Debt Hater

I won't need to choke somebody

    I called Bank of America after sending a hostile e-mail (it was civil, but clear I wasn't playing around).

    The representative pulled up the notes from my previous call and my e-mail. She paused. Then she said, "Ok. As a courtesy, I can waive the finance charge..." yada yada, I stopped listening. All I was thinking was, "Damn right you will."

    Residual Finance charges. That's what cost me $5.26.
    Now that my balance is at zero, I won't be charged that anymore, so long as I pay by balance in full every month. They won't have to worry about that because there WON'T BE a balance on there ever again!

    Get this, she told me that if I had called ahead of time and told them that I intended to pay off the full balance of the account, then they wouldn't have assessed the fee. Huh? Whatever chick, just send me in writing confirmation that you're waiving that fee and you chuckle heads won't have to ever hear from me again.

    Punks.

    So my balance will be zero again. Dang right.

    DH

I'ma choke somebody over $5.26

    I owe Bank of America $5.26.

    Why?

    Because they assess finance charges by the day or something. So, even though I paid off the balance of my credit card last week, they didn't assess some finances charges until the last day of the cycle, or something.

    So, I still owe $5.26 on my credit card.

    Ok, I know that's nothing and I know that I probably lose that much money a month dropping change, buying snacks or sticking money in parking meters. But for some reason, when I looked at my balance and saw that little amount of money, I nearly went ballistic.
    Last week my balance was $0.00.
    Today, it's $5.26 and I didn't do anything.

    I called and asked for an explanation. I got the one that I sorta understood and paraphrased above (but I wasn't really listening because when I asked "Why do I still have a balance?" it was a rhetorical question).
    I was like, "I'm not cutting y'all a check for $5.26 so you need to put someone else on the phone I can discuss this with." Old girl refused.
    I hung up.
    I sat at my laptop fuming.

    Man!

    Can't a customer catch a break?! They've made large amounts of money off me in the last few years, and I can't believe that they have the audacity to squeeze another $5 outta me.

    I know I should just calm down. I paid the card off -- what's another five bucks? I should just brush that dirt of my shoulders, pay it and let it go. But I'm going to try one more time to get a human on the phone who has the authority to actually make a customer satisfied and see if I can get this straightened out. I understand that they've got all their rules and what not that they make impossible for people to find or understand, but people are legally bound by them anyway. Got it.
    But $5.26?
    Is somebody's kid not going to college if I don't pay that? Geez.

Holy Unexpected Bonus Check Batman!

    I was out sick from work yesterday and came in this morning with a check on my chair.

    I thought, "It's not a pay week is it?" Then assumed that it must be.

    I open up the check (which wasn't a check, but the deposit information -- I direct deposit everything). The total was $595.
    I was like, "What the hell? This better NOT be my paycheck!"

    Then I saw the word bonus next to Gross (this check was $1,000 before the gub'ment went crack happy on it).
    I was elated! Why? I haven't been with the company the full 12 months yet, so I didn't think I was eligible for the bonus. But, it appears that this is prorated for the time I was here (I'll have to check on that, compare it to my offer letter).

    Yay! So, guess what I'm doing with this money? Yes, right into the mini-emergency fund, plus $5 to bring the total back to $1,000, as I planned to do next month. I'm already making the transfer request online as I type this post.

    Bam, two goals in one month AND I went shopping!

    I'm on a roll!

    DH

    PS -- And yes, it just so happens to be a pay week!

Relief or Regret?

    "So which one are you filled with?" Bud asked Elle Driver in Kill Bill Vol. 2 after she arrived to confirm the death of her greatest nemesis -- Beatrix Kiddo, "Black Mamba."

    Was she filled with relief that Kiddo was finally dead? Or was she filled with regret, because the focus of her life was now over.

    Where am I going with this?

    Aside from the fact that the two Kill Bill's are among my favorite movies, the scene, to me, is applicable to my finally getting out of credit card debt.
    I was so despondent when I started on my debt journey. After I added up all my credit cards and saw just how much I owed, I started to seek online resources to help me figure out how the heck to get started paying it off.

    I went to the MotleyFool.com and signed up for the free debt reduction seminar.
    I went through all the steps including signing up for the service that stops credit offers from coming to your mailbox. I called my credit card companies and asked for lower rates. I went to Bankrate.com to look for 0% interest rate cards I could apply for to consolidate my debt onto one of those. I found a debt repayment calculator and punched in my numbers.
    At the rate I was paying my cards, it would have taken me 14 years and cost me more than $25,000 to pay off my credit cards, or something like that.
    For many nights afterwards, I got down on my knees beside my bed each night, clasping my hand together and asking God to help me be debt free in way less than 14 years -- 3 or 4 tops, please God, please, please.
   
    And, in the beginning, it went so slowly.

    I could barely pay for everything I needed,  but after a few months, it was like I hardly put a dent in the debt. I thought about getting a second job. I thought about taking out a loan from the bank because the terms and interest rates would be more favorable. I thought about getting a roommate. I thought about throwing up my hands. After all, doesn't everyone have $15G in credit card debt?

    I learned that no, they sure as heck don't. I learned that taking out a bank loan would serve no purpose. The debt would not be gone.

    But I wasn't getting a roommate and I just was not feeling working even harder than I already was, making little more than minimum wage and forking over whatever I got to a bank.

    I started my blog. At the time, I thought I'd be one of the only people in the world with the brilliant idea to take their financial exploits online. Ha! As soon as I signed up, I found hundreds of personal finance blogs. Hundreds.
    These people wrote about how they paid off debt. Or how they were savings tens of thousands of dollars or how their blog was generating revenue.
    I wanted to be like them.
    I read. I commented. I submitted to carnivals. I added links. I did guest blogs. I did interviews.

    Offline, I got books from the library (no more buying!). I did research. I experimented with budgets and spending records. It took me more than a year to get a system that worked for me.
    I told everyone what I was working on. I asked my family for "gift vacations." I wanted them to cut me some slack if I didn't buy a gift for every child born into the family; if I skipped all gift giving holidays except for Christmas; if I cut back on Christmas; if I didn't come home because I'd have to charge the ticket; if I could borrow some money; if I could just eat whatever they had at home; if I could skip the movies.

    I cooked my own lunch. I always had, really, but it was no longer an option. I figured out how to stretch a meal. I made myself eat less. I stopped going to the grocery story whenever and stuck to once a week. I never went without a list and a fistful of coupons. I bought the generic brands. I skipped the snacks.
    I told my friends that I couldn't go on a trip to Panama, to Vermont, to Mexico, to the Caribbean, on a cruise, to Vegas. I wanted to go so badly.

     The point is that paying off my debt became a crusade. I had made a mess and I was determined to fix it. The debt was so opposite to my personality -- responsible, dependable and organized. And it was keeping me from doing all the fun stuff I was looking forward to when I was an adult and on my own.

    I blogged about it. I talked about it. I told people what I learned. I confessed the mistakes I made. I patted myself on the back when I did well.

    Now, it's gone. It worked. All the prayer, the begging, the work, the learning, the discipline. I paid off the card.

    Now what?

    I slayed the dragon... now what's a knight to do?

    Elle Driver admitted that she was filled with regret that her enemy was defeated (but, mostly, she regretted that she hadn't done it herself. Didn't matter, Kiddo wasn't dead, and she plucked out Driver's one eye).
    Me, I AIN'T filled with regret.
    Hella naw.
    I am definitely filled with relief. The only thing I regret is getting into debt in the first place.
    But, now I need a new crusade.
    I'll get to that. I just need to put down this slayer sword for a minute and catch my breath.

    DH

My Weekend Redux -- So much for saving the Tax Rebate

    Ok, last night I sat down and added up all my receipts from my lovely weekend visiting family and shopping.

    The Damage: $475.38

    All in one weekend. I haven't done that since... I don't even know when.

    That includes $339 I spent on clothes (not $334 as I said in my last post. I "misremembered" the total. Shoot me.).
    I also bought the Simpsons Season 10 DVD, another DVD for $9.99, some chewing gum, a mall snack for myself and three rugrats, Mother's Day gifts, tank tops from some teenie bopper store, the gas to get to my fam's house (it cost me $55+ to fill up my four-cylinder sedan, dang) and tolls.

    So, that means I've got just $124.62 of my economic stimulus check left. Well, I hope you're happy Pres. Bush. I spent like a nut job. The terrorists didn't win.

    I'm still on track. I just set up my automatic transfer of $600 (what I previously use to pay down my credit cards each month) to my mini-emergency account, which will bring the total back to $1,000.

    From there, I need to lay out my next set of financial goals. Like my blog tagline says -- Getting out debt and into my dreams!
    I got out of debt, now onward to what I truly hope for!

    DH

My Economic Stimulus Check -- Do's and Didn'ts

    First, thanks to everyone for your wonderful and kind comments on my FINALLY CREDIT CARD DEBT FREE post last week!

    I did not do a happy dance (if I wasn't at work, I probably would have), but the spirit may move me at any time when the full realization of what it means to be credit card debt free means and I may spontaneously break out into a belated happy dance!

    I will keep blogging, of course. I've got a lot of things I need to do with my money. And I will still be Debt Hater -- because I truly hate being in debt bondage and that will never change!

    Last week, before I finished off my credit card, my "economic stimulus" check ("tax rebate" or whatever else the press is calling it now), was deposited to my regular savings account.
    I had not planned for this bit of cash (which is never a good idea. When you don't have a plan for your money, it tends to be spent on stupid things. ASK ME HOW I KNOW!). So, I just let it sit there until I had a plan.

    Then it hit me like a lightning bolt. DUH! Your plan was to pay off the credit card this month, then use the money you normally put on the card back into your mini-emergency savings plan and BAM!, back up to $1,000. So, silly DH, put the eco-stim check in your mini-emergency savings account and there! All done!

    But I sorta didn't.

    I went to visit my family this weekend for Mother's Day (Happy belated Mother's Day shout outs to all my mommies out there!!). All we ever do is go to the mall and the movies, as you've read here before. But, this time, I actually wanted to go to the mall. All I really wanted was The Simpsons Season 10 DVD, but the fye in the mall was charging $50. I ain't never paid that much for a DVD set and I wasn't about to start, credit card debt free or not!
    So I checked out the mall with my brother and my little cousins, bought them a snack (only set me back $7 people, don't jump on me yet!) and decided to stroll into one of my favorite stores, Banana Republic.
    I... went... CRAZY!
    I tried on whole outfits -- not just a piece here and there on sale, whole suits with accessories. Most stuff I tossed onto the "this ain't working" pile and was about to walk out of the fitting room with nothing at all. I got my jollies, no need to head to the cash register.
    Except for the yellow top that I loved and was just what I had been looking for for two months. And the linen skirt that I couldn't leave the store without -- they were both on sale. Oh, and the banging brown skirt suit. And the bright coral shirt that looked fabulous with it. From those few pieces I visualized about 10 different outfits using them and things I already owned.
    So, I boldly strode to the cash register and rung it all up:
    Lined linen skirt
    Coral 3/4 sleeve button-down shirt
    Yellow Top
    Chocolate pinstripe suit jacket
    Chocolate pinstripe suit skirt
    TOTAL: $334

    Yes, you can gasp. My 14-year-old skater punk cousin did! (When we got home, he promptly told everyone how much I spent. No one asked him).
   
    Ok, so, yeah. I didn't save all of my gub'ment check.

    I immediately did the math -- that's $266 left of the check. That will immediately go into my mini-emergency fund. Next month, though, I still plan to put the whole $600 into my mini-emergency fund. That was the plan before I got the economic stimulus check, so that's the plan right now too.

    And, in case you're wondering, I found my Simpsons DVD at another store for $16 less. I bought it. So, I guess that's $231 left of my tax rebate check.

    DH

I paid off my credit card... PAID OFF

    I woke up late this morning and was in a rush to get to work because I've been out three days at a conference.
   
    So I didn't check my balance.

    I got to work and spent 15 minutes waiting for my computer to boot up (yeah, it apparently was still sleepy too). I found 86 new e-mails in my Inbox, even after I spent a considerable amount of time the other day going through it so I wouldn't have a huge glut waiting for me.
    Sigh.

     I started to go through all the requests, demands, urgent deadlines and blah blah, but it was much too much, so I said, "I'm checking my balance."

    And there it was. The Zero Balance. The triple aught. The $0.00
   

    When I saw it, I had a reaction that I hadn't expected. I almost cried.
I think I would have cried if I wasn't sitting at my desk at work. Not a weeping, sobbing cry, just a misty-eyed, "I can't believe it, thank you Jesus," cry.

    I felt a little light headed, like when you're carrying something very heavy for a long time and then, all of a sudden, the weight is gone. You feel light, but a little disoriented. It takes you a moment to feel relieved.

    Wow.

   

    I know from the tone of this post it might not sound like I'm ecstatic, but, trust me, I am!!!!!

   I PAID OFF MY CREDIT CARD DEBT!!!!!!

    I started this blog about three years ago in a panic. I was nearly $16G in credit card debt AND I had a nearly new car payment, new job and new expenses. Two jobs, two moves and the same car later, and I did it.

    I messed up A LOT on the way.

    I didn't always do the brilliant financial thing.

    Sometimes I despaired that I'd never get this done.

    Sometimes I didn't care if I did or not.

    Sometimes I was so determined, nothing on earth was going to stop me.

    Sometimes other things in my life got me so down that financial freedom was the last thing on my mind.

    But I did it.

    Thank you so much to everyone who's tagged along on this journey, either reading my posts and getting inspired, checking in on my sometimes and praying for me, or leaving comments to encourage me or share tips and advice.

    Thank you so much! I am deeply grateful.

    Well now I have a full day of work ahead of me and I hope I can focus. I'll try not to keep looking at my credit card balance over and over... but I won't try very hard. :-)

    DH

 

It's half-way there

    I busied myself today so I wouldn't constantly check my bank balance.

    So this is just my second check in -- As of 5:53 p.m., the credit card balance has not reached zero.
    The payment for the balance has been taken out of my checking account though. The payment may not post until late tonight or tomorrow morning.

    I just won't be happy until I see that balance at $0.00.

    Just a few more hours...

    DH

It's Wednesday... the Day of Emancipation

    Reggie, the Kid With Good Credit, was right. First thing this morning, I checked my bank balances to see if my credit card payment -- my LAST credit card payment, had cleared.

    It had not.

    My balance was, as of five minutes ago, still $1008.64. And my checking account was not minus that amount.

    I checked the date of my bill payment -- May 7. Today.

    Ok, just checking. And I will keep checking until that balance says zero.

    So, I will probably have five blog posts today that go like this:
    Noon -- Still $1008.64
    1 p.m. -- Still $1008.64
    1:05 p.m. Still $1008.64
    1:15 p.m. ... you get the picture. LOL!

    I almost don't believe this day is here. I was on the phone with my best friend last night talking about it. A few years ago, she got out of her credit card debt. I told her that I felt like today would pass and I wouldn't even notice it. Or, that the balance would be $0.00 I would do a happy dance and then stand there and be like "So, now what do I do?"

    She laughed. That's just how she felt. Like she didn't know what to do with herself. She didn't feel like spending money, that's for sure! She went on to do some very smart things with her cash, including helping her sister start college funds for her four children. She built up a savings cushion and is now working on saving a down payment for possibly buying a condo in New York City!! When I grow up, maybe I can be her ;-)

    DH

My Debt Freedom Date

    May 7, 2008

    My last credit card payment is scheduled for that Wednesday.

    I got a notification from my HSBC account that the money I scheduled to transfer to regular checking for that payment was on the way.
    I set up my payment in April so I wouldn't forget. I had thought about handwriting a check and mailing it in for the sake of ceremony, but then thought "This would be the one and only time that my payment gets lost in the mail or something else stupid happens." So I just stuck with e-billing.

    I wonder if I really will do my happy dance when I see that balance at $0.00. Or, will it be somewhat anticlimactic? I've been on my good-financial-behavior kick for more than two years and I've learned a lot. I'm already thinking about what I need to do with my money after my debt payoff. I don't think there's going to be a celebratory month where I spend that payment on more fun stuff just to blow off the steam.
    But who know right now.

    I wonder if May 7 will come and go and I won't even remember to check my balance.
    I wonder how I'll really feel when I see that $0.00.
    Maybe I won't do a happy dance.
    Maybe I'll just feel really, really relieved.