The Snowball Method: Pay Off Your Debt Quickly
Your Debt Doesn’t Stand a Snowballs Chance in ….
There are a lot of methodologies when it comes to paying off your debt in the fastest possible fashion. Some of them work on paper, but in a real life setting they can become somewhat complex and difficult to sustain. The Snowball Method of debt payment, in our humble opinion, works extremely well, is easy to follow, and creates real mental and material gains. After all, if it doesn’t feel like you are making a dent in your debt, it’s difficult to continue trying.
So, How Does It Work?
- Start by listing your debts from smallest to biggest
- Pay off the smaller debts as fast as you can.
- Once a debt has been paid off, take that debt payment and apply it to the next debt in addition to the payment you were already making.
- For example: Say you have 3 debts – $500, $300, $100 and you are making the following payments on those debt s each month – $50, $30, $10. Once you pay off the $100 debt, take the $10 debt payment and apply it to the next debt on the list. Now you are paying $40/month on the $300 debt and soon you will be paying $90/month on your $500 debt. Your total debt payments do not go up each month but stay constant.
No, It’s Not Magic…
There’s nothing magical about this method of paying off debt. It’s more of a psychological game because it allows you really see those individual debts disappearing. Just like dieting, if you see the pounds peeling off every time you step on the scale it’s easier to maintain positive momentum.
What if your 2 months behind on 5 cards ? Do you put min.payment on all but the lowest card and put more on the lowest to pay off first? I want to keep my cards and will be able to catch up on 2 months TOMORROW. But want to be able to build my credit?
Good question! Always make minimum payments to all your cards so that you don’t hurt your score any more than it is. Your focus should be to pay off the lowest card as fast as you can and then take that same payment and apply it in addition to the payment you have on the next card on your list. Effectively doubling up on the payment. Once that is paid off you will be tripling up on your payments to the next card…and so on.