vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
So my advice for your financial situation depends on your aims. Are you aiming to: - Completely clear your debt - Clear one card to free up more monthly income. - Clear some debt to allow further controlled spending - Clear one card and focus on just using one, having 2nd as emergency. There are other things you may wish to do but you said to pay off some / all of 2 credit card bills. If you want to contact me I can plan this more precisely. Some seem the same but other factors can come into play as well. Differing rates of interest make the options clearer. My first advice would be to call the card companies and see if you can get better rates first. SCENARIO (some figures made up for visual) Credit Card Debts 8,000 8,000 Monthly payment 100 100 APR % 10 10 Ignoring APR this will be 80 months to repay (otherwise 140 months using my example amounts above) £28,000 repaid over 11 years 8 months. Your Suggestion As per your suggestion originally, paying off cards equally will allow smaller debt on both cards. Credit Card Debt 3,000 3,000 Monthly payment 100 100 APR % 10 10 With a 0% APR this would be paid off in 2 years 6 months. Cards are available to get free balance transfers, need to look into this. With the 10% APR this would take 3 years 1 month. £10,000 lump and £7,400 repaid over 3 years 1 month (saving £10,600 and 8 years 7 months) AIM: To clear debt completely. My advice here is to use the £10,000 lump sum to pay off one credit card, the remaining £2,000 can then come off the other card. This will free up your outgoings (was 2 x £100) by £100. But then use this £100 to pay off the card, this will result in the following: Credit Card Debt 6,000 Monthly payment 200 APR % 10 With a 0% APR this would be paid off in 2 years 6 months. Cards are available to get free balance transfers, need to look into this. With 10% APR this would take roughly 3 years 1 month. £10,000 lump and £7,400 repaid over 3 years 1 month (saving £10,600 and 8 years 7 months).
"Pete B mentioned adjusting your payments using the Debt Snowball Method and I agree it is one possible solution, another being the Debt Avalanche Method. Here is a link that describes both.  There was a time in my past when I had 17 credit lines open totaling about $12,000. If I had paid them the way the banks asked (minimum monthly payments) it would have taken decades to pay off. Then I was shown these two techniques and as a result I was able pay them down rapidly and close all but 2 lines within 5 years. Like others I am going to say that if you already own your house free and clear never Never NEVER put a loan on it unless the loan is (a) to improve the house, or (b) a life & death emergency. If you get sick or fired and miss even a single payment on a HELOC you could lose your house forever and that just plain sucks. Not only will you then be forced into renting a place (money down the drain) but your credit rating will take such a huge hit it will be years (if ever) before you can even try and buy a new home.  Debts come and go, as do the ""toys"" and other things we buy with that debt. Homes are security & stability for tomorrow. Never give that up for a little ease & comfort today. UPDATE: I had to go looking for it but here is some software that I used all those years ago to figure out my strategy for paying down all my credit bills. It's a bit clunky but it's super easy to use plus it has some other variations on snowball and avalanche methods as well. I definitely found it helpful."
You need to pay off the entire balance of 7450 as soon as possible. This should be your primary financial goal at this point above anything else. A basic structure that you can follow is this: Is the £1500 balance with the 39.9% interest rate the obvious starting point here? Yes, that is fine. But all the cards and overdraft debts need to be treated with the same urgency! What are the prospects for improving my credit score in say the next 6-12 months enough to get a 0% balance transfer or loan for consolidation? This should not be a primary concern of yours if you want to move on with your financial life. Debt consolidation will not help you achieve the goals you have described (home ownership, financial stability). If you follow the advice here, by the time you get to the point of being eligible, you may not see enough savings in interest to make it worth the hassle. Focus on the hard stuff and pay off the balances. Is that realistic, or am I looking at a longer term struggle? You are looking at a significant struggle. If it was easy you would not be asking this question! The length of time will be determined by your choices: how aggressively you will cut your lifestyle, take on extra jobs, and place additional payments on your debt.  By being that extreme, you will actually start to see progress, which will be encouraging. If you go in half-committed, your progress will show as much and it will be demotivating. Much of your success will hinge on your mental and emotional toughness to push through the hard work of delaying pleasure and paying off these balances. That is just my personal experience, so you can take it or leave it. :) The credit score will take care of itself if you follow this method, so don't worry about it. Good Luck!
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When you're debt free everything you own feels different. The lack of financial stress in your life goes away. BUT! before you do go gung-ho on paying down debt think through these steps (and no I did not come up with them. Dave Ramsey did and others). Truncated from - http://www.daveramsey.com/new/baby-steps/ I have 1 credit card. Only use it for business/travel but pay it off every month (yay for auto-draft). Everthing else is cash/debit and we live by a budget. If it's not in the budget we don't buy it. Easy as pie. The hard part is disciplining yourself to wait. Our society is gear for BUY NOW! PAY LATER! and well you can see where that has taken our country and families. And celebrate the small victories. Pay off 1 debt then go have a nice dinner. Things like that help keep you motivated and pursuing the end goal.
5 of them are for $1k each. 3 of them are for $5k each, 1 is a $20k car loan, and 1 is a $100k mortgage. Each one has a monthly payment. Let's say that I've got $3k sitting in the bank that I want to use to kickstart my debt reduction. I could pay all $3k toward one of my larger loans, or I could immediately pay off 3 of my 10 loans. Ignore interest for the moment, and let's say that we are going to pay off the smallest loans first. When I eliminate these three loans, three of my monthly payments are also gone. Now let's say that with the money I was paying toward these eliminated debts, and some other money I was able to scrape together $500 a month that I want to use toward debt reduction. In four months, I've eliminated the last two $1k debts, and I'm down to 5 debts instead of 10. Achievement Unlocked! Instead of this strategy, I could have paid toward my largest interest rate. Let's say that was one of the $5k loans. I paid the $3k toward the bank to it, and because I still had all the monthly payments after that, I was only able to scrape together $400 a month extra toward debt reduction. In four months, I still have 10 debts. Now let's say that after these four months, I have a bad month, and some unexpected expenses come up. If I've eliminated 5 of my debts, my monthly payments are less, and I'll have an easier month then I would have had if I still had 10 monthly payments to deal with. Each time I eliminate a debt, the amount extra I have each month to tackle the remaining debts gets bigger. And if your goal is eliminating debt quickly, these early wins can really help motivate you on. It really feels like you are getting somewhere when your monthly bills go down. It also helps you with the debt free mindset. You start to see a future where you aren't sending payments to the banks each month.
If you want to work within that constraint, then I sincerely suggest you find a credit councilor.  It may take you a while to dig out of debt, but with a little help from someone that knows the ropes, you can do it!  Remember, even though you want to pay back those debts, many times the sky-rocketing interest rates work against you.  Most of the good councilors know how to work the system to get these rates reduced, and sometimes even get the interest you've already accumulated reduced.
The other responses are correct in that financially, you should pay off the highest-interest-rate debt first, while paying the minimum on any lower-interest-rate debt to avoid any fees or penalties. However, there is one more trick you might consider: Unless you have the $20k available to pay the Discover debt immediately (and you say you have $9.5k so far), you could roll over your private debt over to a new card with a lower interest rate. It's pretty common to find balance transfers deals that charge a 3% transfer fee to have 0% APY for 1 year.  If you are an organized person and are sure you won't forget to balance transfer again in the future, this would bring your private debt down to ~3%/year, and make your highest effective interest rate the $7.5k debt at 6%, and you could pay that down first. That's the extreme version, and requires you to set a calendar alert 10-11 months in the future.  A less-extreme tactic would be to try to switch your private debt once to a lower rate - you probably could find a card with 0% APY for 1 year and then 7-8% afterwards, without continuing to balance transfer in the future.  Then it would be closer to negligible which debt you chose to pay down first (between private and Perkins), and in that case I'd advocate finishing off the smaller debt entirely (because it would be the highest rate at that moment, and to feel good about knocking one off, and to reduce the number of fees and credit score hits if you ever took a vacation and was late on a monthly payment).
You should check out Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps.  He has an great and well organized plan for getting out of debt and building wealth.  My wife and I have followed the plan and will be paying off our home this year :)  His advice on debt payments is to pay off the smallest balance first.  This helps motivate you and your husband to push harder on your debts.   Once the first pay is paid the money that would have gone to that debt is applied to the next smallest debt and so on.  This is called a 'debt snowball' since by the end you will have plenty of money to pay that last few debts.  While working on the smallest debt, making minimum payments on the others. Stop using the credit cards entirely! Don't use gimmicks to avoid facing the reality of the debt.  Close your accounts and commit to never borrowing money again. This is a huge physiological shift.  I used credit cards all the time for decades, that is a thing of the past for us, we pay cash or don't buy it.  In your case, paying the 80% interest loan off is likely to be priority.  I didn't even realize that was legal.  Hopefully that is also the smallest balance.   Start making a monthly budget and sticking to it.  Check out Dave's 'irregular income' budget form, it is meant for couples in your situation.  The first steps will be to pay food, rent, utilities and transportation.  After that, list your debts in priority order and pay them as your husbands income comes in during the month.  Don't despair, you two can get your financial life cleaned up! You just need a good plan and a lot of focus.
"There are several tactics you might employ to help the situation.  You have two options, one is to increase your income, the other is to reduce your expenditure.  Paying off debt will also help but that may not apply to you. Most people find it easier to reduce expenditure, so I will explain that first of all. Then make sure you track your actual expenditure agains the budget, check it daily and make sure it is accurate, if you spend some money you didn't budget for then mark that down and make sure you budget for it going forward. Most people are surprised at how much they are actually spending, especially on trivial things like coffee, lunch at work etc.  You will then find you can start to reduce this expenditure, maybe by bringing lunch to work, skipping coffee every other day etc. By doing a budget you can reduce your expenditure and hopefully have some money left over to save - put a line in your budget marked savings (ideally on the day you get paid so you don't spend it)! If you ned to save $x by Y date then work out how much that works out in a month and put that into your budget, if you haven't got enough spare to do that then onto stage 2 With regards to increasing income, the obvious way is to do some overtime at work - can you do that? Alternatively you can get a part-time job, maybe a hobby that pays money?  I personally enjoy building web-sites as a hobby and I get about $20 a month from advertising on those, it's not much but it adds up over time. Finally how to actually save, what methods are there? Lots of options here, personally I buy shares with my savings, making sure I pick stocks that are currently cheap - this is quite risky and may not suit you but it works for me as I don't sell the shares until I actually need the money. Other options are regular savings accounts that pay a bonus after you've had the money in for (usually) 12 months etc.  They tend to pay a bonus at the end so you are incentivised to not touch your cash but you can get it out if you really need it. You can also work out how much ""spare"" cash you have monthly and then give yourself an ""allowance"" each month that you can spend on impulse items, but make sure you stick to that. Good luck!"
This is assuming your student loans are Federal Stafford Loans Don't pay off your student loans as soon as possible. They're very low interest and paying them monthly will help your credit. What you will want to do is as soon as the grace period expires, call up whoever is handling your account and ask them to reduce the monthly since you're not making much. Then just pay the minimum amount, pay your living expenses, bank some of it, and if you have a month where you came out ahead consider putting the difference towards the student loan. Can also drop any tax return you get into the student loan debt. The whole pay off your student loans fast is important. When you have the extra put it towards it, but the extra. Its also much, much more important if you made the mistake of taking out Private Loans or have 50k, 80k, 120k in student loan debt. Since you only have a ~14k I'm going with it being a Stafford Loan. Reduce the monthly, pay on time, live within/below your means... and you'll be just fine.
Pay the highest rate debt first, it's as simple as that. When that debt is paid (the 24% card in this case) pay off the next one.  As far as having an emergency fund is concerned, I consider it a second priority. If one owes 24% money, that $2000 emergency fund is costing $480/yr. Ouch. Avoid the behaviors that got you into debt in the first place, and pay the cards off as fast as you can. When you have no balance, start to save, first into the emergency account, then toward retirement.
If you carried a balance from the last month, then pay the card off as soon as possible. Otherwise I agree with @mbhunter that you should wait until close to time for the bill to become due. Then always pay the credit card off in full and you will borrowing Chase's money interest free for up to 30 days.
Most financial guru's recommend between three and six months of savings, modified by how likely you think it is you'll lose your job.  Note that the months here are months of expenses not income. Dave Ramsey on the other hands recommends saving only $1000 until you've paid all debts (except your home).  This strategy only makes sense if you're paying off debt very aggressively. Since you have many relatively small debts, you would benefit greatly from the debt snowball (recent research shows it's more effective in practice than paying off high interest first).  As you quickly pay off the smaller loans you reduce the amount you must pay each month, reducing your risk (your emergency fund now goes that much farther), and enabling you to put more on the next debt.  In your particular case the debt snowball would be: etc.   Again, this is good because it quickly reduces your monthly required debt payments.
Every $1,000 you use to pay off a 26% interest rate card saves you $260 / year.  Every $1,000 you use to pay off a 23% interest rate card saves you $230 / year. Every $1,000 you put in a savings account earning ~0.5% interest earns you $5 / year. Having cash on hand is good in case of emergencies, but typically if your debt is on high interest credit cards, you should consider paying off as much of it as possible. In your case you may want to keep only some small amount (maybe $500, maybe $1000, maybe $100) in cash for emergencies. Paying off your high interest debt should be a top priority for you. You may want to look on this site for help with budgeting, also. Typically, being in debt to credit card companies is a sign of living beyond your means. It costs you a lot of money in the long run.
"Plus one to Alexandre for pointing out this is possible.  It is also possible to run with scissors, and I would recommend neither.   Your money problems are very small and doing something so dramatic to solve them will probably put you in a worse financial decision.  Why would you put your home, at risk, to pay off such a small amount (less than 5K)?  The ""one payment"" or consolidation mantra, for a person like you, will often lead a person into reoccurring the same debt and having the consolidation loan.  You don't need one payment you need no payments. First off stop borrowing. Second increase your income by working more or selling stuff.  You might want to clean some houses, baby sit, or mow some lawns instead of the traditional job. Third decrease your spending.  Let your loved ones know it will be a lean Christmas this year.  Cut cable as you won't have time to watch TV anyway. If you do all that could you find $1000 per month?    I bet you could find more.  Doing all that and you will be done in 5 months and still own your home outright.   You are a great candidate to pay off your bills by the snowball method, or smallest to largest.  While it may not be, on paper, the most mathematically efficient it helps people with motivation and hope.  It sounds like you could use that.  List your bills smallest to largest and pay off the smallest first while paying minimums on the rest.   You can do it!"
Don't fuss about your credit score when you're paying 9%. Get rid of the loan as fast as you can. Period.
You could buy debt/notes or other instruments that pay out periodically.  Some examples are  If there is an income stream you can discount the present value and then buy it/own the rights to income stream. Typically you pay a discounted price for the face value and then receive the income stream over time.
I am a firm believer in the idea of limiting debt as much as possible.  I would not recommend borrowing money for anything other than a reasonably sized mortgage.  As a result, my recommendations are going to be geared toward that goal. The top priorities for me, then, would be to make sure, first, that we don't have to go further into debt, and second, that we eliminate the debt that we already have as soon as possible. Here is how I would rate your list: A small emergency fund, perhaps $1000 USD, is going to ensure that, while you are funding other things, you don't end up so cash poor that, if something unexpected and urgent comes up, you are forced to add to your credit card debt.  Make this small fund your top priority, and it shouldn't take much more than a month or two to do it. Getting out of debt is important, but if your employer hands out free money, you have to take it.  It is just too good of a deal. Get rid of this debt as fast as possible.  When you are done, you'll have more income available to you than you've ever had before. Now that you have just gotten done eliminating your debt as fast as possible, don't stop there.  Take the income you had been throwing at your debt, and build up your emergency fund to a few months' worth of your expenses.  Finishing this fund up will enable you to withstand a small crisis without borrowing anything. You are now in a very strong position financially, and can confidently invest.  Deciding which type of retirement account is best for you depends on the details of your situation. Once you are contributing a healthy amount to your retirement funds, you may want to consider paying off your mortgage early. As I said before, I recommend getting down to the last step as quickly as possible.  Depending on how much debt you actually have, if you sacrifice for a year or two you could be debt free and in a position to keep all of your investment gains.  If you take your time paying off debt, like many people do, you could find yourself 10 years from now still making payments on your loans, still making car payments, and still needlessly sending interest to the banks, eating away at the gains you are making in your investments. If you aren't committed to eliminating your debt quickly, and plan on having payments for a long time, then skip this advice and put retirement savings at the top.
Pay off the debt first.  Life circumstances change without notice, and starting any stage of life with a debt puts you at a disadvantage.  Luckily, your debt is small.  Please also consider accumulating a 6 month emergency fund before making investments. This will further protect you when life hands you a curveball.
"Aside from employer 401(k) matches (which may double your money immediately), paying off debts is almost always the best place to start. Paying off a debt early is a zero-risk operation and will earn you N% (where N is your interest rate). Is that a good deal for a zero-risk return? The closest equivalent today (Aug 24, 2012) is that you can earn about 2.68% on 10-year Treasury bonds. Unless you have a really, really good interest rate (or the interest is tax-deductible), paying off your loan will offer an excellent risk-adjusted return, so you should do that. The ""really good"" interest rate is typically a mortgage or student loans. (Mortgage interest is also tax-deductible, at least for now.) In those cases, you're not going to gain nearly as much by paying the loan early, and the loan is large - larger than the amount you want to have in risk-free investments. You want to invest for returns, as well! So you can save for retirement instead (in a 401(k) or similar account) and take on a little risk."
Carrying $5k debt would cost you $400 per year at an 8% interest rate. At 19%, that would be $950 per year. Pay off your cc debt, put the other 2k on your student loans, and the money you save in interest on your cc debt goes toward your student loans too. When all your debts are paid off, you have an emergency fund saved up (usually 3 months' living expenses), you've met all your other goals (car, house, college fund for the kids, retirement fund), and you still have some money to spend, then go to Vegas and enjoy yourself while probably losing it all.
Prosper is the best solution that comes to mind when you need a loan fast. One of the best parts of Prosper is that you can choose the terms of your loan.  Basically, you choose how much you need (from $2,000 to $25,000), the highest payments you're comfortable paying, and the term of your loan... the interest rate is calculated based on what you choose.  Investors bid on your loan listing (driving your interest rate down), and in as little as 24 hours up to a month, you'll have the funds wired to your account. http://www.prosper.com/loans/