Financial suggestion...

[Tweak155]

Well I'll just save the story, but I have about 7k total on my credit card that I pay off every month. (5k was all at once)

I have the money in the bank to pay it, but I'm not so sure I should do that right now with economy and job loss all over the country.

This wasn't intentional... some other money fell through so I'm stuck with this.

Here are my choices:

1 - Take a 3% hit on it and get 0% for about 14 months (aka pay about 180$ to re-locate it)
2 - Pay it off partially each month at 8.49% apr.
3 - Pay it off and just try to save the money back up.

After mandatory expenses I get about 1k in the bank (this is over estimating my expenses for cushion... I probably get closer to 1.3k or so).

I don't like taking that chunk of change out of my bank account right now but I CAN do it.

What say you? Suggestions?

 

[JohnCU]

if it was me, i prefer having cash on hand for an emergency fund but i guess if you paid it off then you could use the CC as an emergency fund

 

[TridenT]

Pay it off and use CC as emergency funds.

Work extra hard 😉

 

[Tweak155]

Originally posted by: JohnCU
if it was me, i prefer having cash on hand for an emergency fund but i guess if you paid it off then you could use the CC as an emergency fund

True.

My main concern, although I feel no threat currently, is if I lost my job - Rent and car bills cannot be paid on credit card. I guess that is why I'm conflicted.

 

[ric1287]

Id take the 3% hit and BT it to another card for 0%. Youd easily be paying >$180 in interest if you just left it

 

[PricklyPete]

Personally...I'd just pay it off. Likely...if you really need to, you'll be able to use that same credit card as an emergency for nearly all of your expenses if suddenly you were down economically (lost your job). In a just a few months you'll have a buffer back in the bank.

 

[Tweak155]

Originally posted by: ric1287
Id take the 3% hit and BT it to another card for 0%. Youd easily be paying >$180 in interest if you just left it

I did the math on this...

It would be cheaper if i started with about a 3k payment and paid it off over 5 months or so, but I'm not fond of paying APR and that is if I keep putting about 1k towards it a month which kills my income for that period of time.

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: Tweak155

Originally posted by: JohnCU
if it was me, i prefer having cash on hand for an emergency fund but i guess if you paid it off then you could use the CC as an emergency fund

True.

My main concern, although I feel no threat currently, is if I lost my job - Rent and car bills cannot be paid on credit card. I guess that is why I'm conflicted.

oh ok. yeah i'd keep the cash.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Pay it. You should always pay a CC off at the end of the month.

What's worse, end up in emergency situation while you have a CC bill or end up in emergency situation with clear CC? I'd go for the second one. You'll make the money back faster then if you're paying interest. In less than two weeks you'll have hit another pay day, that's about 1 grand in your bank, depending on how much you make and how much bills you have.

 

[Tweak155]

Originally posted by: PricklyPete
Personally...I'd just pay it off. Likely...if you really need to, you'll be able to use that same credit card as an emergency for nearly all of your expenses if suddenly you were down economically (lost your job). In a just a few months you'll have a buffer back in the bank.

This is true.

Come end of November / December I will bank on holiday pay (I get about 500$ for working ONE holiday... and I'm scheduled for at least 3.. this is on top of my regular income, so it helps a little bit).

Just sucks I guess. Could be worse.

I'd say to get back where I am right now I'd assume at least 5-8 months with limited extra spending.

 

[Tweak155]

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Pay it. You should always pay a CC off at the end of the month.

What's worse, end up in emergency situation while you have a CC bill or end up in emergency situation with clear CC? I'd go for the second one. You'll make the money back faster then if you're paying interest. In less than two weeks you'll have hit another pay day, that's about 1 grand in your bank, depending on how much you make and how much bills you have.

I'd say I bank about 1k a month as in the original post. This includes gas / food and set bills.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah you should always have about 10-20 grand or so set aside for emergency. Can even be in a separate account so you don't see that it's there and be tempted to spend it.