So this morning I woke up early to call the place I owed $863.63. It was actually an old Sam’s Club card that had accrued sooo many late fees and interest charges that it went way up! So I called and talked to John. I prayed before calling for confidence and strength to negotiate a lower price with them and I DID!

I came right out the gate saying that I would like to work with them to lower the pay off price, and pay it off today. The rep punched in some numbers and came back saying they could let me pay it off at $633.03 – about $200 less than what was owed. I thought about it (at least I made it sound like I thought about it, I fully intended to get this down to about $500), and asked one more time – very politely, but firm – is there any way we can get this down any further to around $400 – $500 and I’ll pay it off today? Dude goes to his supervisor and comes back saying they can go down $100 more to $533.03. I pretend to think about it for a second, then accept the offer. I got over $300 off!!! I was sooo proud of myself for not only taking care of the bill, but for being firm and confident to negotiate! I’m so happy with the results!

So now I’m going to go test drive the car they delivered to my local dealer for me. I am going to re-evaluate where my finances are right now and see if we can wait a week or so to redo my credit report once all these places post my payments. IF I can swing it, maybe I will end up with a new car. I know credit reports like to see 3 months of good repayment on things, so I’m fully prepared to wait until May to buy a car. It will be a bummer, but if that’s what it takes, that’s fine.

I am now officially a responsible adult!