Bills IQ
by V.E. on July 20th, 2008
I just took the Bills IQ test at bills.com… and didn’t do very well at all. I mean, I “passed” the test, per se, but at a 75% (‘C’) level. It’s not really a test of what you know, it’s more a test of what you do to keep your bills low and your credit score high (assuming you give honest answers). Well, I pay my bills every month, but I have multiple credit cards and at least one is maxed out. I’ve even considered credit counseling but I feel weird telling any one person that much information about myself.
How am I supposed to deal with this kind of thing, anyway? Do I pay down the cards with the highest balances first? Or the ones with the highest interest? Or do I pay off the ones with the lowest balances so that I get fewer card statements every month? I know the first step is to pay at least the minimum on all the statements, but after that… things get difficult. In any case, the Bills IQ test is a decent first look at how to begin getting out of debt and into the black. That is… out of the red, into the black. Black, good; red, bad.
There is at least one thing I do well regarding my finances, though. I balance my checkbook. Each time I get a bill, I whip out the Quicken 2007 for Mac and input all my purchases and payments into it so I know how much in the hole I really am, and how much I can afford to pay off my debt. Thankfully, school loans can be defered for the most part until I’m out of school, when I have more solid ground to stand on (so to speak).
