Capital One sent me my monthly statement. I received it in the mail today.
I looked it over and thought, I cannot wait until this will be paid off in 14 months!
Then I remembered, I've been paying more than the minimum payment, with a couple of lump sum amounts thrown in here and there. I wonder when this puppy will be gone.
I ran the numbers at a Credit Card Payment Calculator.
If I only pay the minimum amounts, it will take 4 years and 2 months to be rid of this thing. Not bloody likely!
If I continue to pay $150.00 per month, it will take 2 years and 1 month for it to disappear. Better, but still crappy.
If I pay $200 per month, it will be gone in 1 year and 6 months. Better still, but not quite on my timeline.
So I sat down with a pencil, paper and calculator and did the numbers and payment amounts that I can live with.
Barring any unforeseen complications, I should be able to beat this into submission in exactly 14 payments.
Not ahead of the schedule that I had already figured out, but still on my timeline. Maybe, just maybe, I can find an extra dollar or two to add to my payments along the way.
I'm still on track, and that is just fine with me. :)
P.S.: I tried to run the numbers on Hubby's single remaining credit card, the MBNA. I know what the annual interest rate is, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how they get the monthly interest amount. I read all the fine print on the front and back, but still can't get numbers that match. Any suggestions? For the record, his interest rate is is a ridiculous 27.98%. The balance was $1481.37 and the interest amount charged was $32.44. Can anyone help me please?
I cannot wait until you get this debt paid off! I hate Capitol one. They are the legal loan sharks of the world.
ReplyDelete14 months isn't bad!
ReplyDeleteWell it doesn't work out exactly but I guess it could depend on how they round their numbers (or I'm totally off). I took the interest rate and divided by 12 and multiplied by the balance and came up with 34.54.
ReplyDeleteYay!! 14 months isn't too shabby a all!
ReplyDeleteIt's not uncommon for a credit card to use two months balances in calculating the principal. So if you owe $1000 on January 1 and pay $100 that month, you won't be charged interest on $900 for February, but on something like $950. This isn't an exact explanation, but you get the idea.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the number of days in the billing cycle can affect the interest charges, as well as the daily balance (which is a royal pain to calculate.)
Eboo - if the amount owing was incurred all in the same month then the interest would be easy to figure out. But if amounts were incurred in different months then they are outstanding for different amounts of time owing different amounts of interest. Very hard to calculate!!
ReplyDelete