Debt Shifting Tips to lower Interest as credit increases.

[cturboaddict]

First and foremost, new member. Thanks for having me.

Quick breakdown of my finances. (All loans/cards are from same institution)
1. Auto Loan- 7.5%- 23k balance (1.5 years old)
2. Personal Loan-17.95%= 7k balance (11 months old)
3. Home Loan- 5.5% 120k balance (6 months old)
4. Credit Card- 9.75% 3500 balance (4 months old)

So a small backstory. Had pretty bad credit and lack of credit history into my mid 20s (now 34). My wife 8 years ago, added my name to her Credit cards to help give me a little boost. It worked, none the less. And almost 2 years ago I applied for loan #1 Auto. I was approved and made my payments for 6 months. We decided we wanted a new house, so I took out loan #2 to consolidate all of her and my credit card debt at the time. It boosted our and specifically my credit much higher. Applied for Loan #3 for home and was approved. Shortly after my bank decided to offer me a CC #4. With a fantastic interest rate and a very large limit.

My Credit is now just shy of 800. I can make all of the payments across the board. But I feel like I'm not maximizing my potential and absorbing alot of interest on that early personal loan? I understand that a fixed rate is different from a cc rate in the terms of interest accrued, but calculating it still seems like the personal loan is high?

What steps could I take to get my payments down or have the CC and personal loan paid off faster? Should I apply for a new personal loan and see if I can land a lower interest rate absorbing both personal and CC debt? I'm pretty sure that I could based on my credit being around 650 at the original time of application, and now at 800? Consolidation loan? Maybe a 0% Credit card transfer balance?

Just looking for some ideas to move things around to lower interest accrued and possibly pay off sooner. I don't think I can transfer the personal loan all to the credit card seeing that it would be an internal shift???

Thanks in advance.

[DoingHomework]

What steps could I take to get my payments down or have the CC and personal loan paid off faster? Should I apply for a new personal loan and see if I can land a lower interest rate absorbing both personal and CC debt?

I suggest you just write a check to pay off the CC and personal loan. If you are unable to do that then perhaps you should tell us what resources you have available to otherwise address the debt. Knowing your so's thoughts is also important.

[LMoot]

With The proliferation of 0% credit card promotions, 9% on a brand-new card seems like a terrible deal. The only fantastic credit card rate is 0%, IMO. 9% may be a decent rate for a credit card, but it's a terrible rate for borrowing money, period. I don't know specifics so I hesitate to pass judgment but it's odd that you would buy a car that cost a minimum of 25 grand, yet not be able or willing to pay off $3500 in debt and would prefer to pay 9% on it. Not to mention that atrocious rate on a personal loan. On the very surface of things it looks like you bought a car you cannot afford because I can't imagine someone would choose to borrow that much on a car only to turn around and continue to borrow on such terrible interest. I don't know how much you make and I'm not asking for you to tell us, but it makes a huge difference in your risk factor of carrying such high interest debt. Hopefully you have a solid efund. Luckily your mortgage seems pretty reasonable.

You want to maximize your financial potential? Stop borrowing and pay off what you borrowed with cash. It's concerning that paying them off wasn't even amongst the options you listed which can only make me infer that you don't have much cash flow after paying bills and debt. The real issue here is not a matter of not maximizing payments, it's that you really need to minimize risk. Walk before you run and all that.

[DoingHomework]

What steps could I take to get my payments down or have the CC and personal loan paid off faster?

Cut back on all other expenses and make large extra payments to your CC and personal loans.

Don't be an idiot and think that games with refinancing are going to help you.