: (0% APR until January, 2026)

Amex - Balance: $4,543  - Minimum Payment: $93  Rate: (0% APR until December, 2025)

BoA -  Balance: $10,952 - Minimum Payment: $106 Rate: (0% APR until August, 2026)

NFCU - Balance: $37,118 - Minimum Payment: $785 (416) Rate: (13.24% APR)

NFCU - Balance: $15,128 - Minimum Payment: $328 (200) Rate: (13.9% APR)

---

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@GZG wrote:

you just need to write the plan out

11.) Pay it down!

• I want three months of solid savings before starting to pay beyond minimum payments, I should have that in April.
• That'll be six months of savings if only _one_ of us is out of work, but three if both of us are out of work for some horrible reason. The savings are for emergencies such as car troubles, surprise doctor bills or other short term surprises not budgeted for.
• By August I should have the savings acquired and would have also paid down $12,000.
• I'll have 12 months to zero out the "Platinum" balance. It will get done.
• I'll then pivot to the "Reflect" which will have 9 months left at 0% when Navy is done.
• I'll dwell on the pace and progress as things progress then reevaluate and come up with a plan for what'll I'll do with whatever is left when the "Reflect" promo ends. If there’s anything left!
• If my estimate of being able to pay $3k a month was close or even under, I'll have paid down $36,000 when the NFCU card ends it's promo, then another $27,000 just as the Reflect is ending.
• I really underestimated the $3,000, I'm hoping it's more and I have to fix my estimates in two months.
• June 1, 2027 the balance should be $0 and we should have about $15,000 in emergency savings.

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I forgot to take into account that the minimum payments include a portion of principle too, so I'd be paying $3,800 a month towards debt, not $3,000.

I'll fix my estimates later.

[omgitsMatt]

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@omgitsMatt wrote:

I forgot to take into account that the minimum payments include a portion of principle too, so I'd be paying $3,800 a month towards debt, not $3,000.

I'll fix my estimates later.

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Am I doing my math right?

If I'm paying $775 a month towards principle, for six months, I'd have lowered my balance by $4,650 by August?

Then if if I paid $3,000 a month starting next month, for five months, I'd have paid down an additional $15,000.

Meaning I paid down $19,650 of the balance in six months? Is that right, am I doing this correctly?

[KatzNDawgs]

Hold up, all this debt is in your wife's name for your debt, you make significantly more than her, yet she didn't know you are desperate to pay it off? Is she aware of the dire situation? Really need to be a team with this and take your debt back ASAP. What are her scores at?