Recent comments in /f/personalfinance

nostratic t1_j6pc69y wrote

Reply to What’s the difference between VOOV and VOOG? by Top_Entertainer3160

  • value stocks are stocks that are considered inexpensive or somehow 'on sale', relative to tother stocks. when you buy a stock, the stock price may or may not reflect a fair value for the company. the stock might be $100 a share, but the company might be worth $80 a share of $120 a share. it's a bit like buying a used car. you look up the price in Kelly Blue Book to see if the seller's price is reasonable. value investing is basically trying to pay $50 for stocks that are actually worth $100.

  • growth stocks are companies that are growing faster than others of their type, usually measured by revenues or profits. these stocks tend to be more 'expensive' than value stocks, more like paying $100 for a stock that's actually worth $90 today because you hope the fast growth will someday make up for overpaying today.

there's a place for both types of stocks, because they move in cycles where one type will dominate for a few years. but overall value stocks will tend to give the best long-term results.

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The_Blue_Tears t1_j6pbnnd wrote

Reply to Options to reduce monthly minimums? by TimeForBagel

You can try to see about getting a debt consolidation loan. Here is a website showing ranges of rates and amounts you could potentially get. This can be good or bad depending on what you qualify for. Even if you're stuck at something like a 4 year term with 20% interest you'd pay $304.30 monthly, which is about the same as now. The difference is, it will be paid off in 4 years, whereas your current cards could take much longer. If you score and manage to land something like a 7 year term with 10%, you'd be paying $166 a month.

You can also look into balance transfer credit cards. These are promotional cards, with 0% interest for a limited time, usually around 1-2 years. This will help pay down your principal during this time, so it'll reduce your monthly minimums. The caveat with these are that they will likely have balance transfer fees around 3-5%. That means you'd be in debt $10300-$10500 if you transferred right now. Not great, but that's still better than the 20+% you're likely dealing with.

In general though, you should just get a full-time job in order to pay it back.

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National_Tourist7679 t1_j6pbjwo wrote

Reply to Paid my car loan off last year, was there something I was supposed to do after? by GoddessOracle

In Michigan you staple that letter to your car title to prove that there is no secured lender. The name of the credit union is printed on the front as a secured lender till you pay it off. If you don’t have the letter when you sell it slows everything done as you have to get the proof from the credit union again.

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AllTheyEatIsLettuce t1_j6pb6ga wrote

Reply to collection agencies question. by marvelguy1975

>why should I be required to pay a company I never

Because consumer debts are assets. Assets that someone owns and can sell to pretty much anyone else who wants to buy the assets. Over and over and over again. You owe them the money they used to buy the assets.

Consumer debt isn't worth as much as a debt secured by the underlying value of property, like the mortgage debt for your home or the loan you took out to buy a car, but they're assets nevertheless.

Your home can be foreclosed and your car can be repossessed and both sold to cover some of the lender's money you got to buy the home and the car in the first place. Your dinners at Nobu and The French Laundry, or your transplanted kidney, or the metal plate that's holding your skull together, not so much.

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sciguyCO t1_j6pb1sb wrote

Reply to Options to reduce monthly minimums? by TimeForBagel

In general, your card's required minimum payment will simply be a fixed percentage of your owed balance. Usually at a level just above the card's APY divided by 12. That'd be enough to cover that month's interest charge plus a (small) amount left over to pay down the balance. There's usually a "floor" of $25-35 that the required payment always stays above, but with a $10k balance you're probably a ways from that mattering.

I'd expect the required minimum to be set in the card agreement and be non-negotiable. But it might be worth calling the card and asking, you might get lucky. Though be aware that even if they allow that, if your payment is lower than your monthly interest charge then your balance will increase month to month, even with no new charges.

Honestly, the only real way out is what you appear to already be doing: get income larger than spending to have more money available to pay down the card balance faster.

But a few potential short-term bandaids:

  • Do you have the ability to make any more cuts to spending? It sucks, but if you focus on it being only until the card is out of your life, that can make it easier. "Eat out less", "make coffee at home" are cliches, but can help, if only a little. But every little bit helps.
  • See if you can be approved for 0% transfer card. Moving this $10k over to that would remove the interest you're paying on this balance each month. Those transfers do tend to have a fee, usually a percentage of the balance. So you may have to pay $300-400 to get that lower rate, and it'll only last 12-18 months.
  • Borrow money from elsewhere (personal loan, friend, family) to zero out this card and pay that other loan back at a lower rate.
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KReddit934 t1_j6papa3 wrote

Reply to comment by RedReina in Software suggestions for someone who puts most things on CC by Ok_Masterpiece_4305

I was referring to the way YNAB both subtracts the purchase from the category and simultaneously sets it aside for paying the card on the due date.

Import is a mess everywhere, not just YNAB, and is a problem that we should be pressuring our banks to fix rather than blaming the apps. How many of us contact help for the bank or CC and complain that it won't import into YNAB?

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