Just realized my 'debt snowball' was actually a debt avalanche by accident

I thought I was doing the snowball method paying off my smallest credit card first ($500 balance), but turns out that card had the highest interest rate at 22%. My friend pointed out I was actually doing the avalanche method, which is supposedly better, but I didn't even know what I was doing. Has anyone else stumbled into the right strategy without meaning to?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordanm198d ago

My buddy Mike had the same thing happen to him. He swore he was doing the snowball method with his credit cards, paying off his smallest one first. That one was from a store card with an APR of like 24%, way higher than any of his others. He only figured it out like a year later when he was bragging about it at a barbecue and his brother-in-law, who's a finance guy, was like "dude you basically just did the avalanche method on accident." He was so proud of himself for being accidentally smart about it.

tessa_hill868d ago

Wait, isn't it funny how sometimes the best financial moves happen by accident? @jordanm19 that story about Mike is great because most of us are probably making mistakes and don't even realize it. I did something similar but backwards - I tried to do the avalanche method with my student loans, focusing on the highest rate one first. But it was also my biggest balance, so I got so discouraged after a few months of barely making a dent that I almost gave up on paying them off entirely. Ended up switching to the smallest balance just to feel like I was winning at something.