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I need some credit card management advice. For reference, I'm in Australia. For years I had one credit card for emergencies (CBA card). I then moved out of my parents' house and along the way bought furniture and had more expenses than I'd planned for crop up and ran up a balance. 6 months ago I got a second new card (Suncorp card), with a balance transfer promo rate of about 3 percent. The plan was to pay off that $2600 in six months. The promo rate expired yesterday and I still have a balance of $1300. I was also not responsible with the CBA card, and never payed it off fully until September '09. Since then I've run it back up to $500 having moved house about a month ago. I use the CBA card for paying bills automatically, then send the cash over as I have it ie I send it $50 a week, which pays off the auto-bill for internet service in a fortnight, mobile phone the next week and electricity in the next 4 weeks if all bills come in the same week. So... I have some options. I can leave things as they are, pay the new rate of 11% on the $1300, and keep paying that off as I have been at $200 a month. I also keep the CBA card and try to pay off the existing balance plus new bills at $200 a month as well. CBA has 55 days interest free, then the rate is 18%. Second, I can transfer the balance on the CBA card to the Suncorp card, pay 11% interest on $1800 and then I should be able to pay off bills charged to the CBA card before the interest free period is up. The only caveat here is I was not responsible in the past (spent my weekly pay then discovered I needed fuel for my car and charged that etc) and may run up a balance anyway. The second option sounds like it would work out better for me and I'd save some interest money, but I'm pretty crap at managing my money. I can't guarantee I'll pay things off in 55 days, especially since my boyfriend's half of the bills comes at $50 a week since he is worse with his money and blows it all on random crap far too often. We're in a your half/my half situation, not a shared financial outlook (He's seems happy to have a 2k credit card debt that he'll pay off one day then charge back up the next) Any advice? I'm more confused by all the numbers themselves, my brain shuts down when I look at mathematical problems (no doubt why I can't get rid of these pesky debts)
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Jan 24, 2010 20:01
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Chernori posted:First of all, definitely read the first post in this thread. Here's a link, if your PGUP, Home, and Up arrow keys are broken: Thank you for your advice. I've checked out the budget thread from the OP before, but nothing else, since I don't have a budget yet that actually works. (I'm used to living week to week, and screwed up plugging in monthly numbers) I'm working on a proper budget with all the right numbers in there. Second, the plan you mentioned above was never my intention, I planned to do the reverse. Since posting I've pondered getting a new card at a 3% rate and transferring both debts to that one for 6 months and working towards paying that off. I never EVER made a purchase on the Suncorp card, it was strictly for the balance transfer. Aside from moving house and expenses I deemed necessary (no cash for gas/groceries and nothing else) I'm only charging phone, electricity and internet to the CBA card. I got the drat thing paid down to only $20, but then had to pay movers, transfer of internet, phone and electricity and carpet cleaning running back up that $500 balance. Since then, I've moved more towards cash transactions than debit card, and have felt more aware of what I'm spending my pay on and thus why I seem to run out of cash left every 2 weeks. I haven't bought clothes or shoes, and only 2 novels for myself this past year. I can only justify purchases less than $20 but they add up if you don't have a budget and don't keep track! I'm learning as I go here. I'm not going to get a new card since I hosed up last time I tried to save myself some money by not paying off the full balance. This time THE PLAN: do a budget goddamnit and have money set aside for bills so I can pay cash for them all. Pay minimum on Suncorp card (currently $30 a month, easy) and put all I can towards the CBA card. DO NOT CHARGE ANYTHING TO THIS CARD. At $500 bucks I can pay it off in two months, one if I cut right back on pointless takeout and snack food. Then I move onto the Suncorp card, 6 months later it's gone at my current payments, but without the other card and a proper budget, that should be down to 3. Then I'm free and clear! Edit: forgot to mention both times, I have $2k cash in a savings account for dire emergencies, and $10k in what I'm now thinking of as an emergency account (I started saving it thinking about a deposit for a house one day, these days it just sits there waiting for me. I forget I even have that sometimes which I guess is good since I won't spend it until I'm unemployed and destitute) Vestral fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Jan 27, 2010 |
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Jan 27, 2010 16:01
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I think I finally grasped the concept of budgeting. I tried my first budget earlier this year, but I didn't get it right. Now, I think I've got it. I get paid weekly, so I sat down and worked out how much of my income per week I need for my bills, and I put that much into an account called 'bills'. When I get a bill, there is an account full of money I can use to pay it, or if the bill is direct debited to my credit card, when I get the cc statement, there is again an account full of money to pay the bill. I stopped being overprotective of my little savings, and used them to actually pay off the outstanding balances on my credit cards so that I can afford the full statement amount every month. Somehow this means I'm now putting $200 a week into savings instead of the previous $50/wk, so I'm back to where I was, in fact I have more money than I did in September when I started doing things right. Debt free is AWESOME. I guess my question is, I now seem to have more money than I've ever had, and I don't know how to manage my savings. Any suggestions on balancing saving for things I want (new car please), saving for emergencies (have $10k emergency fund), saving for the future (I don't really understand australian retirement planning)and spending cash every week. Another point I'd like opinion on, I have a permanent part time position at my job, where I'm contracted for 25hrs/wk which cannot be reduced without firing me, and short of stealing/punching out my boss I'm not getting fired (go labour laws!) but work I 40hrs a week, the rest made up of casual hours. These extra hours can get cut, but in the foreseeable future, they won't be. I get the feeling I should budget with only my contract hours/pay in mind, but what would I do then with the extra $250/wk I'm actually making? Would I have a savings amount built into my budget PLUS this extra money?
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Nov 26, 2010 16:29
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froglet posted:
That website is brilliant. Thank you. I realise I didn't provide any specific amounts in my last post. I don't earn a lot of money, but I have modest needs in life. I've worked out a weekly budget based on my guarenteed 25hrs/wk: take home pay $448.00 rent 110 bills 66 fuel 20 food 25 smokes 50 (If I'm gonna buy 'em anyway, I may as well budget them in) Money left $177.00 Savings $100 Entertainment/blow $77 Extra hours pay, straight to savings $225 This is pretty much how I'm spending my money each week, I've been putting $200-$300 a week into savings since September, depending on extra hours and buying things. I can stick to that entertainment figure easily, since I'm good with 'if theres no money left, you can't spend it, go sit at home and read a book or something' I have $10k in an ING online account as my emergency fund. Based on the 2 months I spent unemployed earlier this year, if I lose my job I spend around $1500/month so that fund should last me 6 months if I have no other money except that account. I have an everyday account, a savings account, a bills account and a rent account currently at my bank (and I can get upto 10 sub accounts I think, I agree many accounts is a good idea). The savings account has $3100 sitting in it, the rent account has two weeks rent extra in it, and the bills account is on track to always have at least $100 in it (currently $400 just chilling there, waiting for bills to need paying) Is it fair then to say that this is an acceptable plan for my current savings budget? 1. $20/wk to superannuation to get max government contribution (can't beat a 100% match) 2. other $80/wk into a savings account as extended emergency money/future needs 3. $190 of extra hours money into 'car' account with the plan to buy a car for $10k in 12 months 4. any extra hours money left to go into fund mentioned in 2. In regards to the car, I currently drive a 1989 model car. It gives me no trouble, but I'd like to move into the 21st century. If it did die or be prohibitively expensive to repair, I'm fine with replacing it with a simlar POS for $2k or less, so saving for the car is dependent on continuing to earn more money than my budget.
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Nov 27, 2010 11:29
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I have a question. I am going to lend a friend some money to invest in her business as a personal loan. The intelligence of this move is not up for discussion, I'm going to do it, for better or worse. The question is, she wants to do things 'properly' and by that she means she wants a written contract of the loan and conditions of paying it back and interest etc etc. She also wants this done in a legal way, ie she said I should see a solicitor to get a document drawn up. This is where I'm out of my depth. I've never needed the services of a solicitor so I don't know where to start. Is there a specific kind of solicitor who deals in personal loan contracts? What sort of thing do I need to bring to any meeting with one, just an outline of the contract conditions and they can write one up? Personally I'd like to just give her the money and go with a contract witnessed by a JP, but she wants it done all fancy like (at least she's taking it dead serious?) Any advice on the subject would be greatly appreciated. I'm in Australia btw, I'll bet that's relevant.
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Aug 10, 2012 11:13
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