This is a review for Ready for Zero. Ready for Zero is a free online site with a focus on eliminating credit card debt. They are backed by some impressive partners: Entrepreneurs and executives from PayPal, YouTube, Mint.com, Zynga, Google and supported by Y Combinator. They also have a partnership with Lending Club to help qualified persons pay off high interest card with lower interest loans.
Click on the infographic to see a larger image.
I like the fact that Ready for Zero does not require me to enter my entire social security number, only the last four digits. With my name, billing address and the last four of my social security number, Ready for Zero was able to estimate the amount of my debt. I was impressed that the estimate was very close: $15,400. The only reason it was off is because I just paid my American Express card in full this afternoon.
As I began to input the accounts that make up my debt I could not find my line of credit. I was able to pull in my checking accounts and savings accounts from Wells Fargo, but not the line of credit (which is with Wells Fargo).
Under Account Settings > Credit Accounts, I can see at a glance all of the credit card issuers, the amount of debt for each credit card, the interest rate and the minimum payment as well as the balance owed. I like seeing the interest rate, that will help me to keep an eye on it in case they try to change it on me.
Under Account Settings you will find “Your Plan” at the left hand side. This is where you will decide how much money you have to pay toward your credit card debt. Enter the total dollar amount that you can afford to pay and Ready for Zero will calculate how many months it will take for you to pay off your debt as it stands, and how much interest you will end up paying. Or you can enter the date by which you wish to have the debt paid in full.
Without the line of credit, my credit card debt stands at $7913.
Usually I pay $436 toward these two cards each month (unless we can afford to pay more, but I try to always pay at least this amount). Card A gets $136 and Card B gets $300.
Ready for Zero suggests that I pay $348.26 to Card A, and $81.74 to Card B.
The minimum payment for Card A is $89 and the minimum for Card B is $59.
I have been following the Dave Ramsey suggestion to pay off the card with the smaller amount first… but of course this is not always the most financially sound method since in the long run we will pay more for interest. I think I will take Ready for Zero’s advice to pay more money toward the credit card that is higher with the higher interest.
On this same section, Ready for Zero tells me I am paying $2.02 interest daily, and it will be 15 months before my credit card debt is gone. If there comes a time when we have more money to work with, I can always go in and change my plan.
Ready for Zero is for people are are serious about getting out of debt, hence the name of the site. I look forward to using it as I watch our debt go down even further this year.
Check out Ready for Zero if you are ready to get out of debt, and let me know what you think in the comments.
Wow! Thanks for sharing this review with your readers. Definitely going to check them out.
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 9:25 pm
@Jenna, you’re welcome!
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I love this review- though it is a little weird they can pull so much data without a full social… Can you put you & a spouse in? I may try thus- it is hard to explain that interest rate thing to my hubby v’s the Ramsey pay the lowest balance first theory.
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
@Sandy, they do ask for your billing address, so maybe that is how they do it. I think you have to do yourself and your spouse separately. Let me know what you think about it.
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Hi,
I just discovered this review about ReadyForZero and just wanted to thank you for writing about us to your readers! Glad you liked the site. We’ve made some improvements since feb 8th and will be adding more useful things in the very near future 🙂
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