Question.

flairforfashion Posted: Feb 02, 2009 01:40 PM

Question.

I am curious to know how everyone is managing any debt if you have any.

Here's a little background info. FH has a little bit of debt from previous years but has been extremely responsible in the past few years. We are very open about finances. I set up a plan for him to pay everything off very quickly. So while he has debt, I have none. Well, just my car but that's basically down to nothing. Once the wedding happens, I think we will have a year left or so to pay off. Should we (or HIM) just pay it off immediately with savings or just wait and pay it off as scheduled? Part of me likes the appeal of paying it off quickly but the other part of me likes having my nice savings- I HATE to take money out of it. We have a goal and that money is really for when we buy either his Parent's house or another one.

How are you managing yours or FH's debt if you have any? Paying it off quickly or slowly?

Cacarina Posted: Feb 02, 2009 01:42 PM

Re: Question.

We plan to pay off all debt with whatever money we get from the wedding. We don't want to go into buying a house with debt. I'd rather pay off the debt, then start saving to buy for a house.

Dani777 Posted: Feb 02, 2009 01:43 PM

Re: Question.

FH paid off all his debt before we even booked the RH...but it was literally only a few hundred LOL. Me on the other hand...Oh boy! HAHAHA. I paid all the credit cards and all that...but I still have my car...which like you..isn't that bad. Should have it paid off by next year. We took out a loan together before the ecomny got this bad...and we're paying that down as well...

What I would do is make sure you hae enough to pay off the wedding before taking your savings to pay off all the debt. Maybe you can just pay a large amount to the debt and then keep the rest to pay for the wedding...? HTH

pandafish519 Posted: Feb 02, 2009 01:45 PM

Re: Question.

Posted by Cacarina

We plan to pay off all debt with whatever money we get from the wedding. We don't want to go into buying a house with debt. I'd rather pay off the debt, then start saving to buy for a house.

i totally agree. we are HOPING to do this, but we'll see

flairforfashion Posted: Feb 02, 2009 01:45 PM

Re: Question.

Posted by Dani777
What I would do is make sure you hae enough to pay off the wedding before taking your savings to pay off all the debt. Maybe you can just pay a large amount to the debt and then keep the rest to pay for the wedding...? HTH

We aren't paying for the wedding really. We are only paying for small things which we already have the money.

I was just asking to see how people are managing any debts once married.

KerriJohnS Posted: Feb 02, 2009 01:48 PM

Re: Question.

I plan on paying off my debt (which is around $5000) right after the wedding and saving the rest. Then for FH debt (which might be another $5000 plus a car) I will help him pay that off with my paychecks and his. This way we still have money saved and we can buy a house debt free.

I would suggest paying off as much as you can as fast as you can.. because it's the interest that gets you.

flairforfashion Posted: Feb 02, 2009 01:50 PM

Re: Question.

Posted by KerriJohnS

I plan on paying off my debt (which is around $5000) right after the wedding and saving the rest. Then for FH debt (which might be another $5000 plus a car) I will help him pay that off with my paychecks and his. This way we still have money saved and we can buy a house debt free.

I would suggest paying off as much as you can as fast as you can.. because it's the interest that gets you.

Yea, this is very very true which is why I am toying with the idea. We shall see. I just feel like this is FH's responsibility and essentially, this will be coming out his pocket even though we are married. I just don't want to use savings and wedding money which is for US and not for just him. Does that sound snobby? I think it does but it's how I feel.

However, I would like to see more feedback from people and how they are dealing with this.

Thanks!

kweber322 Posted: Feb 02, 2009 01:52 PM

Re: Question.

we have about $8000 on our credit card and that includes our honeymoon - we're trying to pay that off before the wedding with our tax refunds and will pay off the rest with whatever we get from the wedding.

I Love Paolo Posted: Feb 02, 2009 01:53 PM

Re: Question.

That is the same question that my FH and I discuss and we havent made any decision on it yet. I have about $11,000 and he has none. I expect to have about $6,000 by the time the wedding comes. I think we will assess how much I have at that time and make a decision then. Sorry to not be that much help!

NikkiR515 Posted: Feb 02, 2009 01:56 PM

Re: Question.

The only debt I have really is my student loans and that is relatively small (around $9,000). I plan on using half of my tax return to lower it and I might use a few thousand from the wedding. Other than that, I am going to pay it off monthly until we get a house/apartment because in a way that is a 'good debt' to have.

FH doesn't have any debt at all really.. We borrowed money from FHs father to buy a car so we could avoid taking out a loan. FFIL takes a few hundred from the account each month and that is how we pay him off.. We are probably not going to rush to pay that off either because it is not like he is charging us interest, nor will he come take our home away if we can't pay him for a few months! lol

VeggieBride Posted: Feb 02, 2009 02:00 PM

Re: Question.

im trying to cut my debt in half by the wedding and eliminate it all by the end of the year. Its about $9k including student loans so we'll see.

FH has about 15k in student loan debt still. We want to take a large chunk out of that too.

littlepixie12 Posted: Feb 02, 2009 04:08 PM

Re: Question.

my FH has debt from previous years and while he is really good at paying it off right now, we decided to just use the wedding money we get to pay it off,... we figured if we arent sending in payments to loans and cc then we can put that money is savings and it will make up for what we took out

michelle1024 Posted: Feb 02, 2009 04:21 PM

Re: Question.

We have some credit card debt, my advice is to pay it off as quickly as possible. I used to feel like it was better to have money in savings, but FH does financial planning, and when you look at the interest people pay on credit cards, sometimes minimum payments are not even paying towards the principle, it is just interest! which is insane, so my advice will be unless its a 0% apr, def pay it off first, you are not making the same interest to make it worth on a savings account!

FinallyMrsB18 Posted: Feb 02, 2009 04:57 PM

Re: Question.

does anyone have any advice about switching the debt to a different card with a lower interest rate? i am thinking this may be helpful for me? or is it a bad idea to talk to someone from the credit card company about paying it down i am so lost.

krislee316 Posted: Feb 02, 2009 05:01 PM

Re: Question.

Posted by Cacarina

We plan to pay off all debt with whatever money we get from the wedding. We don't want to go into buying a house with debt. I'd rather pay off the debt, then start saving to buy for a house.

Same here we both have cc bills that will be paid off immediatley the only thing I will not pay off is my school loan

Summertimegal424 Posted: Feb 02, 2009 05:32 PM

Re: Question.

we lived together in an apt for 3 years and some how managed to accumulate over 30,000 dollars of debt, so we moved back home to FH's dad house so we can pay some debt off and save for a house, living in that apt, we would have never been able to dream of owning a house, now we can

flairforfashion Posted: Feb 02, 2009 06:19 PM

Re: Question.

Posted by FutureMrsB18

does anyone have any advice about switching the debt to a different card with a lower interest rate? i am thinking this may be helpful for me? or is it a bad idea to talk to someone from the credit card company about paying it down i am so lost.

I work in Financial Planning. Funny how I ask this question of what everyone is doing but when it comes to consolidation, I have great advice!

You don't want to put your CC debt from one card to another. Your best bet is to get a personal fixed loan for about 5 years with one small payment every month. That way your cards are paid off and you just have this loan. HTH!

flairforfashion Posted: Feb 02, 2009 06:23 PM

Re: Question.

Great to see everyones answers.

We are all in a very similar place. FH used to have CC debt and I advised him to consolidate a few years back which is great because he has excellent credit BUT it's just a pain in the a$$ to have this bill when I am used to having really nothing except a car payment.

coldasice217 Posted: Feb 02, 2009 06:24 PM

Re: Question.

FH and I are probably the rarity, we do not have debt looming over us. We just have (collectively) my car loan...payments will be complete just 3 months after we're married, so I'm not paying off the remaining balance ahead of schedule. I paid off all my student loans, and his car is paid off and he never had student loans, so we're pretty lucky. We don't let cc bills go from one statement to next, we always pay in full. We decided that we would get rid of my student loans early so we wouldn't have that looming over us trying to finance a wedding and home, so I depleted my savings to do so, and am now using the money that would have gone to pay the monthly bill to increase my savings.

lauraandrob2009 Posted: Feb 02, 2009 06:27 PM

Re: Question.

I would pay off the debt as quickly as you are able to. You don't want to have it hanging over you and don't want to pay extra if there is an interest rate. This way you can wipe the slate clean and work toward a new savings plan free of debt.