get out of debt

I owe juuuuuuust under $10,000 and have exactly -$10.91 in my bank account. Yes, that’s negative $10.91. [Sigh] And, I have no job.

I hate you, economy. I hate you, stupid bankers who’ve screwed the rest of us. I hate this situation.

So, after last Autumn’s gigantic meltdown in America’s financial sector, a bunch of banks died and/or were bought out by other banks. That means nothing to me except that I was issued new credit cards from these “new” creditors and all the somewhat arbitrary names I gave each of them no longer fit. Therefore, I’m changing the names I gave in my last post and will not be referring at all to cards that have already been paid off.

HRC Visa—> Chase Rewards HRC
WaMu Platinum—> Chase Platinum
Capital One—> Capital One (stays the same)
Bank of America—> World Points

Now, to make a note of how I’ve progressed since last September. A lot can happen in a year, and I’m more in debt than ever when it comes to my college loans. I’m not worrying about that until I get out of school (see my goal to earn a Master’s degree), however, and many people take college loans as “an investment in the future” instead of “borrowing against the future”, as is true with credit cards. That said, I just thought I should mention that I haven’t made any significant progress in terms of paying off that debt.

—Chase Rewards HRC: current balance is $4200. effective APR is 15.02%.

—Chase Platinum: current balance is $1650. effective APR is 27.24%. this account was closed by the company in July 2009 and now I’m just paying off the balance.

—Capital One: current balance is $1000. effective APR is 3.90%.

—World Points: current balance is $3350. effective APR is 15.50%.

My total credit card debt is $10200. Since the estimation a year ago was $11800, it’s progress… but not much. I expected to have paid off a lot more, but I actually owe more on the Platinum card, and the HRC card is holding steady at about $4000. I’ve made it a practice never to use credit cards for cash advances because the APR tends to be 25% or more, and that’s just ridiculous.

The World Points card has become the “emergency” card, which I keep with me just in case. The Platinum card’s account, as I mentioned, has been closed, so I cut up the card and tossed it. I gave my friend the HRC card; I haven’t gotten a renewed card for the Capital One account, so I assume he’s still holding onto that one for me, too.

I keep pretty good records in Quicken and have file folders for all my statements, but I have no source of income, so this could get really tricky really fast if I don’t find some work soon. I had work but was laid off because of the aforementioned financial meltdown.

WHERE’S MY BAILOUT, DAMNIT?

I started out (when I started this goal) with multiple cards and school loans and no end in sight. The end still isn’t really in sight, but I’m starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

I paid off one of the cards this month, and I’m set to pay off another one next month. My best friend, who’s holding all my cards and helping me not spend more money (!!!) is cutting up those two cards. A third card’s account (that was already paid off) was closed by the credit card company, so that one’s completely done and gone.

That leaves me with the following:
—Chase Rewards: paid off and closed. don’t know where the card is anymore, but I’m pretty sure it was cut up years ago.
—Chase Disney: paid off this month. friend is cutting it up for me.
—Orchard Bank: paid off next month. friend is cutting it up for me.

—HRC Visa: cut up the actual card a long time ago and am now just paying off the balance. current balance is $4300. I’ll know the APR with the next bill.

—WaMu Platinum: the only credit card I still have in my possession; supposed to be for emergencies only, but tends to be for dinner and other stuff, too. I’m trying to cut back on that. current balance is a little under $1500. I’ll know the APR with the next bill.

—Capital One: friend has this card. current balance is roughly $1900. APR for purchases is 5.65% and for cash advances is 16.55%.

—Bank of America: friend has this card. current balance is just under $4100. APR is 7.9% for purchases and transfers and 24.99% for cash advances.

So my total credit card debt is $11800. Less than I thought, but more than is acceptable. I would like to get it below $10000 soon and then work from there. Paying off credit cards helps, but it would help more if I don’t buy anything on credit ever again, unless it’s absolutely necessary and I can pay off the balance within a couple of months. Also, I would like to get down to having only one card.

So, that in mind: here’s my dilemma. Should I pay just over the minimum balances on all but one card at a time so that I can pay off that one faster, or should I be more balanced in my payments?

I challenged myself to do this by the end of the year… which is 90 days from today. Unfortunately, unless I win the lottery or inherit some obscene amount of money during that time, it’s not going to happen. I’m not giving up, but I’m going to try to keep up my end of the deal and NOT BUY ANYTHING for a year from the date my challenge ends. Man, it’s gonna be HARD… Gah. I hoped I didn’t have to do this, but I know it’ll be good for me—especially if I can actually do it.

Moving sucks. I moved from PA to NYC and now I’m in debt again. A lot. I hate this. It’s like a never-ending cycle. I’m getting really discouraged. Damn it.

I’ve consolidated the what’s left of one Big Card onto the other Big Card. Meaning, essentially, that I have one Big Card left (with around $4000 in debt) and three little cards (each with a limit $500 or below). I’m excited to be moving onto the last Big Card, after which I’ll have three cards left with less than $1500 in debt between them.

Let’s not get ahead of myself, though! Right now, I need to work on bringing down that $4000 in debt. I’m glad backsliding a little hasn’t broken my resolve.

Unfortunately, I’ve been backsliding somewhat recently… as in, the past 3 weeks or so. I’m trying really hard to stay on top of things, but bidz.com and ebay.com are killer. I’m looking into selling some of the stuff I’ve bought those places so make back some of what I’ve lost, but I don’t know how much the stuff is actually worth, you know? Or rather, I don’t know if anyone is willing to pay more than what I paid.

In better news, I do tend to try and pay the bills before other stuff, but it’s hard ‘cause I like new things… even if I never use them after I have them. I think I feel that, if I don’t get “it” while I can see it (right here and now, as it were) I won’t ever be able to get “it”... But once I have “it,” there’s no reason to do anything with “it” right now since I’ll have “it” forever, so why bother messing with “it” until I need to?

My two Big Cards (the ones that have the most debt on them) are shrinking! I’ve been making some money blogging (getting paid per post, essentially) and gave up buying stuff online for Lent. I’m not really into the Christian thing, but Lent has always helped me better myself, so I don’t see why that should end now! I have a serious compulsive shopping/buying problem, but I’ve managed to keep it under control for a while. Here’s to hoping it stays that way!

I feel good when I pay things off… so I’m going to keep doing it! Please keep in your thoughts and prayers. I need my resolve to hold.

Whew… I’m exausted from figuring out what the hell I’m doing with this debt. If all goes well, I’ll make my final payment of roughly $391 ($148 Chase Rewards + $243 Disney Visa) in January 2008. Please please PLEASE think good thoughts for me this year!

I’m going to need all the luck/prayers/positivity I can get!!

Okay, so I have less than $500 in debt on each of these cards.

Chase Rewards: $300+

Chase Rewards has 0% APR until September 2007, after which it goes up to 9% (unless I do something really stupid to mess it up, but… [knocks on wood vigorously]). Between February and July, I’ll pay $12 each month on this card ($2 more than the minimum); beginning in August I’ll pay $20/month until the card’s paid off and I can close the account.

February = $12 down; leaves $288
March = $12 down; leaves $276
April = $12 down; leaves $264
May = $12 down; leaves $252
June = $12 down; leaves $240
July = $12 down; leaves $228
August = $20 down; leaves $208
_{~~
September = $4 charge, $16 down; leaves $192
October = $4 charge, $16 down; leaves $176
November = $4 charge, $16 down; leaves $160
December = $4 charge, $16 down; leaves $144
January 08 = $4 charge, rest of balance; leaves $0}

In September, I’ll start paying finance charges (about $4 per month for 5 months). Although it spills into 2008, I will certainly be able to cover the final $148 owed to this card (balance + charge) in January 2008.
~_{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

Disney Visa: $490

My Disney Visa card has 0% APR until August 2007, after which it goes up to 15%. Between February and July, I’ll pay $17 each month on this card ($7 more than the minimum); starting in August I’ll pay $20/month until the card’s paid off and I can close the account.

February = $17 down; leaves $473
March = $17 down; leaves $456
April = $17 down; leaves $439
May = $17 down; leaves $422
June = $17 down; leaves $405
July = $17 down; leaves $388
~~
August = $10 charge, $10 down; leaves $378
September = $10 charge, $10 down; leaves $368
October = $10 charge, $10 down; leaves $358
November = $10 charge, $10 down; leaves $348
December = $10 charge, $105 down; leaves $243
January 08 = $10 charge, rest of balance; leaves $0

Starting in August I’ll pay finance charges (roughly $10/ month for 6 months). In December, I will be able to use $95 of the Amtrak Mastercard’s “left overs” plus the $20 allotted to this card. In January 2008, I must pay the final $253 (balance + charge) and then close the account.
_{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

Orchard Bank: $280

Orchard Bank has 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers through the September 2007 statement. I will pay $16 each month ($1 over the minimum amount) through July, then $20 each month (starting in August) until the card is paid off… after which I’ll close the account. That means the payments for this card look like this…

February = $16 down; leaves $264
March = $16 down; leaves $248
April = $16 down; leaves $232
May = $16 down; leaves $216
June = $16 down; leaves $200
July = $16 down; leaves $184
August = $20 down; leaves $164
September = $20 down; leaves $144
~~
October = $8 charge, $12 down; leaves $132
November = $8 charge, $12 down; leaves $120
December = $8 charge, rest of balance; leaves $0

In October, I’ll start paying finance charges (around $8 per month), and in December, I can use some of the Amtrak Mastercard’s “left overs” ($203) to pay off this card completely and close its account, leaving $95 ($203 + $20 allotted to this card – $128 = $95) to put towards my Disney Visa (see above).