Fed cuts rates... again Options

[jwttu]

No offense but you guys seriously sound like a bunch of old fogeys talkin about CDs and 4.85% APY. We're all young people, get your damn money in some stocks and funds. Sure it'll fluctuate more but you'll see much bigger gains in the end. CDs are for old people who've got $500k in the bank. When that time rolls around, the CDs you buy and turn over will pay the bills. Your CDs you're buyin now and turning over will buy you a new jacket or something.

well that money is all i have right now, except a small amount in the stock markets. So I'd like to have in relatively liquid accounts and getting a decent return. Once i start getting a regular income I'll move to riskier investments.

[impala454]

Well I only have the one card (AmEx). I closed my Wells Fargo card even though I knew it would ding my credit score a little, just because I didn't want to deal with them anymore. Just paid off my car loan last month, never had a late payment on anything, and I'm not carrying a balance, so I'm doing good.

Just wanted to make sure that my CL wasn't too high before applying for mortgages a year+ from now. It's 8k currently.

Yeah you should do really well then. I got a pretty good rate and I bought my house before my truck.

[impala454]

well that money is all i have right now, except a small amount in the stock markets. So I'd like to have in relatively liquid accounts and getting a decent return. Once i start getting a regular income I'll move to riskier investments.

But CDs are not even remotely liquid... You're freezing up your money to get a small (albeit consistant)return out of it. The reason they can guarantee the rate for six months is because you're not allowed to touch it. You're essentially guaranteeing them assets at the same time. Just as a suggestion, you should check around or even with your bank to see what kind of interest rates you can get a regular savings account with. I think you might be surprised at the rates you can get, plus you have access to your money at all times.

[Hartmann]

Savings accounts are liquid but still have restrictions.

[impala454]

Some don't... depends on what bank you go to.

[Grif]

Here is a question: How do they look at it when you pay off a loan much faster than expected? Currently the only debt I have is about 2800 on a credit card (which I always pay off more than the monthly min) and my students loans (which all of my 4.5 years of school and housing was paid for by). Do they frown if I were to pay off the majority of my student loans very quickly, or would it be benificial from a creditor point of view.

Asking, cause one possibility Im looking at is living at home with mom and dad for free for about a year and putting the majority of whatever salary i get towards paying off my student loans as fast as possible.

[impala454]

Naw that doesn't look bad on your credit report at all. But you may want to check with your lender to be sure there's no penalty for early payoff/extra payments.

[Spectatrix]

It's good from the perspective of not having previous debt obligations, but otherwise it's neither good nor bad. Like Impala said, though, gotta make sure there's no pre-payment penalty. That's more common with mortgages, though, not so much for other loans (someone correct me if I'm wrong...)

[impala454]

Yeah school loans (at least mine, and a few other peeps I know) usually don't have early payment penalties.

[Hartmann]

Yeah school loans (at least mine, and a few other peeps I know) usually don't have early payment penalties.

My loan didn't have a prepayment penalty, but they did have something weird where if you paid more than the minimum payment, they moved up your payment date.

[jwttu]

But CDs are not even remotely liquid... You're freezing up your money to get a small (albeit consistant)return out of it. The reason they can guarantee the rate for six months is because you're not allowed to touch it. You're essentially guaranteeing them assets at the same time. Just as a suggestion, you should check around or even with your bank to see what kind of interest rates you can get a regular savings account with. I think you might be surprised at the rates you can get, plus you have access to your money at all times.

ya if i did put my money in a cd, I would save some of it to get me by until the cd matures. Obviously this isnt the best situation so I'm still looking at the rates on everything.

I'm at least gonna hold off on changing anything till after the next FOMC meeting to see what they are gonna with the interest rate. I might be better off keeping my money in my MMA for the time being. fyi the fomc meeting is the 29/30th of January

[kcroxyoursox]

Interesting about the house discussion stuff you guys are having.

Jason and I just got back from meeting with our mortgage lending company for the house we are buying. His advice to us was to keep all credit cards under a 2:1 ratio of credit limit to balance. Meaning on a $5000 limit card, carrying no more than $2500 on it. Also, he said that since it costs nothing to carry 0 balance on a card (unless you have an annual fee I guess), it was better to have a card with no balance than to close the account. Of course if you had like 20 accounts you should close a few of them.

Anyone bold enough to post their credit scores?

[jwttu]

Interesting about the house discussion stuff you guys are having.

Jason and I just got back from meeting with our mortgage lending company for the house we are buying. His advice to us was to keep all credit cards under a 2:1 ratio of credit limit to balance. Meaning on a $5000 limit card, carrying no more than $2500 on it. Also, he said that since it costs nothing to carry 0 balance on a card (unless you have an annual fee I guess), it was better to have a card with no balance than to close the account. Of course if you had like 20 accounts you should close a few of them.

Anyone bold enough to post their credit scores?

If its free i'll post mine, but i dont want to have to pay for it

[Spectatrix]

It's not free.

[James]

I'll post mine, but it's not so nice since I maxed a few 0% interest accounts out to make a little cash on the side...

729 atm. Before I maxed out, it was 739, which I guess isn't that good either. Ah well. These are Transunion credit scores.