financial ideas

So I think we have decided to transfer Alann’s CC debt back to my card. (Ok, I decided, Alann merely agreed.) I have the lower interest rate, so it saves a little bit that way, but by having fewer payments in general, we can pay it off that much faster. Plus, I really like having financial things under my control. Not that I don’t trust Alann, but I like seeing them. Especially if they are debt related. If I see them, they stay in my consciousness. This is as much a psychological thing as a financial thing. If I log into my CC and see a balance, I feel like killing it. Swiftly. Even though I have access to Alann’s CC (we are co-owners), it requires logging into a different account. It doesn’t show with my regular accounts. Which makes it hard. So I don’t do it. And I forget about it. And I spend my money elsewhere. If it is “my” problem, I am much more motivated to deal with it. I would much rather pay off my car than Alann’s CC. But the CC makes much more sense to pay off. At least if I had to, I could sell my car to pay my car loan off. I can’t sell the CC. (Well, I probably could, but that wouldn’t be a good thing.) Theoretically, if we pay $500 a month, we will be totally out of (consumer) debt in 2 years. This is a possibility. I already pay $200 to my car. And I have had $200 or so “extra” the last few months. Add Alann’s usual payment, and there is $500. I just need to be focused. :sigh: It was kind of nice having “extra” money, but I know this is the responsible, good-for-me thing to do. It’s kind of like going to the dentist. I don’t want to, but I know I need to. Credit score wise, it doesn’t really matter where the debt is. It’s already been mixed up as to whose is whose. I put his CC on mine, then we split it again when we moved to the CU. And since we are co-owners, our credit stays the same (available limit vs amount used). But if we do move it to mine, mine is only roughly 50% utilized, and his is almost maxed out. Again, doesn’t really matter, but it might look a little bit better.
On a related note, we “amended” my car loan, so now the interest rate is at 5.5%. Not quite the advertised 4.9%, but it is still a drop of 1%. Every little bit helps. I would ask them to drop my CC rate, but that rate hasn’t changed on their website, and I have the best rate available. Now if only there was something I could do about the mortgage. Oh well. We don’t want to mess with our credit too much. Not knowing where we are going or when, we want it to be as shiny as possible.