Great article with lots of good tips to help keep us on track! We don’t realize how much interest rates affect our bottom line when it comes to saving money. The interest on some of these credit cards can “eat you alive”. The amount of interest you pay over the term of a loan can be staggering! Thanks, so much, for providing a link to a calculator that will help us see for ourselves what we really are paying. It usually doesn’t seem like much but when you put pen to paper or run the numbers through a calculator, it’s an eye-popping experience!

One area I’m struggling with is my student loan. I’ve had a couple of forebearances but the interest is still going 24/7. On a couple of credit cards my interest rate was increased because I was a day or so late making my payment. Being late on a payment or over the limit will also cause some credit card companies to increase your rate. I was able to get one of those rates reduced from 19% to 12% because I called and requested that they review my payment history with them and reduce my interest rate. I emphasized that if they did not lower my rate, I would close my account and use another credit card company with better rates. And, IT WORKED!

So, keep coming with the good articles because they really get you thinking about your personal finances. We’re inundated with so much and so many things to do, until we really don’t give our personal finances much thought unless we’re in a crisis situation.

I’m looking forward to your next blog post because it’s good stuff that’s keeping me on my toes!