Interest Rates

Choosing between savings and debt repayment

This is a question that I hear all the time:

“Should I pay off my credit card debt or build an emergency savings account?”

The answer shouldn’t be one or the other – it should be both.

Let’s look at the numbers by using this example: Joe (a person I made up just now) has $5,000 in credit card debt with an interest rate of 14%. His minimum payment is about $100 a month. Joe’s monthly expenses are $4,000 (that includes everything – his mortgage, utilities, food, even his minimum credit card payment). Joe has reduced his expenses enough that he has about $400 left over each month that he can use to pay an additional amount on the credit card or to deposit into his savings. He’s committed to his cause, but he’s not sure what to do. He knows that carrying credit card debt is not a good thing, but neither is not having an emergency savings to fall back on in times of need.

Here are some choices Joe could make.

Joe could pay $200/month towards his credit card debt. That will take him 30 months (2 1/2 years) to be debt free assuming that he stops charging.

If he pays $250/month, he will be debt free in 23 months (2 years).

If he pays $300/month, he will be debt free in 19 months (1 1/2 years).

None of these choices take up all of the $400, so there is still money for his emergency savings. He will be putting away $100 to $200/per month towards his emergency savings and that means he will have saved $1,200 to $2,400 (plus interest) at the end of each year.

The smart choice is to do both versus one or the other. Getting yourself out of debt should be one of your top financial goals, but not at the expense of your savings account. One emergency without a savings account will put you right back into debt.

With Multiple Rates, the Highest Gets Paid First

The New Credit Card Act of 2009 takes effect on February 22, 2010 To help you prepare, my blog will feature Nine Tips over the next three weeks.

Tip Number Seven

Do you ever wonder why it takes so long to pay off your credit card balance? It’s partly because creditors apply your credit card payment to the lowest interest rate balance first.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you took a zero percent balance transfer offer. Then, you made some new purchases on that card. In the past, your payment would go to the balance transfer amount first until that’s paid off, while you’re interest rates pile up on those clothes you bought 6 months ago. That allowed the credit card company to make the most interest it possibly could possible off your purchase.

Well, no more. The Credit Card Act of 2009 will require creditors to apply your payment to the highest interest rate balance first.

What’s up with credit card companies lately?

There was a time when our mailboxes were full of credit card offers. Now the offers have been replaced with policy change notices.

Credit card companies are racing to make changes before the new regulations hit in February 2010. They’ve have had a bad couple years. It used to be easy to make money in the credit card business, but things have changed.

The first issue is defaults. Because of unemployment, more people are defaulting on their debts. So, credit card companies have been lowering everyone’s credit limits to help reduce the risk. Their reasoning is sound. The less debt you have, the less debt they will have to cover. Expect your credit card limits to fall even if you have a good payment history.

The second issue is pay offs. More people are paying off their credit card debt because they’re anticipating layoffs. This means that the creditors are earning less from interest payments. They need risk-free revenue, so they’re looking at annual fees. Expect your credit card company to either add an annual fee or increase the fee you already pay.

Right now, under the old regulations, they can still make changes to your account with minimal notice. If you get an unpleasant policy change in the mail, you should definitely call the credit card company and try to get them to revert back to the original terms. If that doesn’t work you can always close the account.

Why It Isn’t Enough to Pay the Minimum

“Can you tell me how long it will take to pay a $2,000 credit card balance? I’m paying the minimum every month and the balance doesn’t seem to be going down.”

You could be right about the balance. First thing that you should know is that credit card minimum payments are only about 1.5% and 2.5% of the balance. So for a $2,000 balance, that would be between $30 and $50 per month. Included in that minimum payment is the finance charges (that’s how the bank makes its income – from the fees). To let you know how long it would take to pay off, I would need your interest rate (which I don’t have), but here are two examples:

$2000 Credit Card Balance at 6% Interest

Rate	Minimum Pmt	Pay Off Time
6%	$30	80 months or 6 years
6%	$50	45 months or 3 years

$2000 Credit Card Balance at 12% Interest

Rate	Minimum Pmt	Pay Off Time
12%	$30	108 months or 9 years
12%	$50	51 months or 4 years

You can see that little of your payment is actually going towards reducing the $2,000 balance. The estimate above also assumes that you aren’t using the credit card to make more purchases.

You do have a couple options for a quicker payoff.

Option 1: Pay more than the minimum amount. Paying as little as $10 more per month will help you see some progress. You’re saying you don’t have an extra $10 to spend on your payment? Take a look at your spending habits and see where you can come up with that money. Bring your lunch to work, borrow books and movies instead of buying, and get your hair cut every 7 weeks instead of every 6 weeks. Little things add up. The great thing about this, is that it’s temporary. Once your debt is paid off, you can breathe a sigh of relief, and go back to the 6 week haircut or treat yourself to a rental. Or, you may find you have new habits that will allow you to start saving money.

Option 2: Lower the interest rate. You can do this by transferring the balance to another card that’s offering a zero percent rate or a low rate. These are limited time offers. If you don’t pay it off on time, you’ll get charged interest again. Make every effort to pay off the balance before the special offer is up. This way you can make sure that most or all of your payment is going toward the balance and not toward fees.

FICO Has Something to Say About You

You have all heard me talk about FICO scores and how important they are to your financial health. I’m going to walk you through a scenario so you can see how FICO affects you.

Let’s say that you are going to apply for credit. You may be thinking of buying or leasing a new car, opening up another credit card, purchasing or refinancing a new home. Whatever it is that you’re thinking about doing, it will involve the potential creditor accessing your credit report and score. This will help them decide if you are creditworthy and what terms you will be offered.

When the creditor prints your credit report, they will be looking at your credit from a specific date. They’ll see who you have credit with, your credit limit, how much you owe, how long you have had your accounts, your history of paying back your debts, and whether or not there is derogatory / negative information with an account. All this information is put into a formula to determine your credit score.

The credit score that creditors use was developed by Fair Isaac and Company (FICO) to determine whether you are a good credit risk and what the likelihood is that you will pay the credit back on time. The higher your credit score, the less risky you appear to a potential creditor. FICO scores go from 300 to 850 – with 850 being the best.

This is one of the major factors in determining your creditworthiness. Creditors have guidelines that determine if you can be considered for a specific program. For mortgages, your credit score has to be at least in the mid-range to even be considered for a mortgage program. If your score is one point below the minimum score, I cannot offer you that mortgage program. Auto loans have similar guidelines. When you see car financing commercials that offer people 0% financing for “well qualified borrowers,” they mean that you have to have a particular minimum credit score to be seen as “well qualified.”

So what happens if you don’t qualify for the best mortgage program or that 0% car financing? You may still be approved, but you will be offered lesser terms. Those less than favorable terms will mean that you will be paying more money out of your pocket. A $250,000 mortgage at 8% instead of 6% will cost you an additional $335.00 per month.

Bottom line: keep your credit score as high as possible, by doing everything possible from your own. This includes making sure your payments reach your creditors before the due date and checking your credit report regularly for suspicious activity.