Blogging Away Debt

I May Have Found the Perfect Coin Bank for My Son

One of the things that I want my son to learn about is saving money. While he was at grandma’s house, he was a little spoiled and grandma raided her coin jar and gave my son a pretty big container of coins. The first thing he said when we got home is that he wanted to go to Walmart to buy something. I tried to explain to him that he should some of the money and he didn’t seem happy with that idea.

I decided to go online and look at coin banks and I think I found the perfect one for my son, since he loves trains.

(if you click on the picture it is a referral link to Amazon.com)

When you put money in, the lights go off and you hear train sounds. I know my son would scavange the house for all the money he could find just to put the money in there to hear the sounds.

The cheapest I’ve found it is $19.99 and while it is a little pricey to me, if it gets him into the saving mood then the little extra money will be worth it. He’s had a regular piggy bank before, but it didn’t excite him.

The only drawback to the bank that I can think of is the size. It will take a lot of money to even halfway fill the bank. It makes me wonder how much money my son will have when he fills it!

I will discuss this possible gift with my husband tomorrow during our weekly family meeting (more on this new development later) and perhaps I will be placing an order soon for it. I just think my little guy would love it.

What to Do When Balance Transfers End

by Tricia

I have a balance transfer offer ending next month for Credit Card #4. I am very sad to see it go because it was a nice 3.9% interest rate. I’m also sad that November is here because I hoped I would have paid off more of the balance. There is still $5,104 left.

The rate will shoot up to over 15%, so I have to figure out what to do with that balance.

I have two cards that I could transfer the balance of $5,104 to:

CC#2 – 6.90% for six months, no balance transfer fee
CC#3 – 7.99% for the life of the balance, no balance transfer fee

I am leaning towards going with CC#3 even though the rate is higher. Why? Because CC#4 was in both of our names and affected both of our FICO scores. CC#2 is the card in my name only. CC#3 is in my husband’s name. If I move that balance to my CC#3, my FICO score should move up because my debt utlization ratio will be lowered.

In doing this, I am taking a chance that I may be able to qualify for one of those 0% balance transfer offers from a new credit card soon (although the thought of getting another credit card makes me shudder).

This is the difficult part of trying to deal with debt. It would be so nice to just have the entire balance under one loan and one locked reasonable rate. I’ve thought about trying Prosper again for a loan to cover all of my debt since it is almost under $25,000 (Prosper’s loan limit). But I doubt I would be able to get a nice low rate due to the high amount. The same goes with the banks. To get the lower rates I need to play the balance transfer game.

Hmm…I just checked Prosper’s loan calculator, and if I borrowed $25,000 at 9.9% (which is what my current smaller loan is at), it would be a little over $800/month for my payment. I’m pretty sure we could usually pay more than that and pay off the loan before three years. Plus, I think my stress level would go down because I wouldn’t have to worry about making all these smaller payments on time. The convenience of one huge loan is very attractive.

I dunno. I think I am going to have to think this over some more. If anyone out there has thoughts – feel free to share.