PF Under 30

Paying off debt and finding my financial lifestyle

Archive for category Credit and Debt

Getting Angry at Debt

Nov 10

Posted by kiki in CC Debt Progress, Credit and Debt | No Comments

I’m in a weird mood today. It’s a combination of freaking out that we’re not going to pay off the $5998 on the Advanta card by the end of the year, the fact that I just saw the charge at Home Depot my boyfriend put on the CREDIT CARD for $266 yesterday, (He told me after the fact, but it was supposed to be more like $120) and my mom whining at me this morning that her credit card debt is too high for the umteenth time even though she’s not really willing to take any steps to reduce her um “lifestyle expenses”.

SERIOIUSLY PEOPLE!

It doesn’t matter how good you nickel and dime a home improvement project if you’re going to end up paying 17% on that money! Just like it doesn’t matter to my mom if she cuts out $20 per month on cable and telephone expenses if she’s paying 14% on the money she’s already borrowing!

You have to get ANGRY at your debt, magnet it to the FRIDGE, and stare at it everytime you walk by it. Yeah, we can “maintain” the monthly payment, but WHY? It’s kinda like alimony – if you did something stupid in your past do you want to be writing a check for it every month for the rest of your life?? Or do you want to bust your butt to save your nickels only to hand them over to the bank? (interest) Isn’t it bad enough that our federal goverment is already giving them OUR money?

I may be considered un-patriotic for not paying the banks interest just so I can earn 4% cash back on my gas purchases. That is dumb logic - if I’m carrying a balance I would still pay them WAY more then they would pay me.

Last night I sold my old 2G iPhone for $200 and immediately gave the cash to the BF for the impending home improvement projects. CASH people! What a concept???

**This has been a Public Service Announcement for the “Stop Being Stupid with Your Hard Earned Money Coalition”. Thank you for listening.**

Random Money Updates

Feb 18

Posted by kiki in Credit and Debt, Mortgage | No Comments

I’ve been too meloncholy to post. This money stuff gives you ADD, I swear. Some days are good, some days not so good.

Examples:

Frusterated Monday morning thanks to President’s Day and the lack of mail showing up with my Costco Amex rebate check.  This is pacified with my 15′ Christmas Tree find (someone bought it end of January, never picked it up) at Sam’s Club for $75 during my lunchtime. It was packed an in the ‘cedes 20 minutes later. :-)

Tuesday was redeemed by my Amex check showing up in the mail ($60 whole dollars), the trip to Costco that cost me $4.05, the subsequent “cancel and burn party,” for the Amex card and the news that my boyfriend was going to use part of the money he recently took out of his IRA to fund a down payment on our new house.

Today I discovered that the house I’ve been drooling after is actually a short sale, and that the bank already has an offer on it. (Booo) If the bank rejects that offer, we can put one in for about $50,000 more than I was thinking I was going to pay.  And the news that if I want to do that, I’d need to do it soon and my credit score is awaiting a 40 point jump from the Citi payoff.

Citi payoff you ask? Yeah, that’s right. Because of my high(er) income and the fact that the BF’s house is still pending, the easiest way to do this is in my name only. Because of that, paying off my Citi account instead of one of his accounts is going to move us from a “good” credit score to a “great” one. This is also going to apply to my Carloan money, so the only thing I’ll officially have left is the Advanta 0%.

For all of you who are wondering though, the payments have not yet posted to the account, so I’m not updating the progress bars yet.

This is the first instance where we’re really combining our money, instead of splitting stuff like roomates. As excited as I am to update those progress bars, I can’t in good consious act like I’m not responsible for helping with his outstanding debts. We’re going to go over the numbers tonight or Friday, but I will most likely assume payment (and payoff) of one of his loans.

Things are complicated and overwhelming (I forgot what it was like to buy a house), but it shouldn’t be anything a bottle of wine, a hot tub, and a few deep breaths can’t handle.

I survived Christmas without Credit Cards!

Dec 26

Posted by kiki in Credit and Debt, Gifts | 1 Comment

While many in this economy are struggling to stay afloat, I’ve had the opposite experience this year. Maybe it’s just me going against the grain, or maybe God has gifted me with good circumstances this year. Probably a little of both.

But right now my credit card sits at ZERO. Nada. Nothing. I didn’t spend a penny on it this Christmas, and I survived just fine. Sure, I cut out that $350 Kitchen Touch Screen I wanted to buy the BF’s parents this year, or some $100 electronic I would have found for the BF, but all in all, everybody was delighted with their gifts and I didn’t have to go into debt for them.

To be fair, a lot of my gifts were “experiences” this year. The BF’s mom I’m taking out to the Melting Pot for a $67 4 course “Ladies Night Out” and the rest of the girls and I are going shopping in Palm Springs (Outlets)for a weekend come February, so that probably adds about another $300 to the total (rooms and gas), but I’ve also got a $224 “Rebate” coming back to my USAA Amex in the form of a credit in January. Since that account is at zero though, it actually really will be a credit!

This is a big first for me. Done in part with my Christmas Fund. I was funding $100 a month until June when I had to raid it to pay for new tires for my car. I didn’t start feeding it again until September, when I raided it in November for the new dog I got as an early Christmas present for the boyfriend, wiping it out a second time. I did continue to fund it in November and December though, which gave me the $200 I needed to get presents with CASH and not CREDIT.

I will resume funding my Gift budget in January (when it again gets raided for the BF’s birthday). The point though is that I’m using it as intended. When I deplete it, I refill, and I plan ahead to use it exactly for what it’s intended for. I’m still in the beginner stages of embracing this concept, but I can tell you that not having a bill left over from Christmas is a GREAT feeling!

My USAA Rate drops on Saturday

Oct 30

Posted by kiki in Credit and Debt, USAA | 2 Comments

So since the Fed has dropped interest rates, I’ve been wondering when mine was going to drop – my credit card is currently Prime + 3.9% (8.9%).

According to the terms of my card, the rules are as follows:

“The APR (other than the Introductory APR) is a variable rate determined monthly by adding a Margin of 1.75 to 12.9 (7.75 to 18.9 if the Delinquency APR applies) to the Prime Rate published in The Wall Street Journal on the first business day after the 15th day of the prior month. “

Translated into English, this means that the rate will adjust on November 1 to the prime rate published on October 15th. A quick look into www.federalreserve.gov tells me that on October 15th – the prime rate was 4.5. This means that my CC rate will be 8.4% – not as much different as I thought it would be.

I would tell you that it’s going to save me some money, but the truth is that I hold no balances on this card. I was kinda hoping it would drop below 7%, in which case I could transfer the balance of my car loan to consolidate and save money. (One less thing to keep track of.)

However, I’m also dilligently trying to bump my credit scores. With the balance transfer soup that has recently happened, the updates in my credit score should show up within the next week and I’m thinking that I’m going to get atleast a 10 point jump on all of them. Come December 4th, I’m elegible to call USAA again about a rate reduction, and I’m hoping this will put me in the Prime +1.75% category. That would be 6.25% – which would definately be below 7%.

Still, with my current debt snowball, I only expect to have that loan until it’s paid off in February. :-)

The things I do to save $$ on gas…

Sep 9

Posted by kiki in Credit and Debt, Living Expenses | No Comments

Breaking news: My gas bill is down $40 so far this week. With another $40 expected to be saved by Friday. Basically, with $80 in savings, this has been a free gas week for me.

How did I do it? Quit? I wish! Stay home? Nope. Call in sick… puh -lease.

1) My boyfriend is on business Monday – Wednesday. This left me driving the Prius instead of the ML Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

2) I’ve signed up for “Share the Ride”. Found somebody that lives a few blocks from me and commutes to a company right across the street. Her and I met for lunch today, and tomorrow will be our first day of comutting together.  I will pick her up in the Prius, and Thursday she will pick me up in her Rabbit.

In all, it just made sense to us. (And cents too), and we get along great. Her schedule is slightly different than mine, but I can work with that. And did I mention it’s going to save me about $160/month?

Currently I have budgeted $320/month for non-weekend gas. This would cut that figure in half. And even if it’s not quite half, if I change my gas consumption to $200 a month, that’s still $120 in savings.

$120 that can go toward my debt snowball.

I’m getting gazelle intense baby, and I’ve made a new friend in the process. :-)