I finally got my debt snowball going but hit a huge wall with my car

I was killing it paying off $4,200 in credit cards last year using the snowball method, then my 2008 Honda needed a $900 transmission repair that stopped everything cold for 3 months. Should I pause the snowball for emergencies like this or just keep pushing through and take the hit on interest? Has anyone else had a big repair blow up their payoff timeline like this and how did you handle it?

2 comments

2 Comments

emmag404d ago

So you're really gonna let one lousy transmission repair throw off your whole momentum like that? The whole point of the snowball is the psychological win of knocking out those small debts fast. If you pause every time something inconvenient pops up, you'll never build that rhythm. I'd argue you should've found a way to keep the snowball going even if it meant picking up extra shifts or selling something on Facebook Marketplace. That $900 repair is just a speed bump, not a brick wall. You could've thrown the minimum at the credit cards for a month or two instead of stopping completely.

quinnm904d ago

My buddy Jen had the same thing happen with her old Civic. She just paused the snowball, fixed the car with a small personal loan from her credit union, then paid that off first before going back to her cards. Worked way better than letting the car sit and racking up bus fares.