Debt payoff tracking app for variable rate loan?
I've seen some people recommend undebt.it for managing debt payoff, but it looks like it cannot accommodate a variable interest rate loan. It seems it can only do an initial promo rate followed by a one-time rate change, as with an introductory credit card scenario.
I need something that can handle an ongoing variable rate like I have with my HELOC. Does anyone know of a debt payoff app or site that includes this option? Undebt.it looks great otherwise, but I want something that can address my whole picture accurately. Thanks!
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Is it a floating rate or does it change on regular intervals? If it floats, then you really won't be able to do anything about it. If it changes on regular intervals, you're just going to have to update your plan everytime the rate changes. Either way, a program like that can't make an accurate prediction with unknown future interest rates.
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nolesrule That's what I suspected. It's a variable rate that floats, refigured at the end of every billing cycle. So, there are parameters for how much it can vary, but not anything I can easily plug in to most calculators. Thanks for your help.
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Slate Blue Storm So if you're actively trying to get the debt cleared, it won't do you any harm to set something like undebt.it up with the maximum the interest rate could be. When the rate is lower, you'll be paying more of the capital down, reducing the debt quicker if you stick to the amounts undebt.it recommends based on the maximum the interest rate could be.
When you get to the final payment, it's likely that undebt.it will tell you it's a higher payment than you actually owe due to the average interest rate you were actually charged being lower than the maximum rate that you put into the app, but that's a good thing, and you can just amend the balance in undebt.it every so often to bring it back into line with the actual balance.
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Richard Holland Richard Holland Thank you. That's a good suggestion. I think I'll give it a try!
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Richard Holland Even with a static rate I occasionally update the current balance since the calculations aren't perfect since they don't know exactly how and when the bank applies the payments.
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I've got it set up and I'm going to try just updating the rate each month when I get the statement. When I looked at my HELOC details, the max rate is far above the current rate and the historical rates for the last decade. I'm worried putting in such a huge rate will throw off the figures too much to be useful. Perhaps I'll update my findings here as I go, in case someone else ends up with this question.
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Slate Blue Storm Put in a starting rate that is slightly above the historical averages then. You can always tweak the rate if it ever goes above what you've entered into undebt.it.
However, by keeping the undebt.it rate slightly higher than you're actually paying, it'll help you throw some extra money to paying down the debt that little bit quicker.
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