Debt consolidation company recommendations please

[Jay Walk]

If your home is (just using round #s) is 4 points, and you have other bills that are 4 times that, how does continuing to pay the home pmt, and then make pmt's on the bills with points multiple times higher make things "better"? There seems to be a LOT of people who are not very good at math here.

No, just bad at life
If they knew math they would not be in debt.

 

[Jay Walk]

The money has to come from somewhere and the cheaper the better. Money has been so expensive for so long nice to see rates moving down a little bit.

The money comes from a paycheck, that's how you pay off debt.
Not by borrowing more.

I realize the consensus is that borrowing money is smart, I'm just not into it anymore.

 

[JackFrost]

Dont take out equity on your house to consolodate. EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If your affording your payments you can pay off the debit using the snoball method. Double up on the smallest loan, when thats paid off add that payment to the next smallest loan. And so on. Its a proven method that works.

This is the best advice so far, every financial Punjabi, guru, whiz or whatever else you call them will tell you to NEVER ever borrow against you're domicile! It's only an asset as long as you don't go screwing with the payment schedule, length of loan, etc. Also, heloc's can negatively affect the terms of a sale if a situation were to arise where you needed to sell unexpectedly. (I've known 2 people that ended up in that situation and both times the sale was terminated due to the complications of the heloc added onto the mortgage.
The best advice is to pile on the payments (as previously stated) and start from smallest to largest if applicable. Sell items if needed, I've made thousands of dollars selling items on eBay that my wife thought was garbage, I still strip copper out of all the electrical wire, conduit, plumbing and other misc non ferrous metals we run into here/there on remodel projects. Example: we just had an inverter for our solar system take a sh1t, after the new one was installed I spent several hours ratf@cking the copper/aluminum out of it and ended up roughly 30ish pounds. Does it compare to a full time job? He!! To the no, but it sure beats watching some stupid sports ball game or blowing money on a cable subscription or other frivolous expenditure. Just a thought, but I bet there are quite a few ways to make extra money that most people don't even realize! Good luck to you sir!
Debt sucks and is a miserable SOB, but once it's licked you will feel liberated!

 

[Member 24198]

My guess is it could even be ran backwards, start with the largest debt bill, it would be very slow progress for a long while but the trade off is once the largest bill is paid off and those payments moved to the next smaller one the "snowball" starts rolling faster than the opposite direction. Regardless, the idea is you end up paying off the higher interest rates faster than just living with the minimum payment negating the interest rate.

Yes, you can "snowball" from big to small, but you go against the "snowball" analogy. Your new analogy is now to gain momentum, which isn't snowballing.

I feel like there's a large part of your quote that would be fun to take out of context but Im not one to say...

Weenie.

 

[gtivan]

I got a promotion a year or 2 ago. Nothing major but it added to our extra money at the end of the month. We are happy the way we are so I started playing with it.

While not credit cards, I have paid off 2 loans in those 2 years, and the 3rd will be paid off in January
Car Loan, highest intererst
Wife student loan
2nd mortgage for a new roof

Student loan first, it had smallest amount. Wanted a lil bit more breathing room.
Truck next. It had the highest interest rate.
Home equity was last since I could deduct in on tax return and had a better interest rate than my truck.

Overall i will have paid off the home equity 4 or 5 years early!

At the same time, I put the same amount into savings that i did into loan payments. Just sitting in savings with the covid checks but first time i have ever felt comfortable with my savings amount.

Consolidate? just read the fine print....

otherwise it is possible to not consolidate. It gets better quickly as soon as the first one goes away and the balances lower a lot quicker as time progresses.

theoretically paying the highest interest debt off first is best. It doesnt give you the satisfaction of seeing the payment disappear. but i like to amortize the loans in a excel and see i am saving $15 a month in extra interest that is also going to debt. i mostly focused on setting a end date and calculating how much i saved in interest for the pleasure of using someone elses money.

 

[Koda]

This is the best advice so far, every financial Punjabi, guru, whiz or whatever else you call them will tell you to NEVER ever borrow against you're domicile!

Economics isn't my thing, I'm not a financial expert, but this is what everyone I know that is an expert has told me and it makes sense. Especially for someone whos not behind in their bills, your not in an emergency dont extend the life of your mortgage. In fact the advice I typically also get is to pay off your home early if possible ,though thats another subject.
dont borrow against your house
dont buy brand new vehicles or finance, pay cash.
dont charge credit if you dont have the cash to pay it off immediately.

3 things to live by. I cant explain it.

 

[Koda]

I'll just leave this here and let others be the judge...

but I found jamming big balls together to not be as effective as gently rubbing it out slowly from a little ball.

Weenie.

 

[Member 24198]

Economics isn't my thing, I'm not a financial expert, but this is what everyone I know that is an expert has told me and it makes sense. Especially for someone whos not behind in their bills, your not in an emergency dont extend the life of your mortgage. In fact the advice I typically also get is to pay off your home early if possible ,though thats another subject.
dont borrow against your house
dont buy brand new vehicles or finance, pay cash.
dont charge credit if you dont have the cash to pay it off immediately.

3 things to live by. I cant explain it.

It's almost perfect, but it's not exactly for everyone. For example, I was telling my friend, they have a household income somewhere between $150k and $175k, that the Ramsey method, similar to what you just espoused, doesn't necessarily apply as much if you have higher income.

For example, I can make more off of investments than I can paying off my house early.

 

[Member 24198]

I'll just leave this here and let others be the judge...

Wrong thread matey.

 

[Koda]

It's almost perfect, but it's not exactly for everyone. For example, I was telling my friend, they have a household income somewhere between $150k and $175k, that the Ramsey method, similar to what you just espoused, doesn't necessarily apply as much if you have higher income.

For example, I can make more off of investments than I can paying off my house early.

Thats a different subject though. The wealthier you are the easier it is to make more money. Diversifying your investments is a good strategy but for someone low middle class or lower just paying off the house early would be a major financial move.

 

[Koda]

Wrong thread matey.

I got there. Not certain Im ready to be over there but im there... lol.

 

[Member 24198]

I got there. Not certain Im ready to be over there but im there... lol.

Sucked in.

 

[Bill Siegle]

My Wife works in finance and said try Green Path Financial Wellness. Website is GreenPath.com

 

[Koda]

Sucked in.

more like shanghai'd in... lol.

 

[Member 24198]

more like shanghai'd in... lol.

Come now, this can't be your first time.

 

[Joe13]

No, just bad at life
If they knew math they would not be in debt.

2 decent adult incomes (being able to afford toys with cash and have some savings) minus 1 income from an on the job injury due to client negligence = 1 decent income and a joke of workers comp income < basic bills while trying to balance an even tighter budget = in debt with credit cards as a quick and easy way to pay bills, keep up with a disabled spouse and still get by while working.

Spouse rebounds (4 days short of a year later) = back to 2 decent incomes with CC debt being paid down, but with a lot of basics having been gone without due to lack of funds and unanswerable amount of time spouse will be disabled or if they will even bounce back at all enough to work, which as said above thankfully did.

2 decent incomes + 1 layoff = 1 decent income + an even bigger joke of unemployment < debt payments plus cash income.

Now 2 decent incomes + debt from almost 2 years of 3 being sub par cash flow = my situation now.

Able to pay off my debts with current income with 2 promotions (one for each of us is likely) on the near horizon with the associated income increases and passing all 'public school' testing as a graduated senior from high school in the middle of 6th grade + subsidizing a disabled relative and helping my mom after my dad passed a couple months back until we can get her sorted and 6 years of my dad fighting cancer and none of us knowing the extent of his inability to keep up with stuff like property taxes (stubborn Texan who refused help and would shut down if I tried to talk with him about it) = I'm pretty sure I have a fairly decent grasp on math and a much greater IQ then 94% of adults above 30 (under 30 is still kids for me).


@Jay Walk - I did not think you were talking to me (but if you were there is an answer lol) but generalizing peoples intelligence based on their financial status would make most of us (the 99%'s) stupid and only multi-millionaires and above "smart". I guess it all depends on perspective.

The way a vast majority of homeless people who are not mentally ill or drug users (not having friends or family to lean on) get their houses taken away after a lay off and unemployment not kicking in for many many months like mine turned out like.

We had another income in the house that paid the basics but because of the injury that also put us at one income for a year, we had to use the rainy day fund of almost 4 months to hold us over until unemployment did pay out and even then it was a quarter of what it should have been for red tape reasons.



I'm just pointing out that financial situations can be complex and not everyone carrying debt is irresponsible or stupid.

Through all of this we were able to help those that needed help more then we did and also keep ourselves out of bankruptcy or tanking our credit so I'm very thankful and blessed with supportive friends and family.

2025 is looking to be a pretty good year for me…. I will probably start it by investing in a firearm purchase (all of my guns are reliable budget guns - I am content with guns that work and may not be the crème de le crème. Except for some fine firearms that were gifted to me by friends that will be with me until I pass them down to a grandkid or 2 way down the line I hope).

 

[Member 24198]

Make a spreadsheet of all of your outstanding liabilities. Call each debt and see if they'll work with you. Call the bank holding the mortgage and see what a loan costs for all terms. Run all numbers to see what works out best for you.

 

[arakboss]

Thats a different subject though. The wealthier you are the easier it is to make more money. Diversifying your investments is a good strategy but for someone low middle class or lower just paying off the house early would be a major financial move.

Lower middle class are struggling to pay rent. Paying off a house is not something they will have to worry about.

 

[Koda]

Lower middle class are struggling to pay rent. Paying off a house is not something they will have to worry about.

ok middle middle class, IDK but its true it takes money to make money.

 

[arakboss]

ok middle middle class, IDK but its true it takes money to make money.

It does take money to make money.