get out of debt

My sweet valiant little Nova died spectacularly. I’d fix it, but they have stopped making domestic parts for Novas, and a new engine(which is what’s needed) is over 1200 dollars.

So, we had to take out an auto loan for a new(ish) car. We got a 1999 Nissan Maxima SE, which is in great shape and has a very high reliability score.
I made the credit union and my insurance company bid against one another until I got an interest rate of under 5.95% for the life of the loan, with no prepayment penalty (current good rate right now starts at 7.95 or so for used cars, so this was decent damage control.)
On the other hand, I now have a new debt of 5994.00 and a monthly car payment, which is money that could have been used to throw at credit and student loans. Not happy about this, but I think I’ve made the best of a bad situation. We’ll be trying to throw more than the minimum at this too, as we do with all our current debt.
Still.
Sigh.

plugging away at the credit card and student debt. Visa balance is at 3340 after this month’s payment. I put the student debt on automatic, as the interest is low on that. I’m throwing any extra I have at this until it’s paid off, then applying it to the student loan.
I’ll feel better after I get below 3000.

Not exactly the same as paying off more debt. but I did avoid incurring any extra.
I sold a ton of books that I never use anymore, and used the money I got back to replace my phone(not cell, landline) which had died, and my mouse that was on the fritz. The difference only ran me about 10.00. Had I not sold the books, the money to replace these would have either come out of savings or a credit card. So I still feel like it counts, in a way.

I’ve paid off 2 cards completely. I have one more to go and student loans will be coming due very soon. Fortunately, what I will be paying in student loans will match what I was paying on the other 2 cards almost exactly.
This is my only debt left-it’s sizeable, but at least it’s only in 2 places now, with low and fixed interest rates.

Finished paying off the second card. One to go now, along with the dreaded student loans finally coming due.

I just paid off almost all of Visa #2. It has 40.00 left on it now.
Visa #1 3879.70

Total 3919.70, which is now under 4000.00 for credit debt!
happy dance

Balance transfer is where it needs to be, finally.
Current tally:
Visa 1:3980 @2.99% for 5 more months
Visa 2: 800 at 12.95.

Total: 4780

I’m below the 5000 mark!

Still arguing with my bank, since the balance transfer check seems to have been lost in the mail. I call them tomorrow to yell.

First, we paid off one credit card completely!

I have 2 more to go now.
My credit union is having a special deal on balance transfers (funnily enough, this showed up as I was paying off the last card) for 2.99 on all transfers for 6 months. Not a 0% by any means, but the worst that happens if I’m late is it goes back to its 10.9 fixed rate.

I’m going to take advantage of this, but first I called them to see if I could change it to a platinum card.
My plan was to get one of those(with has a higher limit than the one I just paid off) and then transfer my other balance with the biggest debt onto it. After that, pay as much as possible with the 2.99% rate and when it reverted to the regular rate, it would still be a lower rate than on the other card. If all that makes sense.
So I applied and called them for the results.
Apparently a platinum card is a no go, as I don’t make enough money. No big deal, I just wanted it for the slightly lower fixed interest rate anyway.
But then they tried to tell me that I couldn’t get my limit raised either, as I had too much available credit for my yearly income. Okaaaaay.
So I explained how the only reason I wanted it was for a balance transfer to pay off Big Debt High Interest card. BDHI card is an annoying, variable-rate nasty piece of work with interest that keeps creeping upward and an ever-climbing limit on the card as well, in spite of my repeated requests for them not to.

After hearing that and asking me some questions about my student loans, which are subsidized and not due until May, they offered to change my current card for a slightly lower interest card and up the limit, if I would agree to transfer the balance and close out BDHI card.
(The main reason I wanted to up the limit at all is because the full amount of debt on BDHI card would more than max out the current limit of the card I wanted to transfer it to. If I got the increase, I would still at 75%, but that won’t ding my credit status anything like having it at 100% would).

I’m more than happy to close it. If BDHI bank gives me a better offer later, I might (MIGHT) consider doing business with them again. Until then, I’d like the lower interest and only 2 cards to worry about-easier to track. Also, even with closing BDHI, I will still have money for emergencies if I haven’t amassed enough savings and something happens (hoping it won’t.)

Very close to crossing to below the 6000 mark for credit debt now.
Also, we had another cat emergency, but between my husband and me, we managed to pay a huge vet bill with our savings alone. It was hard to see the emergency savings go, but at least we didn’t get further into debt on top of the other stress.
No card used for months now. It’s wonderful.