BLUF: stationed in Okinawa, single income for family of (4), need to buy two vehicles when we PCS back to the states next summer.
Not sure how to go about this. Currently have roughly $15,000 in credit card debt between my wife and I. She’s a SAHM and we had to utilize our credit cards while I was going through the OCS pipeline. We weren’t the most financially literate at the time and were probably too careless. That being said, I’m not too worried about the debt because we’ve been disciplined using the debt snowball method and slowly chipping away at that debt.
What I am worried about is having to PCS next summer (2025) and we have to buy two vehicles (one for me and one for my wife, obviously.)
Not entirely sure how to go about this. We’re not going to buy a new car that is above our means. She will defitnely be getting the more “expensive” car (used older SUV) and I plan on getting a cheap car to get me from A to B.
We don’t have a lot in the savings account ($2,000 for emergencies)
Should I get a car loan for hers and then a personal loan for my vehicle? Can’t imagine my car being more than 8-10k? Should we just rough it out with one vehicle for a little while?
Do we stop paying off the credit cards and focus on saving for a down payment?
These are the questions I ask myself. I know this is long and I appreciate any advice/wisdom y’all might have to offer!
S/F
Finance Advice. Single Income + credit card debt + need to buy (2) cars.
byu/Fit-Huckleberry02 inMilitaryFinance
Posted by Fit-Huckleberry02
1 Comment
Assuming you had the cards before joining, invoke your SCRA to get the interest down to 6%.
As to dropping the debts, we would need to see your budget to understand the monthly cash flow you have to save/pay down the debt. The snowball method is generally the easiest, but you also need to factor in the cars. But without understanding your monthly expenses and cash flow, it’s a bit challenging to advise.
Can you elaborate more on the PCS and need for two cars? Are you at 1 now or expecting to go overseas?