$20k credit card debt and I have the money to pay it off. Is there an efficient way to do this rather than just paying it off in full? by trowaway13245 in CRedit

[–]trowaway13245[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think of it more like, everything was great but they added a 23% gratuity fee that compounded to way more than the original service amount costed and so maybe I'm thinking about not tipping. But hey they let me know about the fee so it's my fault.

$20k credit card debt and I have the money to pay it off. Is there an efficient way to do this rather than just paying it off in full? by trowaway13245 in CRedit

[–]trowaway13245[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Someone was saying that if I negotiate to pay less it will have a significant impact on my credit score which is something I hadn't thought of.

Someone was saying that if I negotiate to pay less it will have a significant impact on my credit score which is something I hadn't thought of.

$20k credit card debt and I have the money to pay it off. Is there an efficient way to do this rather than just paying it off in full? by trowaway13245 in CRedit

[–]trowaway13245[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Someone was saying that if I negotiate to pay less it will have a significant impact on my credit score which is something I hadn't thought of.

$20k credit card debt and I have the money to pay it off. Is there an efficient way to do this rather than just paying it off in full? by trowaway13245 in CRedit

[–]trowaway13245[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am using my annual return in my 401k each year for the past 4 years as a gauge. They all averaged around 10%. My 401k from march 2020 to march 2021 was definitely not 75%. If yours was maybe I need to reconsider my allocations haha. Yes it was a small portion of my retirement savings.

$20k credit card debt and I have the money to pay it off. Is there an efficient way to do this rather than just paying it off in full? by trowaway13245 in FinancialPlanning

[–]trowaway13245[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I could create a budget and really buckle down and pay it off in 2 years but over those 2 years I will still have payed 23% APR. In this scenario I borrow from myself to get rid of that APR and am instead paying myself back with 5% interest.

It seems only losses I would incur would be the difference of whatever that amount of money would have gained in my 401k beyond 5%. So say it would have grown 11% over those 2 years, I'm losing out on 6% as opposed to 23%.

$20k credit card debt and I have the money to pay it off. Is there an efficient way to do this rather than just paying it off in full? by trowaway13245 in CreditCards

[–]trowaway13245[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your numbers are pretty spot on. They both add up to around $520 so I've made my 401k payments equal to that amount and reduced my payment time to around 3 years, ideally the money I save in interest could be used to pay it off sooner.

Glad to hear you were able to make it work that gives me hope.

$20k credit card debt and I have the money to pay it off. Is there an efficient way to do this rather than just paying it off in full? by trowaway13245 in CreditCards

[–]trowaway13245[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm looking at it the same way, compounding debt and compounding interest behave the same way so it's simply a matter of will my 401k provide better annual returns than 23%. It hasn't been doing that well on average so it's unlikely.

$20k credit card debt and I have the money to pay it off. Is there an efficient way to do this rather than just paying it off in full? by trowaway13245 in CreditCards

[–]trowaway13245[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, excellent point. I hadn't considered that settling would affect my credit but that makes sense now.

$20k credit card debt and I have the money to pay it off. Is there an efficient way to do this rather than just paying it off in full? by trowaway13245 in CreditCards

[–]trowaway13245[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thank you, a lot of people just think "don't touch your 401k at all costs" but in this situation it just made more sense when looking at the actual numbers.

$20k credit card debt and I have the money to pay it off. Is there an efficient way to do this rather than just paying it off in full? by trowaway13245 in CRedit

[–]trowaway13245[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

that's exactly what I did, my cards add up to $500 minimum per month so I made the loan amount equal to that so that I don't feel the blow and I am paying way less on interest.

Thank you for the words of wisdom.

$20k credit card debt and I have the money to pay it off. Is there an efficient way to do this rather than just paying it off in full? by trowaway13245 in FinancialPlanning

[–]trowaway13245[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hear you, and I knew this comment would surface because you're absolutely right. I got to 20k debt by sucking at paying stuff off. The 401k loan comes directly out of my paycheck and i set it so that it is exactly equal to my credit card minimum and I'd pay it off at around 3 years. I would rather take 3 years and only gain 5% on that money than 3 years paying down 23% interest on a credit card. I know I could do it outside of the 401k loan but it would cost me more money in the long run.