Should I use my emergency fund to pay off my credit debt?

i would, better to take care of it then having the stress of it still on your shoulders

Personally, I’d chip away as much as I could with the debt.
Usually for credit cards, interest is calculated at a daily rate, each day, so the interest you accrue yesterday will be accruing interest today. It’s like a snowball, basically, so paying off as much as you can as early as you can is probably the wisest thing you could do. Credit cards are bad because of that, how they accrue interest on a daily rate, and each day, you have more debt that will accrue interest.

The benefit of doing this, is that you can pay off your credit card with your emergency money… then use your credit card if there is an emergency (hopefully you won’t have an emergency). This way, you won’t be accumulating interest, and you still have the credit card to use in case your car breaks down etc

just think there could be a time when you have to chose, pay bills or have food, you may want to save for if there is ever a time that you have to make that choice, pay off you credit cards is important but you never know what is around the corner

An emergency fund is just that, for emergencies. You might consider making double payments to pay off your debt. One thing to consider is that this debt is helping to build a credit rating. Making payments that are more than the minimum due will improve your credit standing, also be very sure to pay Before the due date, many credit cards will raise your interest rate if you are late with payments.

Pay off the debt on the credit card with the $1000. If you really needed that $1000. you could write yourself a check on the credit card, but in the meantime you would not be charged interest on that additional $1000.

Deal with the potential job loss only if it happens.

Well I think it goes down to what your money is doing for you.

In the savings account it’s making you 1% annual interest.

$1000 on your credit card is costing you 17% annual interest.

While some money on hand is a good thing, the state first has to reach a decision about where to cut, then who to fire follows well after that (nature of bureaucracy).

I’d say that it’s likely you’re going to be safe in your job for a while. Plus, even if they fire you for budget cuts, you can collect unemployment…

£5000 – £1000 = £4000 left.

answer is no, dont pay that money in.

You want to write off to your creditors asking them to accept a full and final settlement of your accounts. Say you have a friend who can lend a grand and split that grand between your creditors.

Say you owe Barclays £2500 and MBNA £2500. You would offer each £500 as a full settlement. They will probably say no but its worth a go. They will probably come back with a higher figure, if you can somehow get the cash to make up the difference you will get some money knocked off at least. Other than that, make sure they have stopped all the interest and charges otherwise you may never be able to pay it all on £100 per month.

if you have savings & credit card debt,then you actually have no savings. pay it down,pay it off.

you said you consolidated the bill. If it is a fixed rated loan then ride it out. If not get one that is fixed to get rid of this. This is not an emergency but something else may be so $1000 doesn’t pay it in full so just work on it as fast as you can

You are doing a great job, congratulations on working on getting rid of your debt. The average american has nearly 25,000 in credit card debt so give yourself a break.

As a debt elimination specialist I’d recommend two strategies.

1. Keep your cash and send in $200 (or more) a month to cancel interest, while still saving some for a rainy day.

2. If you really want to cancel interest, try the MMA Strategy, but only if you are spending less than you make:

a. create a list of your monthly expenses such as utilities, gas, entertainment etc.
b. When you get paid deposit the majority of your paycheck onto your credit card. Pay ALL your expenses from your credit card. When you get paid again, transfer the paycheck to the credit card again and continue to pay your bills, buy groceries ETC on the credit card.

This strategy cancels interest and beats the bank at it’s own game.

It was brought to this country to help people pay off their mortgage more quickly, but it works with all open ended types of loans such as credit cards.

Hope this helps.

That’s 50 months.
4 years and 2 months.
Go to the gov site, below.
At the bottom, open the amortization table. This is on Excel and can be used there or downloaded if you have Excel.

Enter your balance, interest rate and term, 50 months as it appears to be, or years. (4 years and 2 months is, 4.17 years).
Look at the amount of total interest you will pay.
There is a place to enter additional payments per month. Play around with this. Enter $10 additional, or more. Whatever you think you can pay. I’ll bet I could find at least $10 a month in your spending.

Now look at the interest and the difference. And how much sooner it will be paid.
You may make a decision like that instead of putting all your savings on the card. 1K is not much reserve for emergencies, over 5 years.
Try to save that, and add extra to your payments, even tho interest on savings is low.
I would bet that you are paying a high interest rate.

You can’t get what I have at 5%, and will go down soon, since prime is now 1%.

Good luck.

Do not blow your emergency money on your credit card debt unless you have credit on a card you can still use–if you consolidated, you probably don’t. Most of those agencies I’ve heard of demand that you get rid of revolving credit, cut your interest rates, and have you keep the same payment until you have paid off all your cards. So good advice (pay it down as fast as you can to avoid interest) for someone with $5000 debt on one card, another card with no balance and $2000 credit limit, and more income may not be good advice for you. If that guy’s car dies, he can put it on plastic. If your car dies, you need to buy a bike or take the bus.

That said, I think $1000 is enough reserve for emergencies, so use any extra money you have from your check to pay down your debt. If your interest rates are low enough, you can start another savings to hit your debt with a large lump sum, or you can just try to send an extra $50 a month.

Use your money to invest in MRNA it is trading at .21 and is on the rise. This is awesome stock that will be worth several dollars in the coming weeks. Medical company. Great dividends can’t lose.

I know all too well about being stupid with credit cards at 18!! As far as your emergency fund, I wouldn’t use all of it to pay the debt. I would suggest keeping about $500 in there, just in case…..that amount would be enough to take care of some emergencies like car trouble, doctor bills, etc. So, you could pay $500 on the cc plus your regular monthly payments and if you get any cash along the way, whether it be Christmas money, birthday money, whatever, throw it towards your credit card debt. Getting debt free sucks, but when it’s all said and done, it is SO worth it!! Good luck!