Entries tagged with “Minimum Payment”.


Have you ever noticed that you have been paying your credit call bills but they never seem to really move in your direction. There are many reasons why this occurs and once identified can be corrected in your benefit , not your bank or credit card companies.  Following the steps outlined here will greatly increase your payment efficiency and help you get out of debt faster.

The first rule of thumb is that you should only be concentrating on one of your debts at a time for maximum efficiency. Spreading money out across multiple debts is not going to provide you the same impact as it will paying it on one source.

Zero percent interest cards should be the first on your list, if you happen to have any of them use them to your advantage. They are usually short term rates but will allow to reduce your overall balance quickly.

Even though you may be tempted to move around and attack different types of accounts you should consider the following before starting. Credit cards fluctuate in minimum payments unlike other types of debt and this will useful to you later. Once your interest free cards are gone you should line up your debts as follows.

Starting with the lowest balance card apply your minimum payment to this card no later then the 3rd week that it is due, using the amount that you had been paying on your previous card as an extra payment. Only pay this once your previous months statement posts so that this additional amount will reduce your interest for the next month and increase your principal payment amount. Doing this consistently month after month will show you an improved efficiency in reducing your principal balances.

If any of your other cards reduce their minimum payments roll that amount down to the debt you are concentrating on currently as part of your extra payment. This has the possibility of increasing this amount by 2 to 5 dollars a month and over time it will increase your efficiency even more.

Continue this pattern  until you have wiped out all of your debts and now you will have the ability to use the majority of your paychecks to plan for things like savings,retirement,and pretty much anything. The biggest reason that many are strapped is that they are using credit to it maximum, this is diluting your money every month. Changing how you pay back your current debt now will make a great difference on how long you stay in debt, how strong your credit will be and overall how much of the hard earned money you keep or give away.

This post was created by: http://www.debt-elimination-services.net

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THe aged old question .. Why cant I get a loan and why is my credit score so low! .

In today’s economy it will be very important for you to maintain a good credit score. Even if you do not plan on using it any time soon you will need it eventually. The cleaner you keep your credit the easier it will be to get financing when needed. Trying to correct an issue with your credit at the last minute will not benefit you as much as keeping your credit strong. Lets discuss how it we can go about getting this done and hopefully you can apply this to your situation.

We are going to use the example of someone that has a credit score of lets say 650, this is not terrible but it does need work to be able to obtain decent rates. Increasing this rate may even be able to help him with his current debts like credit cards , with better rates they can attempt to obtain lower rates.  There are a number of factors that go into your credit score and to raise it you will need to abide by these rules to correct your credit score.

So lets say for instance you have 4 credit accounts, a car payment, a first and second mortgage .

First Card is a Limit of 6000.00 and a balance of 5000.00 with a minimum payment 170.00 a month. Your second card is a limit of 4000.00 and a balance of 2300.00 with a minimum payment of 65.00 a month. The third card that you have is one with a limit of 4000.00 and a balance of 3000.00 with a minimum payment of 122.00 a month . Finally the last card has a limit of  3000.00 and a balance of 1500.00 with a minimum payment of 35.00 a month. Now considering thes amounts there are some very pertinent issues that we should be addressing but which order would we do them in and how and why.

Here is the first rule of thumb that you should be aware of and start focusing on currently , no balance on any credit account  should be more than 40% of your credit limit. So for 6000.00 your maximum balance should be 2400, 4000.00 should be 1600.00 and 3000.00 should be 1200.00. this will directly impact your credit scores both positive and negative so the question is how will address this and which order will you take to fix it.

Glad you had asked and I will gladly supply you my input to making your credit score improve. I always start at the lowest balance and I do this for reasons which I will explain . How you handle your debt will be directly reflected in your credit scores(Remember this statement always). I start with the lowest balance because we will be attempting to accelerate the payoff of this account , the more extra principal we will be applying will take a bigger bite out of a smaller balance and obtain our goals faster.  So as in our example our lowest balance we need to eliminate 300.00 dollars to get it to the 40% ratio on that account . ow even once we get there we are going to want to continue forward momentum on that and all accounts, but only pay minimum amounts on all accounts ut the one we are concentrating on reducing. Once we repeat this process on each credit account and get them at 40% we will shift gears and blow all the rest of the debt out in order. So your first goal that you need to work on is reducing your balances below 40% and then continue on with these additional steps.

Now even though 40% is your primary goal , it is sooooooooooooooooo important for you to pay your bills on time . Make sure you pay your bills so they will post at least a week early , and if you are going to be making extra payments on the account you are focusing on above the minimum make them when you have them. What I mean is do not wait until your regular scheduled payment , this is very important because every time you reduce your balance you are also reducing the amount you pay interest on for that month. So if you reduce it by 10.00 in the first week then you pay 3 weeks of less interest that the ten dollars makes up in dollars.  ow this techniques will give you an extra principal boost at the end of the month over paying it with your regular payment.

Following these steps will help you raise your credit scores and best off all help you get out of debt. Be persistent and consistent with your payments and will have remarkeable results.

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With all the financial problems in today’s society it is easy to attempt to reach for solutions. Sometimes the solution you find looks like the answers to all your problems to your debt issues, but in the end does not provide the desired effect.

Everyone has seen or possibly gotten advertisements to consolidate your debts into new loans. While the terms always look better on paper, does it actually provide you a better deal long term.? The usual situation is for you to take several different loans and wrap them up into a single loan with a reduced payment. Now who wouldn’t jump at an offer like this.? better payment so obviously it is a better deal for you right.?… WRONG ! . There are many things you should be considering before you jump into debt consolidation, please do not get me wrong as I believe this will greatly benefit you if it is done correctly. I will discuss a few of the obvious things and offer some possibilities .

Lets say you have 3 cards with the following balances and rates:

Visa Card with 7500 (Minimum = 180) balance with an interest rate of 14% , discover card with 2000 (Minimum= 75)balance with an interest rate of 10,4%, and a master Card with a balance of 1200 (Maximum = 25) with an interest rate of 16%. You have a total of 1700 and are offered a flat interest rate of 9% with a minimum payment of 220 , while this is a decrease in your minimum is this actually a smart move long term.? If you plan on making the minimum payment as it is offered to you then it will not benefit you long term, so how could it benefit you !

The reason that it will not benefit you is your are starting a new loan at full interest and will pay more . Now lets say you get the better rate and still plan on paying your original payment , applying this amount of extra principal will now make sense . The reason you should be very sure you are going to be able to accelerate your payments before consolidating debt. If you do not do this you be right back in debt if not more than you originally started with before consolidating.

Now here is spin on this to think about before you consolidate your debts, get organized and prepare a proper budget and have your ducks in a row. Start analyzing your debts lowest to highest and determine how much money you have available to pay every month. Start with your lowest amount as it will go the fastest and apply everything you have available on this debt, everything else gets the minimum. Now that you have set the tone go ahead and look into debt consolidation loans. Once you have the debt consolidation loan pay the minimum by the third week of the billing period, and all additional funds the week after your next month posts.

Why would you want to pay that way you ask…   Thanks for asking …

When you pay your minimum at the end of the month you are essentially paying 30 days of interest on the full amount of the loan , by paying any additional within the first week you are reducing your balance by that amount thus reducing that amount of interest you will pay for that month. If you do this each month you will start to see a rapid reduction in your principal and the interest you pay.

So in conclusion to this article if you are consolidating and plan on paying the reduced amount DONT WASTE YOUR TIME as it will not provide you the full benefit.  If you need to reduce your expenses to make ends meet start with what you have first and if you need assistance contact a good financial consultant who can assist , Feel free to contact me if you don’t have one available and I would be happy to help.

Now if you are doing to be able to make a bigger payment I would say go for it as you will be making a dent in your debt and it will have made the most benefit.

 

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