by Ashley
Hi all!
Thanks for your patience with me as I was out of town and kind of absent (especially in the comments) for awhile. I only logged in a single time on our week-long vacation and then had to spend a few days playing catch-up with work-related obligations once I returned before really rejoining you here. LOTS of posts to come very soon, but for now let me get up this overdue April debt update!
Perhaps the first thing to note is that I initiated another balance transfer loan! I’ve labeled it in my debt spreadsheet as “Balance Transfer #2” (to distinguish it from the first balance transfer, which I paid off in full prior to initiating this new transfer). See my reasons for why I’m okay with using balance transfer loans to help pay down student loan debt in this throwback post.
I transferred $7,500 from my Navient student loans onto my Capital One credit card. I will have 0% APR for 12 months and paid a one-time $150 transfer fee. In my debt spreadsheet I list the new balance transfer debt as $7650 (which includes the $150 transfer fee). I also altered the “original debt” column of my Navient loan, reducing it by $7500 (since that debt has been moved to the balance transfer loan).
Here you go:
Place | Current Balance | APR | Last Payment Made | Last Payment Date | Original debt, March 2014 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Navient | $73168 | 6.55% | $1476 | April | $74218 |
ACS Student Loans | $8596 | 6.55% | $20 | April | $8215 |
Balance Transfer Student Loan #2 | $7650 | 0% (through April 2017) | $0 | transfer initiated April 2016 | $7650 |
Medical Bills | $5836 | 0% | $25 | April | $9000 |
Balance Transfer student loan #1 | $0 | 0% | - | Paid off in March 2016 | $5937 |
PenFed Car Loan | - | 2.49% | - | Paid off in January 2016 | $24040 |
License Fees | - | 2.5% | - | Paid off in April 2015 | $5808 |
BoA CC | - | 7.24% | - | Paid off in June 2014 | $2220 |
Mattress Firm | - | 0% | - | Paid off in May 2014 | $1381 |
Wells Fargo CC | - | 13.65% | - | Paid off in May 2014 | $7697 |
Capital One CC | - | 17.9% | - | Paid off in March 2014 | $413 |
Totals | $95,250 (March balance = 96,175) | $1521 | Starting Debt = $145,472 |
One thing you’ll notice is that nothing was paid toward the new balance transfer loan in April. I initiated the loan toward the end of the month, so I’ll begin making payments this month (May).
Also, I edited the APR for my Navient loans. It used to read 6.55%-8.25%. But the balance transfer loan covered the 8.25% APR loan in full, so now all that remains are student loans with 6.55% APR. Wahoo! Excited to be chipping away at those loans and to get rid of my last remaining >8% APR debt!
Also, you’ll see in an upcoming budget update post that we continue to save toward our Emergency Fund and the down payment for a new home. This impacts our debt payments, as we are prioritizing savings above debt for right now. We plan to begin house hunting soon-ish, and once that’s all locked away we’ll again return our focus to paying down debt with a vengeance. In the meantime, I’m still happy with our current level of debt payments. Not too shabby, especially considering all our savings! Look for the budget update post soon!
I hope everyone’s weeks are going well! I’ll be back soon! : )