get out of debt

I finished paying off the Chase Platinum card!

Update on what I still owe:
—Chase Rewards HRC: $3170
—Capital One: $2210
—World Points: $2550
—Chase Platinum: DONE HELL YEAH

...which brings the total down to $7930. (Last time I checked in, my total credit card debt was $8015.) My little list will now be only three lines long because I’ve finally paid off my Chase Platinum card and it’s done and DONE. (The account was closed last year around this time, so I was just paying it off.)

I’m still trying to decide how to celebrate paying off one of my cards, but I kind of wanted it to be a family thing and not just a “I’m going to make a nice lunch for myself for once instead of just eating sliced cheese while standing in front of the open refrigerator” thing, but the family’s kind of been thrown into chaos because an extended relative is moving in this summer. I’ll get a picnic or something in there somehow.

The Capital One card actually went up from last time (it’s the only card that still has an open account) because I got a flat tire and had to pay for a new tire once I figured out that I couldn’t just plug the old tire. Ugh. Well, I guess that’s what a credit card is supposed to be for, right? Emergencies, or whatever?

Anyway, I’ve still been paying it down along with the other cards, so my total balance still dropped a little, flat tire notwithstanding. I also got a tiny raise at work, so every extra penny (and sadly, it really is just pennies) is going toward these last three cards. YOSH! I can do it!

And then I have to think about student loans. /cry T_T One thing at a time. Credit cards now. Student loans later. (Much later. /sob)

Update on what I still owe:
—Chase Rewards HRC: $3240
—Chase Platinum: $100 (!!)
—Capital One: $2000
—World Points: $2675

...which brings the total down to $8015. (Last time I checked in, my total credit card debt was $9644.)

I actually did what I said I was going to do, which was put my tax refund toward the card with the lowest balance. I did that and now I owe only $100 on my Chase Platinum card, which I will be paying off completely in July. The account is already closed, so the next time I update this goal, I should have only three cards to think about!

I still get annoying phone calls about “creating a plan to restructure [my] debt”—whatever the hell that means. Usually, though, the caller wants to know if I have at least $10,000 in unsecured (ie: credit card) debt. I used to say yes because I couldn’t really remember, but now I’m going to grin and say, “No, thank you. Goodbye” and hang the damn phone up.

I want to celebrate paying off one of my cards, but I’m going to have to figure out a way to do it without buying anything. Maybe an afternoon in the park with a picnic lunch? Hmm, I’ll think of something.

I still owe:
—Chase Rewards HRC: $3520
—Chase Platinum: $1050
—Capital One: $2209
—World Points: $2865

...which brings the total down to $9644. (Last time I checked in, my total credit card debt was $10460, so this is a major improvement!) It’s under $10000! YES! Success (albeit, a small success)!

I’m going to put my entire tax refund toward the card with the lowest balance (Chase Platinum) after which it will be mostly paid off. I think (after the payment using the tax refund) I may be able to pay off that card in 2 or 3 months, after which I can use the money I was putting toward that one and roll it onto another card (probably the one with the highest interest rate).

In other related news, my student loans have started requiring payment. I got a bill in the mail for more than $850 and just laughed outright. I don’t make that much in a month (since I work for just over minimum wage at a part-time job), much less have that much to pay my loans, student loans or not. I sent the company handling the loans information related to my taxes and yearly income so they’ll understand that I just don’t make enough to pay that kind of money.

Right now I’m just going to focus on the bills I can pay; I know those school loans aren’t going anywhere. (It’s not like I can file for bankruptcy on student loans, after all.)

I still owe:
—Chase Rewards HRC: $4160
—Chase Platinum: $1526
—Capital One: $1234
—World Points: $3540

...so it’s not all bad. The first and last one I owe less than six months ago (though admittedly not by much), but the middle two I owe more. As of now, my total credit card debt is $10460, which is almost exactly what it was half a year ago.

In the last three months or so, I completely ran out of money and had no source of income to off-set the bills, so they began piling up. I figured it wasn’t worth it for me to even open them if I couldn’t pay them, so I just put them in a pile on my desk and left them there. Well, no longer.

At the beginning of July, I finally got a (part-time) job which will allow me to at least make minimum payments on all my cards. I’m going to call the companies (they’ve been calling me nonstop since about mid-May anyway) and tell them that money is on the way and ask them if they can do something about the high interest rates or late fees or something. I doubt it, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

It’s not much, but at this point, something is better than nothing. At least I didn’t backslide as much as I thought I had. And also, I haven’t had to declare bankruptcy so far. Let’s hope it stays that way.

—Chase Rewards HRC: current balance is $4300.

—Chase Platinum: current balance is $1500.

—Capital One: current balance is $1000.

—World Points: current balance is $3639.

My total credit card debt is $10439. My estimation three months ago was $10200, so I’ve done a little back sliding, but not as much as I expected to for the holidays. I want so much to get it under $10000 I can almost taste it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if money grew on trees?

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.