Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, ba fam, It's Mandy here for another episode
Speaker 1: of the Baqa the Baqa. I hope you guys are
Speaker 1: having a wonderful start to the month. I am so
Speaker 1: excited to be here taking all of your wonderful questions.
Speaker 1: Hit us up at Browndambition podcast dot com. Let that
Speaker 1: be the first stop on your tour of our website
Speaker 1: or brand new website. If you haven't seen it, please
Speaker 1: check it out. It's beautiful if I do say so myself.
Speaker 1: And while you're there, ask us anything. You can email
Speaker 1: us at brand Ambition Podcast. Through the website. You can
Speaker 1: find out how to find us on Instagram through the website,
Speaker 1: so bronambitionpodcast dot com. I cannot wait to get your
Speaker 1: questions anything career of money. I am your girl and
Speaker 1: thank y'all again for the continued support. What else is
Speaker 1: happening in my world? Y'all know I'm coming up on
Speaker 1: a year of Mandy money. I can't believe it. Oh man,
Speaker 1: it's almost been a year. I gotta figure out how
Speaker 1: to plan a party. If y'all have any ideas of
Speaker 1: how to celebrate a year in business, just let me know,
Speaker 1: because my my deep you know, Leo Hart here the
Speaker 1: lion wants to dance. Okay, I want a party. I
Speaker 1: love an affair. I love to have a good time.
Speaker 1: So I'm just thinking back on a year in business.
Speaker 1: It's tax season right now, and for any entrepreneurs out
Speaker 1: there who are like sweating it, you know, first quarter
Speaker 1: taxes and then closing out taxes for last year. My
Speaker 1: accountant is my secret weapon. And I'm not even going
Speaker 1: to sit here and pretend like I know a bunch
Speaker 1: of stuff and can and give lots of advice on
Speaker 1: how to, you know, manage your taxes this time of year.
Speaker 1: But my biggest piece of advice is to don't stick
Speaker 1: her head in the sand. Actually go ahead and hire someone.
Speaker 1: It is worth the money, not only to find an accountant,
Speaker 1: but also to find a bookkeeper. Even in the first
Speaker 1: quarter of this year, I didn't think I did anything
Speaker 1: that funky, But when I tell you, my bookkeeper had
Speaker 1: about twelve thirteen different questions for me to answer and
Speaker 1: line items and my expenses and my income to figure out.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. So I'm so glad I'm getting on
Speaker 1: top of that. Where did I find my bookkeeper and
Speaker 1: my accountant? I asked a friend. I asked a fellow
Speaker 1: business owner, you know, where do you do your taxes?
Speaker 1: And I asked someone local so that I could find
Speaker 1: someone local, and fortunately I interviewed them both and their
Speaker 1: husband and wife duo, and they are fabulous. So if
Speaker 1: you're someone who's whether you've just launched a business or
Speaker 1: you've been in business for a couple of years, I'm
Speaker 1: talking to you, nubie entrepreneurs like myself, go ahead and
Speaker 1: outsource that and get some help. It makes me feel
Speaker 1: so much more at ease, and it makes me not
Speaker 1: fear that I'm going to have a nasty letter from
Speaker 1: the Irs hitting my mailbox any day now telling me
Speaker 1: that I owe them eleveny million dollars. Okay, so happy
Speaker 1: tax season to all of y'all. Also, my goodness, it's
Speaker 1: been almost a year in business, and y'all know, when
Speaker 1: I started Mandy Money, I created my own website myself.
Speaker 1: Squarespace is a sponsor of the podcast, but even before
Speaker 1: they became a sponsor, I was a fan. I used
Speaker 1: Squarespace to create mymandymoney dot com website, and I have
Speaker 1: to let y'all know there is a whole newmandymoney dot
Speaker 1: com for y'all to check out. You can check it
Speaker 1: out mandymoney dot com. It's Mandy with an I. I
Speaker 1: partnered with the same badass web designer who did the
Speaker 1: new brand Ambition podcast dot com. Her name is Shirleyansley.
Speaker 1: She is amazing black woman, mama partner in crime for me. Now,
Speaker 1: for all my website needs check out, I'll put a
Speaker 1: link to her website in our show notes. And I
Speaker 1: told Shirley I was going to do it, and I
Speaker 1: was like, you're probably not prepared for lots and lots
Speaker 1: of people to want to work with you. I think
Speaker 1: she's already sold out and booked for the next few months.
Speaker 1: But she deserves all of her success. She's great at
Speaker 1: what she does, and as a fellow mom and entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: I gotta support my girl, Shirley. So I will put
Speaker 1: a link to her website. She is phenomenal and I'm
Speaker 1: so happy with the new look at mandymoney dot com.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, with that being said, let me get
Speaker 1: on into the inbox and see what kind of questions
Speaker 1: y'all have today. All right, so today's show is going
Speaker 1: to be all about money, honey. Our first question comes
Speaker 1: from an anonymous listener who had the courtesy of giving
Speaker 1: me her own pseudonym, and I'm a fan Balance transfer Bell. Hello,
Speaker 1: balance transfer Bell, let's talk. My question is, with interest
Speaker 1: rates going up now that the FED is working on inflation,
Speaker 1: should I lock in the zero percent balance transfer rates
Speaker 1: that my credit cards are offering with a three percent
Speaker 1: transfer fee or wait until the next offer comes along.
Speaker 1: Here's some context. I've been for the last two years
Speaker 1: rolling over approximately sixty thousand dollars of debt on credit cards.
Speaker 1: I have been under employed during COVID and in a
Speaker 1: precarious living situation. In order to keep all those plates spinning,
Speaker 1: I decided it was better to borrow the money from
Speaker 1: myself and deal with the three percent balance transfer fees
Speaker 1: and make sure all my bills like student loans, card notes,
Speaker 1: rent were paid on time. As a result, my credit
Speaker 1: isn't great because my balance to limit ratio are high,
Speaker 1: but I have zero issue paying my bills on time.
Speaker 1: I've been doing this now for two years, and I
Speaker 1: honestly believe this is the year when I'm finally going
Speaker 1: to get a decent job and be able to pay
Speaker 1: down this loan. But a few additional things about this
Speaker 1: sixty K worth of credit card debt that I have
Speaker 1: been rolling along, so they're spread against different cards, and
Speaker 1: they all have different terms that are up at different times.
Speaker 1: I know I need to move the money before those
Speaker 1: terms expire so I don't get hit with additional interest.
Speaker 1: But the offers come when they come, so there's no
Speaker 1: guarantee that a new zero percent balance transfer offer will
Speaker 1: come in time. Also, I should let you know that
Speaker 1: I put a large amount of money that I had
Speaker 1: sitting in savings in the stock market. I didn't need
Speaker 1: to use all the money, but I wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure I could make my minimum payments and have an
Speaker 1: emergency fund. I want to leave that money in the
Speaker 1: market in order to not take a loss. I know
Speaker 1: it's a lot, but I want to leave my money
Speaker 1: in the market, invest and pay off these loans in
Speaker 1: the next year and a half. But I want to
Speaker 1: know if the next balance transfer offer that pops up
Speaker 1: overlaps with my zero percent offer, should I jump at it,
Speaker 1: because even with the added cost of a balance transfer fee,
Speaker 1: it could be a safer bet since rates are finally rising.
Speaker 1: Let me know what you think. I appreciate all that
Speaker 1: you do, oh Man, Balance transfer bell, this is a doozy.
Speaker 1: So sixty thousand dollars worth a credit card debt, you know,
Speaker 1: I got to give you major props because you actually
Speaker 1: took advantage of a very useful tool via a zero
Speaker 1: percent balance transfer offer, to keep that sixty k from
Speaker 1: spiraling out of control. It's a lot of credit card debt,
Speaker 1: and because it's spread across different cards, it's still a
Speaker 1: lot to juggle. Yeah, to keep up with those term
Speaker 1: expiration dates. I hope you're reading the fine print because
Speaker 1: you could get a hit with additional interest fees, but
Speaker 1: you can also have deferred interest clause, which would actually
Speaker 1: go all the way back to the beginning and when
Speaker 1: you open those credit cards and smack all that interest
Speaker 1: onto your balance, so it would be like you were
Speaker 1: paying interest all along. So you're left not only with
Speaker 1: those interest charges, but also way more debt than you
Speaker 1: actually started off with. My biggest concern, and my question
Speaker 1: is have you actually been making payments on these credit
Speaker 1: cards or just shuffling them around, Because shuffling them around
Speaker 1: is savvy, but if you're not actually putting a dent
Speaker 1: in them, then you're really just kicking the can down
Speaker 1: the road and you're creating more stress on yourself, and
Speaker 1: like you said, it's stopping you from being able to,
Speaker 1: you know, make investing and saving decisions that could really
Speaker 1: build help build you wealth in the future. I'm fearful
Speaker 1: that if you don't start tackling this sixty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: worth of debt, that it will get to the point
Speaker 1: where you kind of reach your balance transfer cliff. I mean,
Speaker 1: there are some you know, balance transfers are not a
Speaker 1: total panacea for credit card debt, right, So there's a
Speaker 1: couple of limitations. One, you typically cannot transfer a balance
Speaker 1: from a credit card at a certain bank to the
Speaker 1: same bank. So that means if you've got ten dollars
Speaker 1: on a Chase credit card, even if Chase has a
Speaker 1: zero percent balance transfer offer, you can't transfer that balance
Speaker 1: onto a Chase credit card. You have to go to
Speaker 1: another issue or bank and find a zero percent balance
Speaker 1: transfer offer from them. There also may be limitations on
Speaker 1: how often you can transfer balances, you know, at one
Speaker 1: bank to the other. So definitely want to read that
Speaker 1: fine print. You've put a bunch of money into the market,
Speaker 1: and I get what you're saying. You know, you don't
Speaker 1: want to take it out. You don't want to lose
Speaker 1: and miss out on those gains. And I think that
Speaker 1: that is, you know, it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: But the fact that you were able to invest in
Speaker 1: the market tells me that you've got extra money and
Speaker 1: extra funds that you could be using to pay down
Speaker 1: this credit card debt. So I would think a little
Speaker 1: bit differently about how much money you're putting toward your
Speaker 1: investments and instead start siphoning some of that money to
Speaker 1: your credit card debt. That's sixty K. Like I said,
Speaker 1: you're managing it right now, but it's like spinning plates,
Speaker 1: and you keep not only spinning plates, but you're like
Speaker 1: doing it on your tippy toes. And then you're going
Speaker 1: to try to like lift one foot off the floor
Speaker 1: and you're just making it. It's getting harder and harder.
Speaker 1: Then you're going to be like, oh, I can do it,
Speaker 1: but I can put one hand behind my back. Eventually
Speaker 1: it's all going to come crashing down. So that's why
Speaker 1: I want you to come up with a plan that
Speaker 1: lets you put additional funds toward that debt. Now I
Speaker 1: know that this is brown ambition, and we talk about
Speaker 1: the importance of investing and wealth building. Sure, but I
Speaker 1: don't want you to lose sight of that credit card debt,
Speaker 1: because honestly, paying down debt can also be a form
Speaker 1: of investing, especially if that debt is going to be
Speaker 1: costing you or has the potential to be costing you
Speaker 1: down the line. So maybe what you could be doing
Speaker 1: while you're enjoying the remaining terms of your zero percent
Speaker 1: balance transfer options that you've got is to start creating
Speaker 1: a bit of a cash nest eck that you can
Speaker 1: use to start paying down those credit cards sooner rather
Speaker 1: than later. And maybe whatever you've put into the stock
Speaker 1: market so far, you kind of let that sit, and
Speaker 1: you say, cool, I put this wind far into the
Speaker 1: stock market. I'm going to let that rock and I'm
Speaker 1: not going to touch it. That's fine, but you've got
Speaker 1: to throw everything you've got left at these credit cards. Now.
Speaker 1: You talk about zero percent balance transfers also not always
Speaker 1: coming around every day of the week. While it's true,
Speaker 1: especially if banks know, and they always have a way
Speaker 1: of knowing, don't they. If you're someone who's likely to
Speaker 1: take advantage of balance transfer offers, I imagine you get
Speaker 1: a lot of those offers in your email or in
Speaker 1: your old snail mail through the mailbox. That being said,
Speaker 1: you don't always have to wait for an offer to
Speaker 1: come across your you know, your inbox in order to
Speaker 1: take advantage. You can actually use sites like nerd. While
Speaker 1: at Magnify money, just do a quick Google search to
Speaker 1: see what banks out there are offering zero percent balance
Speaker 1: transfer cards right now, and you can take advantage of those,
Speaker 1: you know, if you qualify. I'm actually really impressed that
Speaker 1: you say you've managed to maintain such a high credit
Speaker 1: score even though you're maintaining pretty high balances. And that's
Speaker 1: probably due to the fact that, like you said, you
Speaker 1: haven't been missing payments because you've been set enough to
Speaker 1: take all those spinning plates and move them around strategically
Speaker 1: to different, various zero percent balance transfer options. That's super savvy.
Speaker 1: But how long can you keep that up? Sure, if
Speaker 1: you see a zero percent balance transfer offer and it's
Speaker 1: going to give you and buy you more time, and
Speaker 1: it's a smart way to you know, offload some of
Speaker 1: that debt and save you what interest, even though you are,
Speaker 1: like you said, paying a balance transfer fee. Okay, fine,
Speaker 1: but what are you really going to be doing in
Speaker 1: the long term? Like, what's the long term strategy. I
Speaker 1: am so excited and I'm hopeful too that you'll find
Speaker 1: a job that's going to increase your income to help
Speaker 1: you pay down that debt. I really hope that happens.
Speaker 1: But if it doesn't, or let's say you even do
Speaker 1: get that job, but you're not able to put as
Speaker 1: much as you want toward your debt, what are the
Speaker 1: sources of income can you be bringing in? You know,
Speaker 1: are there any ways that you can be freelancing or
Speaker 1: bringing an additional income to help tackle that debt? And
Speaker 1: if a balance transfer doesn't sound like something that you
Speaker 1: can keep up for much longer, you could consider taking
Speaker 1: on a debt consolidation loan at a credit union or
Speaker 1: an online lender. Yes, it's not the juicy zero percent
Speaker 1: interest offer that you may get from credit cards, but
Speaker 1: it gives you more peace of mind because it's a
Speaker 1: fixed interest rate loan, meaning it's not going to go up.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the FED has been raising rates to combat inflation,
Speaker 1: which it does. That's the whole point of the FED,
Speaker 1: which means that credit card debt and other types of
Speaker 1: loans can get more expensive, So it can be nice
Speaker 1: to lock in a fixed interest rate through a debt
Speaker 1: consolidation loan like a personal loan through a credit union
Speaker 1: or a lender, because at least then you know this
Speaker 1: rate is my rate. No matter what the FED does,
Speaker 1: I'm going to get this juicy, great rate. And because
Speaker 1: you've got decent credit, you know your chances of getting
Speaker 1: one of the lower rates is fairly high. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously I don't know all of your information, but let's
Speaker 1: just assume it is. So look into that fixed rate,
Speaker 1: fixed term personal loan. And by fixed term, I mean
Speaker 1: they're going to give you a loan and say you're
Speaker 1: going to owe this this your monthly payment for the
Speaker 1: next five to seven years or whatever the term of
Speaker 1: your loan is. And then you always know what your
Speaker 1: monthly payment is going to be. And because it's a
Speaker 1: fixed rate loan, you know the rate is not going
Speaker 1: to change. So as much as balance transfer cards are
Speaker 1: a good option, they are a band aid, and I
Speaker 1: think a long term debt payoff solution like a debt
Speaker 1: consolidation loan can make some sense. But because balance transfers
Speaker 1: are so good and you got your zero percent offer, hey,
Speaker 1: you've already proven that you can multitask like no other
Speaker 1: like women are freaking amazing at multitasking. I just know
Speaker 1: there's a lot of men out there who probably couldn't
Speaker 1: not to it. I know men are not a monolith,
Speaker 1: but to manage all those different cards and all those
Speaker 1: different term limits and balance transfer offers like that is
Speaker 1: no small feat. So you know, I commend you for that,
Speaker 1: and I say, as long as you can keep it
Speaker 1: going and you're not, you know, losing sleep and your
Speaker 1: eyes are not spinning out of your head, you know,
Speaker 1: continue taking advantage of those zero percent balance transfer offers.
Speaker 1: As long as you can get them, you can qualify them.
Speaker 1: But when it starts to look like you're gonna need
Speaker 1: a way to help pay off some of this debt
Speaker 1: beyond balance transfers, you know, consider a debt consolidation loan.
Speaker 1: Consider starting a relationship with a credit union that will
Speaker 1: also help improve your credit. I know you said your
Speaker 1: credit's pretty decent, but with your high utilization rates on
Speaker 1: credit cards, you know, that's a double whammy for your
Speaker 1: credit score. Not only is a high utilization gonna diminish
Speaker 1: your credit score because it's like the second biggest factor
Speaker 1: of your credit score, that high utilization rate, but it's
Speaker 1: the types of debt that you have too. It's the
Speaker 1: revolving credit card debt, and credit scoring models tend to
Speaker 1: favor installment loans, which like a debt consolidation loan, that's
Speaker 1: an installment loan versus high interests revolving credit cards. So
Speaker 1: something to think about as well for the long term.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, you're kind of a I'm gonna
Speaker 1: change your name from balance Transfer Bell to balance transfer Badass. Okay,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for sharing your question. That was
Speaker 1: a juicy one. Let me take a quick break. I
Speaker 1: will be right back with more of your question. Hey, hey,
Speaker 1: all right, I am back with another credit score question.
Speaker 1: I love them. Keep them coming, y'all. Brandimissionpodcast dot com
Speaker 1: send us all of your questions. Another listener who'd like
Speaker 1: to remain anonymous, I'm gonna call her. We had balance
Speaker 1: Transfer Bell slash balance Transfer Badass, so I'm gonna call
Speaker 1: her Credit Queen, Credit Queen. Hello, thank you for your question.
Speaker 1: Credit Queen says, I am paying down my debt and
Speaker 1: I've paid down twenty thousand dollars with high interest credit
Speaker 1: card debt. Woho, that is amazing. I'm about to tackle
Speaker 1: the highest balance I have yet, thirty four thousand dollars
Speaker 1: on a credit card with a thirty eight thousand dollars
Speaker 1: credit limit. Yikes. Overall, my credit utilization rate is sixty
Speaker 1: percent with all the other open credit lines that I have. Again,
Speaker 1: all the other credit cards are down to zero. This
Speaker 1: is the last one I have left, thirty four K
Speaker 1: on a thirty eight K credit limit card. My question
Speaker 1: is should I close down this very high balance card
Speaker 1: and with a high credit livet. I've already cut up
Speaker 1: the card. I'm working on my money habits and my
Speaker 1: plan so that I'm no longer putting expenses on credit.
Speaker 1: But with closing the card, affect my credit or make
Speaker 1: it better since my credit utilization will technically be better,
Speaker 1: I'm paying off this card. I've never been laid on
Speaker 1: the payments. Also, I think I want to look into
Speaker 1: taking a personal loan to pay it off with a
Speaker 1: better interest rate and then close the card. Thanks for
Speaker 1: your help, ooh, this is a perfect combo question to
Speaker 1: go along with our question in the first half of
Speaker 1: the show. First and foremost, congratulations, paying down twenty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars of high interest credit card debt is no small
Speaker 1: feed so I am giving you all the snaps, my friend,
Speaker 1: all right, quit credit queen. So you got thirty four
Speaker 1: K and a thirty eight K credit card. The fact
Speaker 1: that you know enough to understand how to calculate your
Speaker 1: credit utilization rate tells me I am not dealing with
Speaker 1: a newbie here. You actually know something about how credit
Speaker 1: scores are determined and how power they can be. So absolutely,
Speaker 1: having such a high balance on this credit card could
Speaker 1: really be hurting your credit score. I mean, you have
Speaker 1: almost one hundred percent balance used on one credit card,
Speaker 1: but you have saved yourself from having terrible credit, it
Speaker 1: looks like, by having additional lines of credit. So the benefit,
Speaker 1: while we're seeing here from this your own example, is
Speaker 1: the benefit of keeping credit cards open, because if you
Speaker 1: had closed down those other credit cards as you pay
Speaker 1: them off, then you'd be left with like a ninety
Speaker 1: nine percent utilization rate right now, and your credit score
Speaker 1: would totally tank, because that is the second most important
Speaker 1: scoring factor apart from making on time payments, which is
Speaker 1: great to hear that you've been doing that as well,
Speaker 1: but utilization rate is the second biggest reason, or second
Speaker 1: biggest factor in determining your credit score. Now because of
Speaker 1: those other lines of credit. Like you said, that thirty
Speaker 1: four k is actually only sixty percent of your total
Speaker 1: credit limit across all your credit cards, which is really
Speaker 1: savvy to understand. That's because credit scoring models, when they
Speaker 1: determine utilization rate, they're not just looking at the utilization
Speaker 1: rate per individual card, but they're adding up the total
Speaker 1: available limit across all your credit cards and then adding
Speaker 1: up the total balance across all your cards, and that's
Speaker 1: how they're getting to utilization rate. Okay, so you've already
Speaker 1: proven by your own example the power and the positive
Speaker 1: side of keeping credit cards open. What will happen if
Speaker 1: you were to pay off this thirty four k and
Speaker 1: then cut up that and get rid of and close
Speaker 1: that thirty eight thousand dollars line of credit is that
Speaker 1: it could make it more difficult for you to maintain
Speaker 1: a low utilization rate in the future, right, so you
Speaker 1: won't have that quote unquote. It's hard to call a
Speaker 1: big fat credit limit a safety net because really it's
Speaker 1: almost like it's like, I don't know, it's like putting
Speaker 1: a for me as a as a person who struggles
Speaker 1: with like eating and eating, you know, binge eating Sometimes
Speaker 1: like It's like putting a big bag of potato chips
Speaker 1: next to me after a long day of work and
Speaker 1: kind of expecting me to not devour the entire thing
Speaker 1: in five minutes. Right, So it's a tempting line of credit.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, use me, I'm here. You can't afford it, Oh,
Speaker 1: just put it on this thirty eight thousand dollars credit limit.
Speaker 1: It's just it's thirty eight thousand dollars. What's a couple
Speaker 1: thousand dollars? You know, So it's tempting you. But what's
Speaker 1: crucial to me that you've said in your question is
Speaker 1: that you're actually working on your money mindset and building
Speaker 1: smarter habits so that you won't put things on credit
Speaker 1: if you trust yourself, and only you can answer this, Okay,
Speaker 1: credit queen, Only you can decide if you trust yourself
Speaker 1: enough to keep that credit line open because you know
Speaker 1: it'll help you with the utilization rate, and you know
Speaker 1: that you know you'd like to have a longer credit
Speaker 1: history because the length and age of your credit is
Speaker 1: also a small but powerful factor in your overall credit score.
Speaker 1: And you know that, and you're like, I'm going to
Speaker 1: keep this open because it's actually benefiting me to have
Speaker 1: it open. However, you know yourself very well, well, you
Speaker 1: know how you racked up all this credit debt in
Speaker 1: the first place. I know you say you're, you know,
Speaker 1: putting some new mindsets in place and trying to you know,
Speaker 1: get your spending under control and all of that. But
Speaker 1: at the first sign that you feel tempted to start
Speaker 1: using that line, you know, you may want to go
Speaker 1: against what logic and reason says and actually close the card.
Speaker 1: I have let myself credit cards close if I felt
Speaker 1: like I was going to be tempted to use them,
Speaker 1: and if I felt like I had enough of a
Speaker 1: credit limit across other cards that yeah, it was going
Speaker 1: to decrease my overall credit limit, but I still had
Speaker 1: other cards that I could lean on, and I wasn't
Speaker 1: going to be, you know, messing myself up too, too
Speaker 1: terribly badly. So sometimes it's okay to let your credit
Speaker 1: cards close. I'm just going to go out there and
Speaker 1: say it, because conventional wisdom and logic and reasoning. This
Speaker 1: is why they call it personal finance. You know, sure,
Speaker 1: there's the right or quote unquote the right thing to
Speaker 1: do and the logical thing to do, but you also
Speaker 1: have to know your personality and your approach to money,
Speaker 1: and what your triggers and your weaknesses are. This is
Speaker 1: the reason why I don't keep big bags of chips
Speaker 1: in my house. You know why, because I know myself
Speaker 1: and all it takes is one bad day at work
Speaker 1: or one argument with my partner, and it's just like
Speaker 1: a bag of chip's gonna solve my problems, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna feel like a sack of crap after, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So I know myself, right, I think
Speaker 1: you should get to know yourself too. Now it could
Speaker 1: be a case where you paid on the credit card,
Speaker 1: and let's be clear, you haven't paid it off yet,
Speaker 1: so let's not get too ahead of ourselves, like, just
Speaker 1: focus on paying it down. But when you get to
Speaker 1: the point where you've paid it down, then you can
Speaker 1: kind of see yourself and you know, be real with
Speaker 1: yourself and say do I need this credit line? Are
Speaker 1: my other credit cards sufficient? Okay? Let me close it down.
Speaker 1: So what you can expect if you were to close
Speaker 1: it down is would you take a hit to your
Speaker 1: credit potentially A couple of reasons why we just talked
Speaker 1: about them, right, you are immediately decreasing your total available limit. Now,
Speaker 1: the beauty of your situation is that those other credit
Speaker 1: cards you have have a zero balance. So even if
Speaker 1: you're going to close this card, your utilization rate should
Speaker 1: still be zero, right, so you're not actually hurting yourself.
Speaker 1: Where you might get dinged, and what you probably will
Speaker 1: get dinged is your average age of credit if that
Speaker 1: credit card is one of your older accounts. So you
Speaker 1: can do a quick Actually, credit Karma has a cool
Speaker 1: tool for this. You can actually do a credit simulate,
Speaker 1: what's it called credit score a simulator, and you can
Speaker 1: actually see with you r if you load your credit
Speaker 1: accounts into there, you can see, well, what if I
Speaker 1: close this one? What if I get a credit limit
Speaker 1: decrease or increase, And you could actually see what the
Speaker 1: effect could be to your score, and then you could see, okay,
Speaker 1: maybe it's like twenty thirty points whatever if my average
Speaker 1: age of credit is reduced by closing this card, but
Speaker 1: your credit score will bounce back. It is not like
Speaker 1: I said, It is not a like a stagnant sort
Speaker 1: of score. It's always moving and changing and flowing. You know,
Speaker 1: It's a living, breathing thing. And as Tiffany always says,
Speaker 1: it's basically your g if you look back at all
Speaker 1: your credit history and your you know history, personal finance
Speaker 1: and loans and all that, it's a record you know
Speaker 1: from your whole credit life. So as long as on
Speaker 1: the whole you've been relatively on time, relatively you know,
Speaker 1: good behavior, then your credit score should always come back.
Speaker 1: It should bounce back. So in your case, it may
Speaker 1: make sense for you to close that card and just
Speaker 1: be done with it and just put it in the
Speaker 1: past behind you, even if you take a temporary hit
Speaker 1: to your credit score. You have to do what works
Speaker 1: best for you. But honestly, this is like you're in
Speaker 1: the beautiful position I think of kind of obsessing over
Speaker 1: tiny details. But focus, focus, focus on paying that credit
Speaker 1: card balance down because that's still thirty four k. You
Speaker 1: paid down twenty k, and that is amazing. You are
Speaker 1: a credit goddess, right and you have you are a
Speaker 1: paydown queen. But let's focus on getting that thirty four
Speaker 1: k paid down asp ACEP asap. So I wish you
Speaker 1: the best of luck. Thank you so much for your
Speaker 1: question to Brown Ambition. I wish you nothing but the best.
Speaker 1: Please follow up, like let me know how the credit
Speaker 1: card paydown is going. Let me know how you paid
Speaker 1: off that first twenty k cause I love to support
Speaker 1: y'all and love to share all your different strategies. But
Speaker 1: congrats again. I think you're in a pretty good position
Speaker 1: to even be thinking about after I paid on the
Speaker 1: thirty four k. What am I gonna do? So keep
Speaker 1: keep going, all right? This was such a fun episode.
Speaker 1: Thank y'all for the questions again. Hit us up at
Speaker 1: brownambitionpodcast dot com. Send us your questions through ig. We
Speaker 1: are at Brian Ambison Podcast and I am Mandy Woodruff Santos.
Speaker 1: I'm at Mandy Muddy on Instagram and I cannot wait
Speaker 1: to hear from you guys. See y'all next week. Hey
Speaker 1: ba fam, we could not do this show without your
Speaker 1: support or the support of our team behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: The Brown Ambition Podcast is produced by Cumulus Podcast Network.
Speaker 1: It's edited by the wonderful Emani Crosby and produced by
Speaker 1: Tanya Bustos. Dennistimplinsky is our in house tech guru, and
Speaker 1: I am Bandy Woodard Santos, your co host, and I
Speaker 1: will see y'all next week.