Paid Off

In other news, I'm pretty sure* I own my car now.

My car was the first thing I ever took out a loan on. I know in general its bad to have loans, but I've never carried a balance on anything, and it seemed like it would be wise to prove I COULD pay something back if I wanted to. But it always makes me feel guilty when I read personal finance blogs.

In my case though, it wasn't a terrible decision. First, I could have paid cash if I'd wanted to (and could have paid my car off at any time). Second, my interest rate was 2.9%. And third, I'm pretty sure it made my credit score go up.

I can't be certain about the credit score thing, because I didn't know my exact score shortly before I bought my car, but it's always been in the mid to high 700's. When I bought my condo a little over a year later, my lender's score (they always use the middle one of the 3 bureaus) was 806.

Anyhow, I feel more affectionate towards my car now that I own all of it. This is silly, since yesterday I didn't own $185.15 of it...which is like the floormats or maybe a wheel**. But anyhow, now its really-really mine, and my only remaining debt is my mortgage.

Hooray for me!

*I have automatic payments set up, and this last one was for the remainder of my loan ($185.15) so I assume that takes care of it. But who knows...I paid it off early, so maybe there is something else I need to do.

**I did the same thing with my condo, where I put down 25% and then amused myself deciding which specific part of my condo I owned. Conveniently, it has four rooms. I decided I owned the dining room. If I ever have problems with the bank, can I give back say, the living room but keep the dining room??