Everyone praises the snowball method but it failed me hard

I was sitting in my car outside the bank in Portland last April, ready to make a $400 payment on a small store card. I had been doing the snowball thing for 6 months, paying off the smallest debts first. But my car loan at 18% interest was just sitting there costing me $90 a month in interest alone. I switched to the avalanche method instead, hit the high interest debt, and saved about $500 in total interest. Has anyone else had the snowball method backfire like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

thea1438d ago

and THEN what happened with the credit card company when you switched? Because thats what got me - I started with the avalanche method and my Discover card kept calling me asking why I was paying less on their balance. It was so ANNOYING. But honestly the math makes way more sense for anyone who has a mix of high and low interest debts. Did you notice your credit score doing weird things when you made the switch?

sethb458d ago

Ugh yes, that is the worst when they keep calling.