Scott,
How do you save money to buy a home
when you are swamped with credit card bills that just seem to suck every
last bit of savings?
Darryl
Darryl,
I know exactly how you feel, since I was
in that very same position at one time.
First of all, you need to be sure that
your credit card interest rates are as low as possible. By "low" I mean
below 9.9%. There are many excellent credit-card offers available from
numerous banks, which make the rates very competitive. Look through your
junk mail for credit line offers and read the details. Start using the
0% offers and track the dates when they expire so you can be sure to
transfer your balance before the rate is increased. You can also find
great offers at
http://www.debtsmart.com/cards/
Once you've minimized your interest cost,
you need to make saving for that house a priority. The way I saved while
paying my credit card bills was to make minimum payments. That's right,
it's one of those exceptions to the
pay-the-most-to-your-credit-cards-first rule.
In this case, to save for the down
payment of your house, you make the minimum payments to your credit
cards and bank the difference. The reason is that you need to save your
own money to use as a down payment; you cannot cash advance money from
your credit cards to buy a house. Well I guess, technically you could,
but most likely you won't be given a mortgage if the bank learns that
you’re buying a house with your credit cards.
The strategy here is that you’re going to
create extra money by paying less each month to your credit cards. Many
times banks will give you an opportunity to skip a payment. That's the
perfect time to save that extra payment in a bank account toward your
house down payment.
Many people would criticize me for
suggesting that you pay less to your credit cards because you're going
to pay a little extra interest. However, this interest cost is the fee
you pay to be able to get the cash for the house. It was worth it for me
and everything turned out just fine.
Good luck and please let me know how
things go!
Best,
Scott
