Debt Dumpers 2024

I've been thinking about refinancing my car loan because I'm paying 26% ARP right now, and that's a little high. I'd like to get it lowered. So I've been going through CreditKarma to try and straighten out my finances, and they've offered several options. But some I've never heard of. So I'm hoping people here can help me with what would be the best option. Right now I'm paying $500 per month on my car payment. I bought it 2 years ago this September, and I've barely even touched the principal. For the past 2 years, everything single penny has gone to interest. So looking for help on which of these options is best (not which option has lowest monthly payment or lowest APR, but what company is best to go with).

AutoPay got 4/5 stars and would drop my APR by 5% and my monthly payment by $35;
Caribough got 4/5 stars and would drop my APR by 3.23% and my monthly payments by $24;
RateGenius, Tresl and Upgrade each got 4.5/5 stars but would drop my APR by 2% or less and my bill by $15 or less;

Should I try and go with someone else? Or should I just keep it where I'm at?

By the way, I also keep getting emails from Capital One Auto Financing with requests to auto finance. I tried it once, but it say I had to pay the current loan down to what the car is worth ($14k). So I'd have to pay $4k just to refinance, and that's not happening. But they still keep sending me those emails saying I qualify for auto refinancing.

We have either gone through our local banks or through the dealership. Our 2 last loans (both paid off the tail end of 2020) were through Huntington Bank. The loan we have right now is through the dealership.

If you do go with one of the above, I would consider still paying what you have been to help pay it down faster.
 
I've been thinking about refinancing my car loan because I'm paying 26% ARP right now, and that's a little high. I'd like to get it lowered. So I've been going through CreditKarma to try and straighten out my finances, and they've offered several options. But some I've never heard of. So I'm hoping people here can help me with what would be the best option. Right now I'm paying $500 per month on my car payment. I bought it 2 years ago this September, and I've barely even touched the principal. For the past 2 years, everything single penny has gone to interest. So looking for help on which of these options is best (not which option has lowest monthly payment or lowest APR, but what company is best to go with).

AutoPay got 4/5 stars and would drop my APR by 5% and my monthly payment by $35;
Caribough got 4/5 stars and would drop my APR by 3.23% and my monthly payments by $24;
RateGenius, Tresl and Upgrade each got 4.5/5 stars but would drop my APR by 2% or less and my bill by $15 or less;

Should I try and go with someone else? Or should I just keep it where I'm at?

By the way, I also keep getting emails from Capital One Auto Financing with requests to auto finance. I tried it once, but it say I had to pay the current loan down to what the car is worth ($14k). So I'd have to pay $4k just to refinance, and that's not happening. But they still keep sending me those emails saying I qualify for auto refinancing.
I agree with @focusondisney, how long is your car loan if you have paid for 2 years and haven't touched the principal? It sounds like your car loan has been amortized like a mortgage where you pay more interest up front and more principal on the back end in the later years of the loan. If you are 2 years into a 5 year loan refinancing may not be worth it, because you will have already paid most of the 27% interest already on the front end so you won't be saving anything by refinancing, but actually paying more. If this is the case you will soon start to see your principal balance start to go down once you get past the front loaded interest payments which should be soon on a 5 year loan. Banks love when you refinance for a longer payment term it means more $$ in interest for them.

I am currently getting offers from my home mortgage company to save over $600 a month on my mortgage payment (which is only $1600) so its not an insignificant savings and sounds great!. However it would actually be refinancing to a higher interest rate, 3.84% to my current 2.9% and for a 15 year term when I am 3 years into my 10 year loan we refinanced to over covid when interest rates dropped. So yes, I would save money every month on my payment amount but I would be paying it for 8 more years with even more amortized interest which is not even close to a smart decision.
 
My son is 18 and starting college shortly so we had him get a credit card to start building his credit. We also had him get a high yield savings account to really start learning how to save money. He is staying at home so it is a great time to work with him on understanding this. We had a long talk about missing payments and how this works with interest and his credit score. This makes me so nervous with him. He is not the best with remember things and being on top of stuff. But at least we are here to help him. DH also had a long talk with him about starting a retirement fund and showed him how just putting a little in at first will really help in the long run.

This will also help us save money as we have been paying for everything for the kids except for big purchase they make. With the credit card (we use them for everything and then pay them off each month to get the perks) he can start getting his own perks and paying for his eating out that he does. So we will slowly be able to really build up our savings. We have already told DD when she turns 18 (in a year) she will be responsible for paying for her riding lessons. She is good with this. Once this happens we will really be able to save. Riding lessons and horse shows are not cheap. We really want to get into a bigger house. Having 1 bathroom is not run with 2 adults and 2 teenagers.
 
It sounds like your car loan has been amortized like a mortgage where you pay more interest up front and more principal on the back end in the later years of the loan. If you are 2 years into a 5 year loan refinancing may not be worth it, because you will have already paid most of the 27% interest already on the front end so you won't be saving anything by refinancing, but actually paying more. If this is the case you will soon start to see your principal balance start to go down once you get past the front loaded interest payments which should be soon on a 5 year loan.
There is flawed logic here. Please look up an amortization table that breaks down the principal and interest payment for each month to see how this works. There isn't any "front loaded interest." A larger portion of the payment is going towards interest at the beginning of the loan because the principal balance is higher. It isn't somehow "loaded."

There is always money to be saved by reducing the interest rate. The best case scenario would be to refinance at a lower rate, but continue paying at the old higher payment amount in order to pay the loan off sooner. The net effect would be less interest expense over the remaining life of the loan.
 

I agree with @focusondisney, how long is your car loan if you have paid for 2 years and haven't touched the principal? It sounds like your car loan has been amortized like a mortgage where you pay more interest up front and more principal on the back end in the later years of the loan. If you are 2 years into a 5 year loan refinancing may not be worth it, because you will have already paid most of the 27% interest already on the front end so you won't be saving anything by refinancing, but actually paying more. If this is the case you will soon start to see your principal balance start to go down once you get past the front loaded interest payments which should be soon on a 5 year loan. Banks love when you refinance for a longer payment term it means more $$ in interest for them.

I am currently getting offers from my home mortgage company to save over $600 a month on my mortgage payment (which is only $1600) so its not an insignificant savings and sounds great!. However it would actually be refinancing to a higher interest rate, 3.84% to my current 2.9% and for a 15 year term when I am 3 years into my 10 year loan we refinanced to over covid when interest rates dropped. So yes, I would save money every month on my payment amount but I would be paying it for 8 more years with even more amortized interest which is not even close to a smart decision.

I actually went onto the website just now to check. I'm paying 23.52% on a 72 month loan. Bought in Sept. 22, matures in Sept. 28. It says monthly pay of $496.28 for length of the loan. So not sure what that means. I'm pretty confused on what you said. But how do you know if you're paying all the interest on the front end or just paying it out monthly?
 
There is flawed logic here. Please look up an amortization table that breaks down the principal and interest payment for each month to see how this works. There isn't any "front loaded interest." A larger portion of the payment is going towards interest at the beginning of the loan because the principal balance is higher. It isn't somehow "loaded."

There is always money to be saved by reducing the interest rate. The best case scenario would be to refinance at a lower rate, but continue paying at the old higher payment amount in order to pay the loan off sooner. The net effect would be less interest expense over the remaining life of the loan.

I'm thinking about approaching my the bank where my wife works as a loan officer and seeing if they can refinance it. We have credit unions near us, but we're not a member of any of them and only bank at 1 bank (where she works). So I will try them. Even if I can lower it 5%, that will most surely help.
 
I actually went onto the website just now to check. I'm paying 23.52% on a 72 month loan. Bought in Sept. 22, matures in Sept. 28. It says monthly pay of $496.28 for length of the loan. So not sure what that means. I'm pretty confused on what you said. But how do you know if you're paying all the interest on the front end or just paying it out monthly?
Check the website for your account to see if there is an amortization schedule posted for your loan. The schedule will show how much principal and how much interest is paid for each payment, and the lines should be numbered from 1 to 72.
 
I actually went onto the website just now to check. I'm paying 23.52% on a 72 month loan. Bought in Sept. 22, matures in Sept. 28. It says monthly pay of $496.28 for length of the loan. So not sure what that means. I'm pretty confused on what you said. But how do you know if you're paying all the interest on the front end or just paying it out monthly?
Here is an quick internet breakdown of your amortization on the 6 year loan based on the information you have provided. The payment always stays the same but you can see how most of the payment in the first few years go more towards interest than to the principal balance. If you refinance it for a shorter term at a lower interest rate you would be saving money, if you refinance it again for another 6 years you will be paying a crazy amount of interest. Use this site to calculate the terms of the refinance loans to see if you will truely be saving money. If you could refinance to a 3 year loan at a lower interest rate then definitely go for it but I would not do another 4, 5 or 6 year loan again, especially if they are charging you fees to refinance the loan too. You can find other calculators to see the refinancing savings, this one on zillow you could use just change the terms according to your quotes, even though its for mortgages its still the same math. https://www.zillow.com/mortgage-cal...tor/?msockid=3a9fbbc268a564b70f26a81d69c9657b

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Apparently she is on social security disability.

Who do you suggest we should we talk to first? Social security administration to see what she qualifies for or an elder care lawyer? Unfortunately, we need to work quickly so she doesn't get super far behind on bills.
if you have an office on aging in the county where you live or board of social services, speak to them. they now what programs are available where you live and can help you apply for them. Depending on resources, her income would quaify her for Medicaid which reimburses her part b premium and pays her coinsurance and prescriptions. she may also qualify for snap benefits, utility assistance etc. I would also contact social security to see if she qualifies on a spouse, x spouse or deceased spouse's benefits.

these are free and quick options.

I do agreee about getting a will done and POA thru an attorney as well

good luck
 
I actually went onto the website just now to check. I'm paying 23.52% on a 72 month loan. Bought in Sept. 22, matures in Sept. 28. It says monthly pay of $496.28 for length of the loan. So not sure what that means. I'm pretty confused on what you said. But how do you know if you're paying all the interest on the front end or just paying it out monthly?
Please tell me you put that 2 there by accident and your interest rate is 3.52 percent.
 
Dh did not have to report to Grand Jury duty. Whew! What a relief. :cloud9: When he checked in the night before, his juror # was not part of the group that had to report and it said now he is not required to serve for another 3 years.
I am so relieved to not have alter or cancel our upcoming vacation plans, or beg to be excused those dates.

Nothing new here. My current goal is to save $15k for a British Isles cruise for our 30th anniversary next fall. I'm about 2/3 done with that. The next goal is $4k for Christmas and then a biggie that will take a couple years. I'd like to save $100k. Dh will be starting to collect Social Security in December so that will help to reach it faster.
I've watched YT videos from retirement planners who say it's good to have a large buffer in cash so that if the market is performing poorly, you can lean on the cash buffer to avoid removing funds from his 401k/403b while the value is low. This will work at least until dh is 73 and is then required to make withdrawals.
He is not ready to retire yet mentally or physically. He gets bored just being off for 2 days on a weekend and looks for side work or shops yard sales just to keep moving.
Soon he'll be painting the trim on my dad's house on weekends. It's brick so it doesn't need a lot of paint. It will keep him busy for a while. He'll probably install gutter guards there too.

I hope you're all still chugging along to eliminate debt. :hourglass
I know everything is crazy expensive these days but don't lose sight of your goals! You will get there and it feels great!
If I can do it, anyone can. :goodvibes:grouphug:
Just keep swimming!! :fish::fish::fish:
 
All good here. Going to change my own brake pads and rotors tomorrow night with help of a coworker (will save me about $350). Did do a Walmart order for non perishables, and it was $90. Insane how much Walmart is now charging for stuff. Got a flyer in the mail the next day from Tom Thumb, and they had sales on the very things I had just bought (Dr. Pepper 6 packs/Water/Lipton Tea 12 packs were 4 for $4 when they're $4 each at Walmart). Just that type stuff.

everyone o.k. out there? everyone busy with back to school and/or end of the summer plans? only good stuff i hope. as for us........hvac has to be replaced....$17K'ish :scared1: :crazy2: thankfully we have the emergency fund to cover it.
 
All good here. Going to change my own brake pads and rotors tomorrow night with help of a coworker (will save me about $350). Did do a Walmart order for non perishables, and it was $90. Insane how much Walmart is now charging for stuff. Got a flyer in the mail the next day from Tom Thumb, and they had sales on the very things I had just bought (Dr. Pepper 6 packs/Water/Lipton Tea 12 packs were 4 for $4 when they're $4 each at Walmart). Just that type stuff.
You can also make homemade ice tea and save a LOT of money. We pour boiling water in a half gallon pitcher, then tie the strings of around 8 tea bags and hold up the strings with a paper clip over the top edge of the pitcher. Let it sit for 20 mins. Add sugar to taste. We put 1/4 cup in. Chop up a lemon and save in a container or ziploc bag in fridge to take as needed.
Yum! :drinking1

When you’re used to drinking real tea, the bottled stuff tastes terrible and seems outrageously expensive.
 
Absolutely. We keep a pitcher of it in the fridge at all times. But I buy those bottles to keep at work since I can't make tea at work. They're really cheap, about 35 cents per bottle. I used to go to Chickfila or Caines everyday and get a sweet tea, but I've started doing that. It doesn't save much, if any. But it does help a little.

You can also make homemade ice tea and save a LOT of money. We pour boiling water in a half gallon pitcher, then tie the strings of around 8 tea bags and hold up the strings with a paper clip over the top edge of the pitcher. Let it sit for 20 mins. Add sugar to taste. We put 1/4 cup in. Chop up a lemon and save in a container or ziploc bag in fridge to take as needed.
Yum! :drinking1

When you’re used to drinking real tea, the bottled stuff tastes terrible and seems outrageously expensive.
 
You're right. They are $6.78 here too. It's the Dr. Peppers that are $4. So I'm saving even less money than getting a drink every day. It's about 57 cents apiece vs. $2.75 apiece. So not much, but at least it's something.


dang that would still be great deal here-our walmarts charge $6.78 for liptons 12 packs and if you prefer the pure leaf it's $13.98.
 
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You're right. They are $6.78 here too. It's the Dr. Peppers that are $4. So I'm saving even less money than getting a drink every day. It's about 57 cents apiece vs. $2.75 apiece. So not much, but at least it's something.

But if you look at it by week that's over 10 bucks you save or over 40 a month. That's not nothing.

We don't buy tuna pouches unless they are on sale for a dollar and that's only saving 25 to 49 cents a pouch depending on where we were to buy reg price. It may not be a lot but we eat a lot of tuna and it adds up over 10 pouches.

It's all in how you frame the savings, and I don't mean Disney math 😂
 
I've gotten to where I buy and eat tuna a lot. I keep a loaf of bread in the freezer and toss it out and replace it about every 10 days. I'll take 2 slices, toast them, cut off the edges and make up a thing of tuna. The ones that come with tuna, mayo, relish, etc is $2 per pack. Buy a bag of chips to go with it, and that's a cheap lunch. I will buy 3 or so packs of tuna at a time. I went to buy more yesterday, and they were out of those little lunch packs. So I've got to figure something else out, lol.

A far cry from just 6 months ago when I ate lunch out every day. I'd spend $50-$75/week just on lunches. Now I spend maybe $20 by eating out just 1 time or so (or letting the office pay like they are today and tomorrow, lol). Plus, that saves me from eating that tuna.
But if you look at it by week that's over 10 bucks you save or over 40 a month. That's not nothing.

We don't buy tuna pouches unless they are on sale for a dollar and that's only saving 25 to 49 cents a pouch depending on where we were to buy reg price. It may not be a lot but we eat a lot of tuna and it adds up over 10 pouches.

It's all in how you frame the savings, and I don't mean Disney math 😂
 














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