Negotiating with Credit Card Companies

Hey, do you like to haggle? Successful negotiating has been described as the art of letting someone else have your way.

It's one area of life where a little knowledge goes a long way. Sometimes you can have it your way simply by asking, like with credit cards. Today, Kingdom Advisors President Rob West has a few tips for you, and we take your calls and questions on any financial topic at 800-525-7000.

Jot it down, 800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore, negotiating with credit card companies, right here on MoneyWise Live. Okay, Rob, we opened with a question, do you like to haggle, which is just another word for negotiate, but we often hear that Americans typically, for whatever reason, don't like to do this, right?

That's true, yeah. It's not a part of our culture like it is in many other countries. We tend to accept what's offered without asking for a better deal. Now, when it comes to credit cards, it would be a good idea to get over that reluctance. The Federal Reserve says that Americans owe more than, ready for this, one trillion in credit card debt with an average household balance of over $8,000. Obviously, the best solution is to pay down credit card debt or off completely, but while you're doing that, there are ways to make it easier. Okay, so the $8,000 in average household, I mean, that's the balance, so the bartering or negotiating, could we just say, how about I send you a hundred bucks? Would that work for?

Probably not, no, but if you were to do that and they were to accept it, that would be what's called a settlement, and while folks sometimes find themselves in a financial predicament where they have to negotiate a settlement, we always want to avoid that and pay our debts in full. Let me just remind us all of Proverbs 37 21. It reads, the wicked borrows, but does not pay back. Couldn't be more plain than that, Steve.

I think you're right. All right, so just what should we be able to negotiate as Christians with credit card companies? Well, first, we should point out that there's really not a lot of negotiating required.

For the most part, we're really talking about just asking for something and waiting for a yes or a no. It's a pretty simple process, and we'll look at interest rates and fees. The plastic in your wallet is a great convenience at times, but it's not cheap, even if you pay your balance in full every month. The typical credit card may come with as many as four different fees, and the biggest moneymaker for the issuers is the late fee, which could run as high as $35 every time you're late making a payment. The vast majority of people simply pay it, not realizing there may be a better way to handle it.

And that would be? Well, simply making a phone call to your credit card issuer. The number is right on the back of the card, and we have some pretty good data on this.

Listen to this. Creditcards.com asks 1,600 cardholders about their experience when calling the issuer and simply asking for a better deal. They focused on three areas. One was reversing that late fee we were just talking about, then waiving or reducing an annual fee, and a really important request, lowering the interest rate.

Wow. And what did we learn from this survey? A lot, but the most surprising thing was that 85% of cardholders who made at least one request got what they asked for.

We also learned that an awful lot of people don't know this because only three out of five cardholders have actually made such a request, obviously not realizing how successful it can be. OK. Do we have success rates for each of those other requests? Late fees, annual fees, and lower interest rates?

Yes. And in each case, the results were largely positive, Steve. Those asking to have a late fee waived were successful about 85% of the time. More than half were able to get their interest rate lowered, again, just by asking. But maybe more surprising, almost three-fourths of those asking to have their annual fee waived were successful.

It's true that only about 30% of credit cards have an annual fee, but for those that do, they're pretty high, averaging well over $100. Wow. And you may be able to have that eliminated with a simple phone call, huh? Well, according to the survey, not many are able to do that.

It showed that only 18% of those polled have ever asked to have their annual fee reduced or eliminated. Even more disturbing, Steve, they were much more likely to ask for a credit limit increase. So you've got to initiate that contact to make this work for you. Great.

Okay. The numbers clearly show that your chances of success are more than 50-50, which seems like a lot more. Why are credit card companies so willing to give in, do you think? Well, we can talk about this more after the break, but just short, quick answer, two words, balance transfer. They know that cardholders can take their business elsewhere by transferring their balance to another issuer's card.

All right, we'll come back and chat some more. 800-525-7000, anything financial concerning you? 800-525-7000. Many people are experiencing financial challenges such as credit card debt, downsizing, dead-end jobs and depleted savings. In fact, more than half of all divorces are the result of financial pressures at home. But there's hope in Your Money Counts. Biblical financial expert Howard Dayton shows that the Bible is a veritable blueprint for managing your finances, and you'll discover the profound impact it has on your relationship with God.

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Good to have you with us today. We've been talking about negotiating with credit card companies, which is something you really ought to consider doing. Many people don't.

Most people don't. But what we found, Rob, is that companies are amenable to this. Most of the time, well over 50% of the time, they say, yes, we'll drop that fee or reduce this over here. The question is, again, why are credit card companies so willing to do something like this?

Yeah, and it's just simply, Steve, a couple of things. Number one is they want to save your business. And so they realize you're getting all kinds of offers in the mail every month encouraging you at 0% interest for 18 months to come on over to their side and to move your business elsewhere.

They want to hang on to it. Keep in mind, there are multiple ways they're making money, not to mention the interest on your balance that's accruing. But as we've said, other fees, they're getting the merchant rebate every time you charge. So even if they waive one or two or even three of these fees, there are other ways that they're still bringing in the bucks. So if they can be lenient, show you some favor, keep your business, then they're willing to do that in most cases. So make sure you ask and let's focus on paying off those credit cards. That's the best option.

Yeah. So again, we're discussing late fees, annual fees, perhaps lowering your interest rate. We're not suggesting that you don't pay your bills. We're not suggesting that you say one thing and then try to wiggle out of it. We are suggesting that maybe you barter a little bit or negotiate a little bit. If they appreciate your business and want your business, oftentimes they're willing to make some adjustments on their end.

So again, all you have to do is ask and be polite about it and see what God allows you to do. All right, now here's something else you might want to try. It's giving us a phone call, 800-525-7000. If you have a question today about anything financial, we'd love to chat. It's a call-in program. If you don't make the call, we can't have much of a program. So call right now. We have open lines at 800-525-7000. All right, I'm going to click my computer mouse and I see that Ellen in Youngstown, Ohio is up first today.

Ellen, how can we help you? Hi, I wanted to ask some different financial advisor subscription services like Motley Fool or Stansberry Research and then those lead to more and more in different categories and which ones can you tell? Is there a way to tell which ones are worthwhile or is it worth it? Yeah, Ellen, I appreciate this question and there are so many options out there.

Many are free through the never-ending research you can do on the web. There are others that are paid subscriptions that you can take advantage of. I think the first thing you need to do is kind of back up and really think about what is it I'm trying to do and anytime we're investing it should be for the long term or time horizon. I would like for it to be at least 10 years because then we're not trying to time the bottom or the top. We're not trying to jump in and jump out of the market. We're not even necessarily trying to pick individual companies winners and losers for most investors. We're trying to capture the broad moves of the market and we're trying to do it in a way that's systematic vis-a-vis typically a retirement plan contribution. Company sponsored, salary deferral plan where I'm buying in systematically every month. I'm dollar cost averaging meaning when the market's down I'm buying more shares with the same money. When the market's up I'm buying less shares but I'm capturing those broad moves and so that's why we often to follow Ecclesiastes and get proper diversification we use baskets of investments like mutual funds or ETFs. Now there are a couple of ways to go about that particularly if you don't have enough in the way of investable assets to hire a professional money manager who's going to take what's called discretion over the account meaning he or she will make the buying and selling decisions on your behalf.

If you don't have in excess of typically around a hundred thousand in some cases two hundred fifty thousand or more then you have fewer options and that's where these services can come in. Now there are many more than there have ever been including the robo advisors like the Schwab intelligent portfolios and betterment if you want to use ETFs. These are index funds that through a question and answer process are going to build a low cost very highly diversified investment strategy for you based on your age and risk tolerance but you're not going to be buying individual companies they're going to be moving you into broad sectors of the market large cap domestic and international and small cap and across the various sectors and with some bonds thrown in and so as the market moves higher over the long term you will win and so that's a great way to go. We often talk about sound mind investing they do a similar thing with mutual funds again where you're very properly diversified capturing the movement of wonderful mutual funds run by some very successful and talented money managers.

Where I would be hesitant though Ellen for the novice kind of typical investor is subscribing to a service where they're making recommendations on individual companies buy this stock sell that stock because it requires a lot of hands on work and if you don't have enough you may not be too you may not be diversified enough you may be too highly concentrated in one particular stock so I would shy away from that for the typical investor I've thrown a lot at you tell me what questions you have and whether that makes sense. Oh that's been great yeah perfect thank you very much. Excellent thanks for your call God bless you. Thanks so much Ellen again 800-525-7000 St. Petersburg Florida Linda I understand you have some questions about well some investing questions including one about gold huh?

Yes I do. All right go right ahead. Now I'm wondering if gold would be a good thing to invest in at this time I'm 65 and yeah based on the market right now is gold a good thing to invest in at this time? You know Linda we're hearing a lot about gold and we do in these periods like we're in right now where there's a lot of unrest you know it could be any number of circumstances this one happens to be a global pandemic and so we understand why kind of the gold conversation is coming up particularly because the underlying price of gold has been up given just some of the uncertainties in the economy and in the markets. What I would say is that just historically speaking as we look at the long term results of gold it typically over the long haul does not perform as well as a properly diversified stock and bond mutual fund or not mutual fund but portfolio and it tends to be more volatile meaning the precious metals tend to go up and down in a much more volatile fashion and so because of that we say yeah there's a place for gold in your portfolio I think for the average investor it's not in taking physical possession it's buying either a tracking ETF that tracks them the price of gold or maybe a gold mutual fund not a mining company but a fund that really follows the price of gold and do that in an allocation of probably no more than five percent of your portfolio for the typical investor. What I wouldn't do is try to jump in and out of the gold market in a period like this where we see it going up quickly and we're trying to jump in and capture some of that move to the upside because it can come down as quickly as it goes up. So I don't think this is a time to overweight gold I'd take that typical allocation I'd systematically move into it I'd cap it at around five percent certainly no more than ten and I would do it in a way that doesn't require you to take physical possession which involves premiums storage security all the other things that go along with it. When would be a better time to invest then if I were to do that?

Well I think if as long as you do it systematically I wouldn't try to time it because nobody knows me if somebody tells you they know where the price of gold is going to be three months or six months I would just have to say I would beg to differ because it's anybody's guess right so let's say you decided you're going to allocate I'm going to take a hundred thousand dollar portfolio and we're going to take and say okay we're going to put five thousand dollars of five percent in gold I might move that into gold a thousand dollars a month over the next five months and systematically move into an ETF like GLD or something like that that just tracks the move of gold so you're buying in over time you're taking a reasonable allocation and then you're letting that be a part of your portfolio which is a hedge against inflation and a falling US dollar. And with that Linda we're going to let you go but I hope that information helps you thanks very very much you're listening to MoneyWise Live now if you have any investing questions for Rob this would be a great time to call if you have questions about well I don't know saving giving generosity putting your child through college debt-free that one may be a little tough but we certainly are willing to discuss it we get that call a lot 800-525-7000 he's Rob West I'm Steve Moore this is MoneyWise Live. Many people adopt an attitude toward marriage and finances that it'll all work out somehow but sadly it often doesn't financial woes can devastate a marriage but there is a better way God's Way Money in Marriage God's Way by Howard Dayton will help you discover God's approach to growing your finances strengthening your relationship with your mate and cultivating godly joy. Money in Marriage God's Way is available when you click the store button at MoneyWiseLive.org. Hebrews 4-12 says for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword here's Beth Moore with a quick word.

Romans 9 18 9 18 I want to remind you of the portion of Romans 9 that talks about God hardening whom he desires to harden it says therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden our immediate thought is that anyone who has a hard heart is what theologians would call reprobate in other words they're not saved and they're not going to be saved but I want to show you something in the same context of Romans 9-11 I want to show you Romans 11 25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery brothers so that you may not be conceited Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in and so all Israel will be saved as it is written the part I want you to see is that they were hardened they have received a hardening in part so that the fullness of the Gentiles could come in that's you and me it made room for us so that that lights on hold so that God could pick up the line to the Gentiles but all that to say their hardening was not irreversible because I'm simply saying that God could harden without it being an irreversible hardening of the heart I have to see it in the whole counsel of the word you've been listening to Beth Moore with a quick word for today the study of Galatians is now available as an online experience sign up today at Beth Moore.org or join Beth in January 2021 for the release of the printed workbook edition and thanks for listening to a quick word with Beth Moore. Many people adopt an attitude toward marriage and finances that it'll all work out somehow but sadly it often doesn't financial woes can devastate a marriage but there is a better way God's way money and marriage God's way by Howard Dayton will help you discover God's approach to growing your finances strengthening your relationship with your mate and cultivating Godly joy money and marriage God's way is available when you click the store button at MoneyWiseLive.org Great to have you with us today on MoneyWiseLive this is a place where collecting money is not really a goal unto itself but rather we see money as a tool to meet the goals that God's already planned for us in advance let's continue on Chicago Illinois and Johari thank you so much for holding what's on your mind? Thank you sir I just wanted I just had a brief comment of I'm 86 and a half years old and I learned just a few years ago now because I was on one of my long Bible readings through the Bible and I came across this verse and now I don't remember where it is but it said the borrower is slave to the lender and I said oh Lord my God and I put my Bible down and within five minutes I had run my credit card through the shredder and since then I have only used my debit card and if there's nothing in the debit card that will sustain what I want to buy then I forget about it until I get my social security check next month. Johari I love what you're talking about here two things stood out to me number one you're 86 and you're still counting in half years I love that you're 86 and a half right now and keep that up secondly you're coming right to God's Word you know Proverbs 22 7 is the verse you're you're talking about there the rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender and you know you what we will hear especially in our culture so often is that debt is a tool it's a tool to be used to our advantage and we just have to recognize that God's Word really doesn't have anything good to say about debt in fact there are a bunch of clear warnings about changing the relationship and how it really can be to our detriment does that mean borrowing is a sin no I don't think so but we need to heed the Council of Scripture and be on our guard and one way to do that is exactly the way you have approached it Johari and that is to say if I don't have it I'm not going to spend it and that has obviously served you very very well so listen Lord bless you thank you for calling today and we appreciate you listening to the program yes thanks very much all right all right okay Johari God bless thank you so very much and if you're 86 or older and you want to call in we'll make room for you today 86 you think I love that 86 route I think you like it I've got a Lord willing I've got a pain in my elbow I don't know if I'm gonna make it to 66 all right or I may have already made it there Austin Texas hello Thomas how can we help how you doing sir super thank you very much so my name is Thomas so my wife and I inherited a house in San Antonio after my mother-in-law passed and my wife hate being a landlord I personally like it because I see it as a good investment but she wants to sell the house I was wondering if you might know what the market in San Antonio may be doing as far as to make me help me make my decision to sell it yeah well yeah sure well I think there's a couple of factors here I think number one would just be your overall financial picture and is this the time for you to take on an investment property ie a rental I'm assuming that's what you'd be doing here Thomas you'd take this out and house and try to rent it out turn it into an income stream is that right yes sir I actually have rent renters in there now the thing is is they want to buy the house and want to buy it out like cash you know we've got they've got an appraiser coming by to look at it and they want to buy it outright cash so my wife's kind of looking at it like you know yeah I want to get out from under it but I'm looking at it like it's a long-term investment you know we can we can reinvest that rent money build the house up and then eventually sell it you know yeah yeah and I think that's really the key here I mean trying to time the market you certainly that's one piece of this and there's no question that you know that the market you're talking about there in San Antonio has been very hot it would be considered a seller's market meaning there are more buyers than than there are active homes for sale you know Austin Texas has been another just screaming hot real estate market as well and there's certain pockets of the country that have been like that so it's a great time to be a seller I think the key is how does this fit into your overall strategy you have some experience being a landlord albeit maybe just a little and so I think you need to understand what you're getting into but if there's a better way for you to use this asset meaning either you don't have the time to be a landlord to oversee it to make sure it stays rented the upkeep the maintenance marketing it when somebody moves on and or you have other goals that the Lord has given you you want to become debt-free and so you want to take this blessing of an inheritance and use it to pay off your primary residence or you want to take it and put it into a more passive investment maybe you want to do some giving I think you need to go back to that conversation you and your wife perhaps spend a weekend where you maybe get away or maybe you stay home and just make that a couple of concentrated times of focus where you spend some time in prayer saying the Lord what do you have for us and how can we take this asset and use it for your glory and you may decide together that keeping this property and letting it continue to appreciate and using it as a an income tool and ultimately an investment down the road when it's sold is the very best thing or you may say no we have other goals and objectives the Lord has given us and by selling it we could reposition this asset in a way that really reflects our value so that's where I'd start pray through it see if the two of you can come together around this decision in a way that reflects where God is taking you and if you have questions once you talk and pray through that for a period of time give us a call back Thomas we appreciate that phone call today thank you very much Esther Cindy Ann and Margaret we are heading your way so please don't hang up on us you're listening to MoneyWise Live with Rob West I'm Steve Moore and we'll be back with more right after this.

How should we as Christians think about investing what if we could invest our money in a way that aligns with what we believe at Eventide we believe it is possible to love God and love our neighbor in the very practice of investing we design investments for performance and a better world so you can invest for the future with a sense of wholeness and purpose we call this investing that makes the world rejoice more information is available at investeventide.com Christian healthcare ministries enables believers to meet their healthcare costs affordably biblically and compassionately it's not insurance but a voluntary cost-sharing ministry based on the biblical example of Christians sharing each other's needs and members aren't fined under the law for not having health insurance Christian healthcare ministries might be your health cost solution call 800-791-6225 or visit chministries.org Hi my name is Martha a communications major at the Moody Bible Institute the Moody Radio Verse of the week is found in Ezekiel 36 26-27 I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules that's Ezekiel 36 26-27 the Moody Radio Verse of the week Things are always happening at Moody Radio God is at work and listeners all around the world. Our monthly online newsletter uplift has changed in order to bring you more listener stories more program updates and more listening resources be among the first to know about Moody Radio's ongoing outreach check out the all-new free e-newsletter uplift subscribe right now go to my moody radio dot o-r-g my moody radio dot org Money and life run on the same track but unfortunately sometimes it seems like your money is heading in a different direction from your goals in never enough three keys to financial contentment author Ron Blue helps you to break down all your financial options to a basic four and then shows you how to keep it all chugging along in the right direction on the same track never enough three keys to financial contentment available when you click the store button at money wise live dot org With that sort of news I'm Bob Agnew in Washington the Trump administration has announced it's going to be sending new aid to Puerto Rico to help the island rebuild its electrical grid and repair schools from the devastation Hurricane Maria three years ago Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vasquez thanking the president and the government for the grant among the largest ever awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she's hopeful both parties will reach an agreement on the next round of coronavirus relief but suggested Democrats will not accept anything less than her last offer of two point two trillion dollars when it comes to a deal Republicans say a lot of that is wasteful spending it has very little to do with the coronavirus new poll from the Associated Press Newark Center for Public Affairs research shows a majority of Americans now plan to vote before election day this year a slow day for the markets today the Dow was down two hundred and forty four points this is SRN news Okay so Paul tells us and if I give all my possessions all my possessions to feed the poor and if I deliver my body to be burned but do not have love it profits me nothing first Corinthians 13 three Chicago Esther what's on your mind today Hi there hi I wanted to thank you and just tell you that I appreciate you very much and try to listen as much as I can Thank you that's very nice So about ten years ago my husband and I we found ourselves in a very hard situation and we filed unfortunately we filed bankruptcy and refinanced our house with NACA not sure if you're familiar with them no it's so at that time we actually had a home equity line of credit when we refinance with NACA they structure our loan so that we would have a first and second mortgage to be able to keep our home now ten years later we just found out that the home equity line of credit was not taken care of or included so looks like we have a first the second and a key lock that has accrued a large amount of per diem that they have been charging and just not quite sure what to do at this point if we should try to negotiate sell the house I'm getting attorney not sure yeah so if I understand here you have recently refinanced is that right no this was done ten years ago ten years ago okay and so when it was done to keep you in the property they did two new mortgages a first and a second you were under the impression at that time that the healock was rolled into that but it wasn't it was left out there and so now you have three mortgages is that an accurate that is okay and have you been paying the interest on the healock no because we had no idea that it was not included wow and so I'm surprised they haven't been coming after you asking for you to pay something it's just been accruing and so the balance has been building but you've not been hearing from them yes and the reason they did not come after us all these years was because we had filed bankruptcy and now they're telling me that they you know because of the bankruptcy they could not contact us interesting okay well I'm so sorry that must have just been really difficult to hear that that was still out there what is the total of the three mortgages Esther so the first is 240 the second one is 70 and now the healock the home equity is at 55,000 all right so you owe 365,000 what do you think the home is worth looking at the neighborhood we're between 315 and 320 yeah okay so you're upside down in the house do you have the ability if you were to sell it do you have any assets you could use to try to get out from under this very little unfortunately yeah okay well I realize it's a difficult situation I think the key right now is obviously to stay current on this and see if you can work out some sort of loan modification where you can get payments going at the Lee at the very minimum to the home equity line of credit perhaps even get the bankruptcy attorney to weigh in on this who handled the bankruptcy in the first place just to see if you have any recourse given that this has been accruing you didn't know about it obviously the balance has been building now you're upside down and I would imagine you know even if they allowed you to start making payments you wouldn't have enough cash flow on a monthly basis to keep all three paid even at a minimum is that right we're we're finally catching up the only problem is that we had some health scare well not health scare but I'm very thankful and we are blessed that my husband is finally cancer free oh yeah okay all right let's do this I know this is a difficult situation I really want you to contact our friends at Christian credit counselors org and let's just get a proper accounting of everything that's out there they'll help you develop a statement of assets and liabilities look at each of the debts the three mortgages the medical bills your budget and then walk with you and I'll reach out to them directly and tell them that they're going to be hearing from you I'd be happy to weigh in as well and just see if we can help you develop a plan forward you may need to go back to the bankruptcy attorney and get some counsel there but I think the key is once we know exactly what's out there what income you have coming in what your budget looks like how you can free up some margin on a monthly basis and what debts are actually out there then you have something to talk to the creditors about your desire is obviously to be found faithful in paying each of these debts you're just constrained by the balances that you owe which are out there for the reasons that they are and the income that you have and let's see if they'll work with you during this environment good news is that this is a year where lenders because of what's going on in our economy because of the pandemic they're willing to work with people they may need to put some on the back end they may need to modify the balance and forgive part of it especially since it's been accruing without your knowledge I think the key is to get you into a payment plan and a flow that works with your budget so you can actually be making some progress as opposed to these balances just continuing to build over time so reach out to christiancreditcounselors.org I'll tell them your calling I'll get in involved in it as well and see if I can help and before we let you go today let me pray for you is that all right please do okay father we just lift Esther and her husband up to you Lord you know her heart's desire and that is to be found faithful with what you've entrusted to them Lord they've walked through a difficult season and so we just come before you and lay everything at the foot of your throne and just ask you to intervene in a miraculous way in a way that only you can Lord that you would bring wisdom to this situation or that you would bring provision we tell you today we recognize you are their provider nobody else not her employer or his not the government you are their provider and sustainer and so we just ask that miraculously you would work out a way for them to actually make some progress here and to move toward what you have for them in the days ahead made these financial circumstances not in any way hinder them from what you're trying to do in their lives may they see Lord your activity in your work we tell you today we trust you are most thankful for your son Jesus and his death and resurrection so that we might have life we ask all this in Jesus name amen amen God bless you Esther and we will hold hands with you and walk through you with this and see see what we can do and what God will do and we're glad that you called today thank you very very much and let me just say Esther if you'll hold on the line our team will get your information so we can pass it along to Christian credit counselors and make sure we follow this through okay good Rob just before the break here how about an email this one comes to us from Nancy she says I'm 51 years old divorced with two children I'm planning to retire in about 15 years should I purchase a home soon I would be a first time home buyer oh wow well you know Nancy you certainly could here's what I would try to do I would try to sync that mortgage with your retirement date so if you do want to buy a home make sure you count the cost make sure you're not getting into a home that's more than 25 percent in terms of the payment more than 25 percent of your take-home pay including principal interest taxes and insurance and let's see if you can do that with a 15 year mortgage not a 30 year mortgage at the most a 20 year where you'd pay a little extra maybe one extra payment a year and that way you're not going to go into retirement with this burden of a mortgage payment all right thank you Nancy we appreciate that email if you have an email for Rob keep it brief questions at MoneyWise.org questions at MoneyWise.org Do you know if you have enough? Enough money? Enough house?

Do you know how much is enough? If not Ron Blue can help with his book Master Your Money a step-by-step plan for experiencing financial contentment. Learn how to save invest and give wisely how to create a long-term financial plan and how to get out of debt you'll find it all in Master Your Money by Ron Blue available when you click the store button at MoneyWiseLive.org Hi I'm Barry McGuire I'm here to help you understand how urgent and how fun it is to share your faith at every opportunity through the eyes of a layman.

One of the most common excuse for sharing your faith is I'm not qualified but the great commission doesn't say go into the world all you who are qualified or gifted or trained there are no qualifiers no wiggle room for those trying to wiggle out we're all called and we're all going to be held responsible for how we lived our lives according to that call. A hundred years from now the only thing that will matter is how many people are in heaven because of your influence and the rewards in heaven accordingly you're literally building a treasures in heaven with every person you move closer than Jesus and when that becomes your life's passion great will be your reward and if you haven't been doing that you're running out of time and we're here to help you there is nothing more exciting than knowing God is using you to move people closer to him join us at igniteamerica.com Do you remember that old ad from the 1970s for Clayton's it's the drink you have when you're not having a drink hi I'm Bernie Dymott Clayton's has become part of our language a Clayton's drink looks as though it's alcoholic but really it isn't a Clayton's anything is something that looks real but isn't question is it possible to have a Clayton's person you know a person who's not really a person a baby in its mother's womb is that a Clayton's person or maybe the street people we walk around on the footpath they're almost always smelly are they Clayton's people or maybe those workers in the factories across Asia who make the toys our kids play with and the clothes we wear all for a few cents an hour are they Clayton's people Jesus said I've come to bring good news to the poor and to set the captives free I wonder when he looks around whether he sees any Clayton's people on this earth I wonder the financial wealth you leave behind could be the best thing that ever happened to your loved ones or the worst in splitting heirs giving your money and things to your children without ruining their lives Ron blue explains why it's important to make these decisions now instead of forcing your heirs to do it later splitting heirs will foster a real appreciation for the precious resources that God has entrusted to you and it's available when you click the store button at money wise live.org Hey thanks for staying with us today it's money wise live let's continue on by going to Akron Ohio the home of the soap box Derby and Anne thanks for your patience what's your question? Hello hi yeah I love your program I've learned a lot from it and I wanted to let you know and what I want to know is we made some home improvements and I'm ready to retire before too long and I was wondering is it wise to take a plop or a partial lump sum payment out of your pension to pay off debts to be debt-free? You know Anne as much as I love being debt-free I really don't like using money from retirement accounts to do that now let me ask though are you already in retirement or is that something that's coming down the road?

It's coming down the road before too long. Okay and so as you enter retirement you're wanting to be completely debt-free so tell me about what you would be taking out in the way of a lump sum and what types of debts would you be paying? Okay we have a home equity loan and you know home improvements for $20,000 and I was going to maybe just we really need another car I was going to get a car and so I won't have even have a car payment okay that's what I was thinking. And so let's say you spent how much $15,000, $20,000 on the car? $15,000, $15,000 to $20,000. All right so let's say $35,000 to $40,000 and what do you have available in this pension plan? Without taking the plop I would get about $2,800 a month if I took out a plop it would bring it down to about $2,200 a month. Okay and so the obviously the lump sum distribution that you're talking about that would bring it down to $2,200 a month is factoring in how much of a withdrawal $40,000? About $49,000. $49,000 okay have you done your retirement budget and to see what you would need to sustain your lifestyle once you get to that point? Yeah my husband also you know he has social security so probably I'd say maybe I probably have $5,000 to $600 a month left over after you know all of our bills. Okay and that's at $2,200 a month?

Uh-huh. Okay all right I think given that you'd have that much I'm a little hesitant to give up that additional $600 a month you know that's $7,200 a year that you would be giving up. Let's say you all live 20 years I mean that's $150,000 that you know that you're giving up at that point all in and if you have that kind of margin on a monthly basis I'd love for you perhaps to try to preserve that higher income stream that you can keep your expenses at a minimum and just try to accelerate the payoff of the home equity loan or perhaps you know saving to buy the car with cash out of your current you know lifestyle between now and retirement maybe for the few years into retirement just so you can keep that higher payout coming for the rest of your life. Now if you just have a conviction that you want to be debt-free starting with the home equity loan and it's worth it to you to give up that $600 a month I wouldn't argue with that but I would just you know take a step back and think about the extra that you have right now and how quickly you could do that on your own without giving up this extra $600 a month I think that's really the question here at the end of the day. Do you follow that?

Yes I do. Yes it makes sense. I just knew that it was a good thing to be debt-free in retirement have your car paid for and everything and then you'd have the extra but yeah that makes sense too. Okay well keep in mind I mean that's a payout for the rest of your life through that pension and you know that would easily be able to cover a modest car payment and the home equity loan and given that you all are living well within your means and you're still continuing to work for some period of time you should be able to really go after that home equity loan and save for the car which just further reduces what you perhaps need to borrow for the car if you do borrow anything and just the length of time before that home equity loan is paid off. So hopefully that's helpful to you pray through it I could go I could get on board with either strategy I just want you to consider it fully. And God bless you thanks so much and in case listeners are wondering Rob, PLOP stands for partial lump option payment we don't often hear about it but there you go if you're a plopper you know who you are. Cleveland Ohio hello Margaret you're on with Rob West. Hello thank you much for taking my call I'm just looking to make a decision I leased a car three years ago probably not the best decision I ever made but anyhow it's coming the lease is coming to a close rather than get another car I want to buy this car I'm wondering if that's a good idea and also how to manage purchasing it I'm living pretty much on social security I do have my condo is debt free I do have about 180,000 in investments but I'm I'm trying to live close because I want to be able to take care of myself and not have my children have to be financially responsible for me if I stay here for a little bit longer in this world and I'm thinking of perhaps getting an equity line of credit to purchase the car I could take the money out of the bank which scares me I'm not good at taking money out and I'd like to look at things from not only a financial but also a spiritual perspective so looking for advice thank you my all right yeah very good have you looked into what the value of the car is the blue book value versus the payoff that they would be asking for for you to own this outright no I haven't I should do that okay yeah that's really the starting point we want to determine kind of where they add in terms of what your buyout would be versus what this car is actually worth I mean the upside of this is obviously you know you know the condition of the car you've been driving it yourself and so you have that history and and that's a good thing you also potentially if you have excess mileage penalties or fees for excess wear and tear that's going to be cost that you would avoid if if you're not buying it out early you're not worrying about termination fees or anything like that but because you have a history with this car that can be okay I think the question is is it the right price meaning versus what it's worth and is this the right car for you meaning is it too much cars so you should just kind of turn it in walk away and buy something that you know is a little less expensive or perhaps more reliable depending on what the make and model of this is so I would use that as your primary determination and really the starting point there is to figure out what is it that they're looking for you to pay to buy it out right and what is the Blue Book value which you could look at kbb.com edmunds.com any number of those sites would give you the the vehicle value Steve anything we're not considering here no if you don't let me ask you Margaret what kind of a car is it what what year what model it's a 19 or excuse me 2018 Buick Encore okay well that that's been a pretty good car and if you're happy with it if it's not too big a car for you more than likely after you after you do the things Rob mentioned checking the the current price and value if you like the car nothing wrong with the car go ahead and you know and drive it and feel comfortable and safe doing so if if all the other numbers work out okay yeah thank you I feel I feel good about the car I've just I'm just concerned about finances you know I don't know if what I have is in keeping with my age or if it's you know I have to take the money out every month to make the car payment I have to take it out of the bank so I don't want to get into a new car this is probably a foolish move that I took three years ago well and so that tells me Margaret that perhaps it's you know you may be better off taking finding a car that's a little less expensive and maybe even a year or two older something maybe a little bit smaller because I you know I'd like for you to be able to borrow as little as possible when you get into this so don't automatically just default to this car just because it's been the one you've had you like it you're familiar with it I'd go back to the budget see what makes sense see what you can actually afford and then make the decision from there that's key Margaret thank you very much gonna try to squeeze in Cindy Cindy I know you've been out there holding thank you very much what's your question for Rob today okay thank you for taking my call listen to you guys daily thank you yes my question is I do have ten thousand and credit card debt I owe fifty thousand on my home in Breezy Point I also will have this paid off in three years and I have a car loan for ten so that's only twenty thousand there and fifty my mortgage and I plan on working for another four or five years I'm just paying minimum payments and trying to get the debt down and then still I do bi-weekly payments fifteen-year mortgage so it should be paid off soon so I'm just wondering if I'm on the right track by doing what I'm doing yeah I think the key is just to really keep your lifestyle as low as possible meaning look for any available ways to cut your expenses one great way to do that Cindy is to connect with one of our budget coaches our MoneyWise coaches at MoneyWiseLive.org just click the button says connect with a coach there's no cost they can help you take another look at your spending plan to make sure there's not other ways perhaps you can be saving so you can free up more margin to really go after that debt the other thing I would look at with the credit cards is credit counseling ChristianCreditCounselors.org can help you come up with one fixed monthly payment and lower those interest rates to get that paid off even quicker I wouldn't look at taking out a new loan to pay for any of this I would just keep your lifestyle at a minimum connect with Christian Credit Counselors and then try to attack this debt just as quickly as you can that plan you have a phone number for me I can call yeah if you stay on the line our team will give that number to you and we appreciate your call today we do indeed God bless you Cindy and we hope it stays breezy up there in breezy point and with that we're going to have to put a bow on it for this day and for this week for those of you who are wondering about a mortgage because rates are pretty good right now we'd like to recommend Dale Vermillion's book Navigating the Mortgage Maze in fact Dale joins us on the program later next week you'll find all sorts of great information chapters on applying for a mortgage various types of mortgage financing tax concerns eliminating debt top 10 mortgage traps to avoid and much more again it's titled Navigating the Mortgage Maze you'll find it on our website which is MoneyWiseLive.org that's also where you can make a generous donation should you care to just click the donate tab at the top of the page MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media have a great weekend do something nice for someone and join us again on Monday.