The negative equity epidemic

[bushidomartialarts]

on the other hand, credit can be great leverage.

my wife and i went 30,000 into debt when we started our karate school. much of that was on credit cards. we're a couple of months from being done with that.

the cool thing was, we got so many of those 0% interest for a year offers that we've been able to keep passing that load around. we've actually avoided paying interest on that debt for coming on to three years.

now this took some serious watching and the risk was high and i do not recommend this for most folk.

but it's nice to know the tool is there when you need it.

 

[stickarts]

We got a fixed mortgage, made double payments for a long time, and re-financed to a lower interest rate a few years ago.
Managing debt is definately important.
I know people that seemed to be going along fine one day, and were living in a cardboard box not long afterward. You can spiral downward very quickly if you lose a job, have health issues, etc...Especially if you don't have a strong support team around you: family,friends, etc..
Scary, but a reality.

 

[shesulsa]

We got a fixed mortgage, made double payments for a long time, and re-financed to a lower interest rate a few years ago.
Managing debt is definately important.
I know people that seemed to be going along fine one day, and were living in a cardboard box not long afterward. You can spiral downward very quickly if you lose a job, have health issues, etc...Especially if you don't have a strong support team around you: family,friends, etc..
Scary, but a reality.

You know, my husband paid the mortgage off in 10 years by making extra payments, putting tax refunds and bonuses towards the mortgage loan. We saved close to $10,000 by doing so.

 

[stickarts]

You know, my husband paid the mortgage off in 10 years by making extra payments, putting tax refunds and bonuses towards the mortgage loan. We saved close to $10,000 by doing so.

That's awesome! We haven't paid it off yet but instead of having another 20 years to go, we have only 12 years because of the extra payments!
You have just motivated me to get crackin on making extra payments again!

 

[Flying Crane]

You know, my husband paid the mortgage off in 10 years by making extra payments, putting tax refunds and bonuses towards the mortgage loan. We saved close to $10,000 by doing so.

Yeah, this is basically what we did with my wife's loans. The original life of the loan was 30 years, but we will have it fully paid in around 5 years. This was extra money that we could have saved, or invested, or spent otherwise, but on the other hand, it saves us over $20,000 in interest that we would have paid. That's almost as good as savings, in my book.

 

[stickarts]

Yeah, this is basically what we did with my wife's loans. The original life of the loan was 30 years, but we will have it fully paid in around 5 years. This was extra money that we could have saved, or invested, or spent otherwise, but on the other hand, it saves us over $20,000 in interest that we would have paid. That's almost as good as savings, in my book.

It's especially a good strategy in times where its tough to find any high interest rate CD's, savings accounts,etc..
Might as well get debt paid off.