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Paying off the Enclave with our tax return....woo hoo!!!!!!

8K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  john 070 
#1 ·
:blob: We decided to take our tax return of around $3000 and pay off the loan on the Enclave. We only had about 6 more months of payments left, but why not just get it done with? Will most likely do this tomorrow. It's something you think about, should we keep the money in the bank.. :-\..but the interest on the loan is more than what we would get from the bank leaving it there, so guess we will kiss it goodbye and have a very nice 2009 Enclave, with about 29,400 miles free and clear. :beer: That means our only other debt is our mortgage. :) Until sometime next year when we will most likely begin another car loan for my wife's next vehicle. I know there are cash buyers on here, and this is no big news to some.....but this is the most expensive vehicle we've ever had, and to get it paid off....just feels good. This will be the 5th vehicle (6th if you count the GTO), between my wife and I, that we have paid off. I had a Sunfire GT that I only had for less than three years, and I never paid that off, traded it on the Grand Am we had. Except for the GTO, all have been brand new. My wife's Cavalier, she paid that off in 3 years. My Grand Am took us 4 years, our Silverado was paid off in a year and a half, the Bonneville we took the whole 5 years to pay off, and now the Enclave at 4 years and about 8 months. Not sure what we will do on the next one. Would like to try and get just a 4 year loan. Leasing has crossed our minds, but for some reason I like the idea of owning, vs. just making payments. Kind of like the difference between renting a house, and having a mortgage and eventually paying it off. Of course, in these times....maybe renting would be better. :shrug: But that's a whole different subject. :-X

Anyway, thought I'd share this good news for my 5000th post. :cheers: When I post this message, my title will change to GOD...but it doesn't feel any different than the "guru" stage. Here's to another 5000 posts, and who knows how many more years on the forum: :wine:
 
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#3 ·
That is an awesome accomplishment! Both, 5000 posts as well as the loan. I think you will find the E drives a little better when it's not pulling payments behind it :) ! Congratulations again!
 
#4 ·
enclavetmudd said:
That is an awesome accomplishment! Both, 5000 posts as well as the loan. I think you will find the E drives a little better when it's not pulling payments behind it :) ! Congratulations again!
GoldEnclave said:
:notworthy:
Thanks. I've enjoyed the forum, and learned a TON of things I would never had known. Mostly about the **cough** problems these vehicles can have. But also, have learned a lot about the different places people are from. I'm not talking just geographically, but where people are in life, different backgrounds, different passions, different areas of knowledge (about vehicles, and much more as well). It's so cool that we come from all areas of the country (and beyond) yet we have the ONE main thing in common, we have chosen the same type of vehicle to drive. And beyond that, most of us have the similar passions for the enjoyment of nice vehicles, and of sharing our experiences with others about that. Not to mention, the sharing of stories, good and bad, with our Enclaves and other Lambda platform vehicles. If we help even one other person with their ownership experience, then we have succeeded with the main goal of this fine forum(s).
 
#5 ·
Congrats... I hope to be in the same situation soon. Paying off my G8 next month (2yrs 8mo) and the Enclave will now get that extra money so it should be paid off by the end of the year as well :cheers:
 
#6 ·
Congrats! imho paying off a vehicle is underrated. It may feel anticlimactic (I know when we went in to pay off the credit union, the banker took the payment, closed it out, and then mentioned we should close out our share account because we would get hit with monthly fees--$10 balance that the car dealer added to the Enclave's selling price), but it's like a monkey off our backs. There is too much $0/$0/$0/$0 @ 0% going on that it's easy to rack up debts and purchase much more expensive items that we should, much harder to get rid of them, and a true accomplishment when we do! :thumb:
 
#7 ·
kids, double kudos are in order. :dancing: :notworthy:
 
#8 ·
john 070 said:
Congrats! imho paying off a vehicle is underrated. It may feel anticlimactic (I know when we went in to pay off the credit union, the banker took the payment, closed it out, and then mentioned we should close out our share account because we would get hit with monthly fees--$10 balance that the car dealer added to the Enclave's selling price), but it's like a monkey off our backs. There is too much $0/$0/$0/$0 @ 0% going on that it's easy to rack up debts and purchase much more expensive items that we should, much harder to get rid of them, and a true accomplishment when we do! :thumb:
I agree, and I understand your sentiment about paying off debt. Sometimes if.feels like.it would take an act of God to accomplish that.
 
#9 ·
GoldEnclave said:
I agree, and I understand your sentiment about paying off debt. Sometimes if.feels like.it would take an act of God to accomplish that.
I did not learn to pay down the mortgage until about 2009--the house was purchased in 2002. That's 7 years of paying just the regular amount, and it has everything to do with habit. If you view a 2.49% heloc, or a 3.87% mortgage, as pure evil, then you will take every extra penny you have to reduce the principal.

If you go along and say well 2.49% isn't that bad, and my car being 0% is not bad at all, then there's a tendency to make little progress to getting rid of the balance.....

The next key becomes to resist the temptation of buying a new car, especially if you do not need it. There is another sentiment that I've seen, where if something goes wrong, the vehicle gets replaced. Gosh darn it, the CV joint broke and it's going to cost $400. Time for new car! imho maybe the $400 repair is worth it....
 
#10 ·
Congrats! I'm about 5 months away also. I plan on waiting about 12-18 months to get my ride, the Outlook is supposed to be Wifey's car lol
 
#11 ·
Well, it's official....went to the bank and wrote the check to pay off the Enclave. Feels kind of weird, but good all at the same time.
john 070 said:
Congrats! imho paying off a vehicle is underrated. It may feel anticlimactic (I know when we went in to pay off the credit union, the banker took the payment, closed it out, and then mentioned we should close out our share account because we would get hit with monthly fees--$10 balance that the car dealer added to the Enclave's selling price), but it's like a monkey off our backs. There is too much $0/$0/$0/$0 @ 0% going on that it's easy to rack up debts and purchase much more expensive items that we should, much harder to get rid of them, and a true accomplishment when we do! :thumb:
It may be underrated, but it's still a good feeling. Again, it's all about the perception....because we never saw those payments coming out, they were auto deduct, but just knowing it's free and clear, it's psychological I know, but it gives us that warm fuzzy feeling...sorry if that's fun for us.

john 070 said:
I did not learn to pay down the mortgage until about 2009--the house was purchased in 2002. That's 7 years of paying just the regular amount, and it has everything to do with habit. If you view a 2.49% heloc, or a 3.87% mortgage, as pure evil, then you will take every extra penny you have to reduce the principal.

If you go along and say well 2.49% isn't that bad, and my car being 0% is not bad at all, then there's a tendency to make little progress to getting rid of the balance.....

The next key becomes to resist the temptation of buying a new car, especially if you do not need it. There is another sentiment that I've seen, where if something goes wrong, the vehicle gets replaced. Gosh darn it, the CV joint broke and it's going to cost $400. Time for new car! imho maybe the $400 repair is worth it....
100% agree! We are going to take the dollar amount that would have gone to our car payment, and put it on the house mortgage, as additional $$$. We still are on pace to have the house paid off in 2017. That's 17 years for a 30 year mortgage because we have been paying more than the minimum payment. Years ago, our financial adviser was kind of against us paying more on the house, thought funding our retirement fund was more important. But in today's times, I think things have changed because if we lost our job (wife's), sure would be nice to not have the house payment. Our financial adviser now agrees that we are smart in planning on getting the house paid off sooner than later.
 
#12 ·
kidsenclave said:
:blob: We decided to take our tax return of around $3000 and pay off the loan on the Enclave. We only had about 6 more months of payments left, but why not just get it done with? Will most likely do this tomorrow. It's something you think about, should we keep the money in the bank.. :-\..but the interest on the loan is more than what we would get from the bank leaving it there, so guess we will kiss it goodbye and have a very nice 2009 Enclave, with about 29,400 miles free and clear. :beer: That means our only other debt is our mortgage. :) Until sometime next year when we will most likely begin another car loan for my wife's next vehicle. I know there are cash buyers on here, and this is no big news to some.....but this is the most expensive vehicle we've ever had, and to get it paid off....just feels good. This will be the 5th vehicle (6th if you count the GTO), between my wife and I, that we have paid off. I had a Sunfire GT that I only had for less than three years, and I never paid that off, traded it on the Grand Am we had. Except for the GTO, all have been brand new. My wife's Cavalier, she paid that off in 3 years. My Grand Am took us 4 years, our Silverado was paid off in a year and a half, the Bonneville we took the whole 5 years to pay off, and now the Enclave at 4 years and about 8 months. Not sure what we will do on the next one. Would like to try and get just a 4 year loan. Leasing has crossed our minds, but for some reason I like the idea of owning, vs. just making payments. Kind of like the difference between renting a house, and having a mortgage and eventually paying it off. Of course, in these times....maybe renting would be better. :shrug: But that's a whole different subject. :-X

Anyway, thought I'd share this good news for my 5000th post. :cheers: When I post this message, my title will change to GOD...but it doesn't feel any different than the "guru" stage. Here's to another 5000 posts, and who knows how many more years on the forum: :wine:
If you are getting that big of a tax return annually then you should really think about adjusting your exemptions so you keep more of that in each paycheck. Why let the gov't reap the interest off of your money. I've got my exemptions fine tuned enough so that I get about $200 a year in refunds.
 
#13 ·
gostate said:
If you are getting that big of a tax return annually then you should really think about adjusting your exemptions so you keep more of that in each paycheck. Why let the gov't reap the interest off of your money. I've got my exemptions fine tuned enough so that I get about $200 a year in refunds.
Because we've never had any cash flow issues. We don't carry a balance on credit cards, and are able to have extra in the bank. Not saying we are perfect in our choices with how we spend the money, we have been known to go out to eat too often, and I know buying new cars is not that smart either. Banks have next to no interest earnings, so I really don't see a huge benefit to have more in there during the year.
 
#14 ·
gostate said:
If you are getting that big of a tax return annually then you should really think about adjusting your exemptions so you keep more of that in each paycheck. Why let the gov't reap the interest off of your money. I've got my exemptions fine tuned enough so that I get about $200 a year in refunds.
You know the way I look at it is the best I can get is 0.009 for online savings--negligible. When you adjust your exemption, you increase your net pay. Let's say your refund is around 7380 like ours tends to be, that's $307 more every two weeks. What are the odds that it will become discretionary income if funneled through net pay, as opposed to paying down debt? With pure discipline, sure, that's $614 more per mo. towards the mortgage, but it's not easy. Or, the alternative is to send it to the online savings account monthly--at 0.009, it would grow to $7410 in a year. That's $30 worth of interest. I would rather burn the $30, decrease my net pay, and have the 8k at the end of the year. This way, it is not discretionary, it will go to good use as a lump sum, such as in Kids' case. Uncle Sam can have the $30, that's ok.

Call me crazy but I'm the type of married filing jointly person who believes that at least one spouse must withhold at the single rate.
 
#15 ·
john 070 said:
With pure discipline, sure, that's $614 more per mo. towards the mortgage, but it's not easy.
I think the above is the key. I would rather have control over saving that than give the gov't an interest free loan for the entire year. Tax returns are the biggest hustle out there...free loan for the year and what's more, many people believe its a positive to get a huge return. Uncle Sam has done a wonderful job of pitching those returns!
 
#16 ·
enclavetmudd said:
I think the above is the key. I would rather have control over saving that than give the gov't an interest free loan for the entire year. Tax returns are the biggest hustle out there...free loan for the year and what's more, many people believe its a positive to get a huge return. Uncle Sam has done a wonderful job of pitching those returns!
I guess I'm saying it's maybe $30 in lost interest, but having Uncle Sam keep the money safe from harm or wasteful spending. Just think about all the folks who do not pay their taxes and insurance to escrow, yet pay an extra 1/8% to the mortgage co. as a result? Someone is out to get you every step of the way when you don't use cash :happy:
 
#18 ·
john 070 said:
I did not learn to pay down the mortgage until about 2009--the house was purchased in 2002. That's 7 years of paying just the regular amount, and it has everything to do with habit. If you view a 2.49% heloc, or a 3.87% mortgage, as pure evil, then you will take every extra penny you have to reduce the principal.

If you go along and say well 2.49% isn't that bad, and my car being 0% is not bad at all, then there's a tendency to make little progress to getting rid of the balance.....

The next key becomes to resist the temptation of buying a new car, especially if you do not need it. There is another sentiment that I've seen, where if something goes wrong, the vehicle gets replaced. Gosh darn it, the CV joint broke and it's going to cost $400. Time for new car! imho maybe the $400 repair is worth it....
You are so right on all points. :thumb:
 
#19 ·
john 070 said:
I guess I'm saying it's maybe $30 in lost interest, but having Uncle Sam keep the money safe from harm or wasteful spending. Just think about all the folks who do not pay their taxes and insurance to escrow, yet pay an extra 1/8% to the mortgage co. as a result? Someone is out to get you every step of the way when you don't use cash :happy:
We haven't paid into an escrow for the last 6 years when we purchased our house here in Texas. We were able to have the bank waiver the extra fee or percentage point fraction based on our history of paying our own taxes and insurance. An excellent credit history also helped.

We also both claim single and zero for withholding purposes on our income even though I am retired. We consider it a forced savings and it has worked for the last 40 years of marriage. Could we have put the extra aside each paycheck and had the same amount at the end of the year? Truthfully I doubt it. I am sure something would have come up where some of that extra weekly money would have been spent for whatever reason. Like John70 said, what are we losing, $30.00-$40.00 dollars interest? Well worth it when that lump sum hits the savings account like it just did in the last week!
 
#21 ·
john 070 said:
I guess I'm saying it's maybe $30 in lost interest, but having Uncle Sam keep the money safe from harm or wasteful spending.
Huh? On the news last night they showed how Uncle Sam used $500,000 of your money to paint portraits of "civil servants" like cabinet secretaries! :angryfire: Aren't we in a fiscal crisis? I owe them $6500 more in taxes.....I'm gonna make them sweat for another six weeks. :happy:

I'll happily manage my own money in the meantime.
 
#23 ·
Orion42 said:
Huh? On the news last night they showed how Uncle Sam used $500,000 of your money to paint portraits of "civil servants" like cabinet secretaries! :angryfire: Aren't we in a fiscal crisis? I owe them $6500 more in taxes.....I'm gonna make them sweat for another six weeks. :happy:

I'll happily manage my own money in the meantime.
This is totally good practice in theory. My dad once claimed 9 exemptions because he had to have his net pay as high as possible. I remember, he went back to work after his own co. failed, and he had this great job and was on Wall St. for months. The problem was this was the early 90's--my dad still was against credit cards. He could not pay to stay in NYC for week upon week and wait to be reimbursed...thankfully they gave him the corporate amex.

I just asked our a/p if they had paid a vendor, because I wanted to keep good terms based on the line I asked them for. AP emailed me back--the invoice is not due, we do not pay early, the terms are net 30. It made me realize that yes, I am a weirdo for paying my bills 45 to 30 days before they're due, and that would not make me a good controller or treasurer, but at home, it's a little different! lol
 
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