All Forum Posts by: Chris DeMello

Kinda the same of what Haley & Jacob said... 

To me some of the worst ways is the little miscellaneous spending that seem harmless like a starbucks everyday. $4 or $5 dollars seems minor but it adds up quick. Or workers who buys lunch everyday instead of making it. That can be $200 a month in food. Question every purchase. Is this a need or a want? Is it getting me closer to my goals or further away? Just a matter of how bad you want to hit that savings goal. I see it all the time, they're wondering why they can't save money but they're spending it all on food or buying things they really don't need. Again it just comes down to how bad you want it and what are you willing to sacrifice! It's a lot easier said than done. Especially in today's world where everything is buy this and eat that! I personally still struggle with this, especially living in Las Vegas, but just like life, there is good days and bad days. Just be accountable to yourself, fail forward and keep grinding!!! That's my 2 cents.. LOL Good luck!

Keep in mind that for every $400 worth of debt payments you owe per month, you lose about a $100k in buying power! 

@Tatenda Spandhla my wife and I was in over 30k in debt. We had that debt for years and wasn’t until we found 101 Financial that we’re able to get ahead and start investing. We was debt free in less than a year and purchased two homes in the next two years after that. You gotta treat your personal finances like a business and leverage the money you’re already making to work for you. Think of how investors buy properties? Do they use all of their own money or do they leverage opm or banks money?  Why don't we do the same for personal finances so we can pay off debt faster and or save faster to invest? 101 Financial does exactly that! 

Check it out for yourself: 5 min video: 101financial.com/peace     Full video: 101financial.com/video

 Your debt is so minor. You'll be on your way in no time!  Good luck!

@Seth Matherne are you looking to get a 1st or 2nd position HELOC? Usually You should have at least 15-20% equity, which will be determined by an appraisal. DTI ratio under 45% and credit score at least 620.I'm sure it's not standard, just a general idea of what banks look for.

I like 1st position HELOCS for a variety of reasons. 1) it allows you to pay it down a lot quicker if you you structure it right. 2) It also increases your cash flow because you're eliminating the mortgage and you don't have to stick to the banks schedule. 3) You'll save thousands or even 10's or 100's of thousands in interest, again, only if you use it properly! Most banks push 2nd position only because it's less risk for them. Just wanted to share other options available to you. My wife and I used 1st HELOC's for our primary and rental properties that allowed us to get ahead quicker.

@Chris Szepessy It lowered my DTI because it dropped my HELOC balance by $100k. Sat it my LOC for a month then applied for the loan. We tried to get it 6 months prior and DTI was too high, so I told lender we're getting back our "investment money" soon and we'll apply again. lol

@Farrukh Amini We only paid 1% interest for that money.  100k x 1% = $1000.00 

I had the same issue couple of years ago with one of our properties. DTI was too high. Our creative solution was we borrowed $100k from a friends HELOC to sit in one of our HELOCS for 2 months to bring down our DTI. We paid $1000 bucks to borrow but we got what we needed which was another HELOC to access cash for an investment. We did have the safety net of if we couldn't get the loan we could easily return the $100k since it was sitting in a HELOC and not in an amortized debt, so there was really no risk for not getting the money back. Not sure if this can apply to your situation but figure I share how we had to think outside the box to get what we wanted. Good luck!

Yes, keep it!  Doesn't cost you anything to keep open. Actually it'll hurt your credit utilization if you closed it. 

Go into your local bank or Credit union you have an account with and ask about getting a secured card with them. Also creditcards.com or Nerd Wallet is great resources to look into for secured cards.