SOA and Snowball Calculators at lemonfool.co.uk and stoozing.com

Clariman

Hello

I have not posted here for ages. I wrote the SOA and Snowball calculators on the websites above. Someone alerted me to a user reporting problems with saving the SOA on Chrome. It is working for me. However, more generally, are the calculators still being widely used here and are there any other issues that need attending to? I'd prefer them without ads but that isn't entirely down to me so that may not change.

All the best
Clariman

Clariman

It looks like the formatting doesn't work any more. Perhaps I knew that. MSE must have changed its forum software since I last looked in detail at it.

RAS

Clariman, yes they are still used and recommended.

EssexHebridean

Clariman said:

Hello

I have not posted here for ages. I wrote the SOA and Snowball calculators on the websites above. Someone alerted me to a user reporting problems with saving the SOA on Chrome. It is working for me. However, more generally, are the calculators still being widely used here and are there any other issues that need attending to? I'd prefer them without ads but that isn't entirely down to me so that may not change.

All the best
Clariman

See my signature! I (and others) pretty much still point every new persona that lands on DFW to the SOA calculator - it really is a vital bit of kit. Thank you for creating it! 

Clariman

Just doing a little test to see if it would be possible to smarten up the calculator output again. Looks like it is definitely possible but I would need to find the time to recode it for MSE.

Expenses

Item	Amount
Mortgage	£750
Groceries	£500

euronorris

I think the snowball calculator needs updating. The payment options are either a fixed amount OR a %. However, my credit card (for example) sets the minimum repayment term as the interest plus 1% of the balance.

Also I'm not sure it could cope with a credit card balance that has a combination of interest rates applicable. Ie, some at 0%, purchases at 17.9% etc (just as an example).

kimwp

They are used so much on here, the SOA is usually the first thing people are directed to and it helps so many understand and get on top of their finances. I think you probably deserve some kind of award for creating it!

mcpitman

Clariman said:

Hello

I have not posted here for ages. I wrote the SOA and Snowball calculators on the websites above. Someone alerted me to a user reporting problems with saving the SOA on Chrome. It is working for me. However, more generally, are the calculators still being widely used here and are there any other issues that need attending to? I'd prefer them without ads but that isn't entirely down to me so that may not change.

All the best
Clariman

Personally, I'd like to thank you for writing them in a manner that makes (or made) them easy to import and use, even for non-experts

They have helped so many people in so many different ways.

Thanks! 

Clariman

Thanks for your kind comments. I originally wrote the calculator for the Dealing with Debt board on The Motley Fool website (it no longer has discussion forums and is purely an investing website these days). I was a regular user like everyone else and wanted to help. A CAB advisor who also contributed there told me what an SOA should contain and I developed it. She later went on to set up https://debtcamel.co.uk/ . Although I haven't touched it for years, I am so pleased that it is still being used and helping people.

I have spoken to Stooz who runs Lemonfool with me and we have agreed to remove the Ads from the SOA and Snowball calculators which should make them easier to use. I will also try to find time to see if I can update the code to format in proper tables on MSE. That would also make it much easier.

Clariman

euronorris said:

I think the snowball calculator needs updating. The payment options are either a fixed amount OR a %. However, my credit card (for example) sets the minimum repayment term as the interest plus 1% of the balance.

Also I'm not sure it could cope with a credit card balance that has a combination of interest rates applicable. Ie, some at 0%, purchases at 17.9% etc (just as an example).

Hi. Can I just confirm you mean the one at Lemonfool, rather than the whatsthecost one?

euronorris

Clariman said:

euronorris said:

I think the snowball calculator needs updating. The payment options are either a fixed amount OR a %. However, my credit card (for example) sets the minimum repayment term as the interest plus 1% of the balance.

Also I'm not sure it could cope with a credit card balance that has a combination of interest rates applicable. Ie, some at 0%, purchases at 17.9% etc (just as an example).

Hi. Can I just confirm you mean the one at Lemonfool, rather than the whatsthecost one?

No, it's the one on whatsthecost. I can't see the option to have it as 'interest plus 1%', unless I am missing something?