Me vs Debt Me vs Debt Recent college grad's mission to get out of debt and master personal finance. I want to share tips, successes, and motivation. I also want some public accountability. Mostly I want to use my money to make interest, not pay it. Articles
Finally Got $10 From Chase Online Bill Pay
2007-12-27 17:13:00 An extra $10 appeared in my Chase Checking account today. I'm assuming its from the online bill pay promotion I participated in mid-October. I sent this directly towards my National City Card, making sure to leave $1 in the checking account to keep it open. Good start, $10 down.... $2590 to go :) More About: Online , Finally , Bill , Hase
Finally Got $10 From Chase Online Bill Pay
2007-12-27 17:13:00 An extra $10 appeared in my Chase Checking account today. I'm assuming its from the online bill pay promotion I participated in mid-October. I sent this directly towards my National City Card, making sure to leave $1 in the checking account to keep it open.Good start, $10 down.... $2590 to go :)See also:How Do I Come Up With $2600 ASAP?Keep $1 in Chase Checking to Avoid Closed AccountMake that $110 from Chase More About: Online , Finally , Bill , Hase
How Do I Come Up With $2600 ASAP?
2007-12-27 13:48:00 One of those great 0% balance transfers I wrote about is ending next month. I transferred $7000 to a National City Visa @ 0% for 6 months. The standard APR will be 19.99%. When I made the transfer this made sense. Now its my highest APR.I've spent the last two months attacking the principal including two transfers to existing cards:$1000 to Capital One, No transfer fee, 0% for 6 months, 14.74% after that$700 to Citi , No transfer fee, 6.8% for 6 months, 13.74% after thatThat will buy me some time, but now I'm on a mission. Eliminate the remaining $2600 balance ASAP. I put all of my extra cash into this account over the last month. Seriously, I've been snowflaking like crazy! I've posted 15 payments so far this month. It feels great and its only making me more determined.Now I'm fairly sure that I can't come up with $2600 cash in the next month. Maybe not even two. There aren't any more offers available with my existing accounts and I can't open a new account. I r...
How Do I Come Up With $2600 ASAP?
2007-12-27 13:48:00 One of those great 0% balance transfers I wrote about is ending next month. I transferred $7000 to a National City Visa @ 0% for 6 months. The standard APR will be 19.99%. When I made the transfer this made sense. Now its my highest APR.I've spent the last two months attacking the principal including two transfers to existing cards:$1000 to Capital One, No transfer fee, 0% for 6 months, 14.74% after that$700 to Citi , No transfer fee, 6.8% for 6 months, 13.74% after thatThat will buy me some time, but now I'm on a mission. Eliminate the remaining $2600 balance ASAP. I put all of my extra cash into this account over the last month. Seriously, I've been snowflaking like crazy! I've posted 15 payments so far this month. It feels great and its only making me more determined.Now I'm fairly sure that I can't come up with $2600 cash in the next month. Maybe not even two. There aren't any more offers available with my existing accounts and I can't open a new account. I r...
What is Your Monthly Finance Charge?
2007-12-26 15:50:00 How much do you pay to spend borrowed money each month? In my last post I exposed my annual finance charge: $2700 and asked for some suggestions on how to spend that money once I'm free of FCs. In 12 months I've reduced my monthly finance charge from $307 to $81.What is your monthly finance charge?I'm hoping to see some $0's here! If you know it isn't $0, I strongly suggest your determine the exact figure. This number can be unpleasant, but its got to be motivating. If you have finance charges you are paying to spend money thats not yours. Why? Don't do it. Find your number going into 2008 and tell yourself its got to change! You spent above your means now its time for the pendulum to swing the other way. Take control of your money. I'm proud to see my number going down. Start keeping track and I guarantee once you get to $0 you'll never want to go back.See also:Creative Ways to Spend $2700 (My Finance Charge s for 2007)7 Strategies to Reduce Finance ChargesScore W... More About: Mont
What is Your Monthly Finance Charge?
2007-12-26 15:50:00 How much do you pay to spend borrowed money each month? In my last post I exposed my annual finance charge: $2700 and asked for some suggestions on how to spend that money once I'm free of FCs. In 12 months I've reduced my monthly finance charge from $307 to $81.What is your monthly finance charge?I'm hoping to see some $0's here! If you know it isn't $0, I strongly suggest your determine the exact figure. This number can be unpleasant, but its got to be motivating. If you have finance charges you are paying to spend money thats not yours. Why? Don't do it. Find your number going into 2008 and tell yourself its got to change! You spent above your means now its time for the pendulum to swing the other way. Take control of your money. I'm proud to see my number going down. Start keeping track and I guarantee once you get to $0 you'll never want to go back.See also:Creative Ways to Spend $2700 (My Finance Charge s for 2007)7 Strategies to Reduce Finance Charges More About: Mont
Creative Ways to Spend $2700 (My Finance Charges for 2007)
2007-12-26 05:47:00 My recent post, 7 Strategies to Reduce Finance Charges, got me thinking. How much money was I really spending? Sadly, I was way too irresponsible in with financial documents to get a grand total. But thanks to the magic of electronic statements, I have been able to round up most the numbers. There are a couple of store cards and one closed Providian account that I don't have the documentation for. I've compiled a almost complete table. I present to you, Finance Charges '07.Drum roll, please.Thats looks kind of small. Here is an annotated summary.Monthly Finance Charges:January: $307.02February: $306.29March: $275.82April: $332.91 (Graduated From College)May $294.79June: $299.85July: $268.55(Got Prosper Loan)August: $239.75 (Balance Transfers)September: $107.37October: $98.22November: $94.27December: $81.46I deserve Best Borrow 2007 Awards from:Direct Merchants Bank: $696Approx Balance Befor... More About: Creative
Creative Ways to Spend $2700 (My Finance Charges for 2007)
2007-12-26 05:47:00 My recent post, 7 Strategies to Reduce Finance Charges, got me thinking. How much money was I really spending? Sadly, I was way too irresponsible in with financial documents to get a grand total. But thanks to the magic of electronic statements, I have been able to round up most the numbers. There are a couple of store cards and one closed account that I don't have the documentation for so I've compiled an almost complete table.I present to you, Finance Charges '07...Drum roll, please...Over $2700 in Finance Charges!Monthly Finance Charges:January: $307.02February: $306.29March: $275.82April: $332.91 (Graduated From College)May $294.79June: $299.85July: $268.55(Got Prosper Loan)August: $239.75 (Balance Transfers)September: $107.37October: $98.22November: $94.27December: $81.46Best Borrower 2007 Awards from:Direct Merchants Bank: $696 Annual Finance ChargeChase: $671 Annual Finance ChargeSo th... More About: Creative
Keep $1 in Chase Checking to Avoid Account Closing
2007-12-26 03:49:00 Chase closed my checking account this weekend because I had a zero balance. I signed up for the checking account to get the $100 cash bonus. I put money that goes into this account (my tutoring pay checks) directly towards debt as soon as its deposited. The terms of my cash back offer said that I must keep the account open for 6 months to qualify for the bonus. Thankfully I caught this right away so the teller said my cash is safe. If I would have missed it, I'd have to pay the $100 back. No thanks.I deposited the Christmas gift from my grandma into the account so it will be re-opened tomorrow. Although Chase does not have a minimum required balance, they will close your account if the balance is zero. I will be sending all of this deposit minus one dollar to my highest interest card asap. Merry Christmas, Chase.google_ad_client = "pub-3872446249256034";//234x60, created 1/6/08google_ad_slot = "6077160235";google_ad_width = 234;google_ad_height = 60;//-->src="http://pagead... More About: Chase , Account , Avoid , Hase
Keep $1 in Chase Checking to Avoid Account Closing
2007-12-26 03:49:00 Chase closed my checking account this weekend because I had a zero balance. I signed up for the checking account to get the $100 cash bonus. I put money that goes into this account (my tutoring pay checks) directly towards debt as soon as its deposited. The terms of my cash back offer said that I must keep the account open for 6 months to qualify for the bonus. Thankfully I caught this right away so the teller said my cash is safe. If I would have missed it, I'd have to pay the $100 back. No thanks.I deposited the Christmas gift from my grandma into the account so it will be re-opened tomorrow. Although Chase does not have a minimum required balance, they will close your account if the balance is zero. I will be sending all of this deposit minus one dollar to my highest interest card asap. Merry Christmas, Chase. More About: Chase , Account , Avoid , Hase
Merry Christmas (Carnivals)!
2007-12-25 19:07:00 Happy Holidays!Thanks to all of my new readers :)I hope to share inspiration, motivation, and financial freedom with all of you in the new year!Until then, enjoy Christmas Carnivals Putting together a carnival on Christmas Eve? That's dedication. Thanks to Mighty Bargain Hunter and the Digerati Life for including my posts in this week's blog carnivals:Carnival of Debt Reduction at the CODR HomepageCarnival of Personal Finance: Whimsical Christmas Edition at the Digerati Life More About: Merry Christmas , Merry
Merry Christmas (Carnivals)!
2007-12-24 19:07:00 Happy Holidays!Putting together a carnival on Christmas Eve? That's dedication. Thanks to Mighty Bargain Hunter and the Digerati Life for including my posts in this week's blog carnivals:Carnival of Debt Reduction at the CODR HomepageCarnival of Personal Finance: Whimsical Christmas Edition at the Digerati Life More About: Carnivals , Merry Christmas , Merry
Pre-Payment Pays Off: New Feature for Prosper Borrowers
2007-12-24 14:37:00 Has anybody noticed the new features on the Prosper site?There has been a small change to the borrowers' page: Estimated Final Payment . This is a subtle change, but it gives you an idea how much extra payments can accelerate your debt reduction.In a previous post I mentioned that making extra payments pushes back your due date a month each time. You can see here that my next payment isn't due until April 30th 2008. Next look at the estimated final payment. When they create your loan you have 36 roughly equal payments. The final may be a little more or less. My final payment is now $50 less than my monthly payment. That means I've already shaved $50 off of my total finance charge even if I don't make another payment until April 2008!I used the snowball calculator to examine four finance charge scenarios.If I never consolidated my high interest credit cards and made fixed payments of $173.18 at the average APR of 29.5%. It would have taken me 48 months to pay off my debt.... More About: Feature , Pays
Cheap Eats: Poor Girl's Chili
2007-12-23 15:31:00 In my efforts to cut cost everywhere possible I have discovered some classic meals that are cheap, tasty, and if not healthy definitely not unhealthy. Since my cheap breakfast recipe was such a hit I thought I'd share my chili recipe.Ingredients:12oz dry black beans12oz dry red kidney beans24-36oz canned tomatoes, not drained(I used one of Grandma's mason jars filled)Optional:shredded cheddartoasted breadFlavoring options:A couple packs of chili flavoringI used some chili powder, cumin, crushed red peper, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic, salt, pepper, and about a spoon full of white flour. Have no idea how much of the rest, unfortunately, just flavored to taste.Directions:Soak beans in a large pot. Either a) leave them in a pot of water over night or b) bring the pot of water to a boil then remove from heat and let them sit for an hour.Drain and rinse beans.Cook beans. Add some water and let them simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours.Drain and rinse beans.Mix beans, tomatoes, and fl... More About: Chili , Cheap , Poor
7 Strategies to Reduce Finance Charges
2007-12-22 22:26:00 How do you like that catchy title? Now that I've got your attention I want to point out a couple of important step I took to reduce my finance charges by 66%.Six months ago I was paying over $276 in finance charges every month. That's not including student loans, car loans, or mortgage. Thats over $275 finance charges to credit card companies. I can honestly say that besides rent, there is NOTHING that I spend that much on every single month. Not even on groceries, gas, and phone combined. I felt hopeless for a very long time. The first rounds of calls I made to the credit card companies to lower my rates were greeted with complete disrespect and indifference.This month my finance charges were about $93. That $183 in finance charges that now goes directly toward the principal balance each month. This alone has allowed me to accelerate my debt reduction. I also want to note here that my finance charges will jump up to around $120 in August when my 0% balance transfer expires. Stil... More About: Finance , Strategies , Reduce
Tales from the Transferred Balances
2007-12-20 22:31:00 It was a dark and stormy night. By the soft glow of an excel spreadsheet a young girl gathered up her credit card statements. The faint sound of key clicks could be heard all around as fingers typed numbers in quickly... then... all of the sudden... the sum function appeared on the screen. Her finger hovered over the enter key for just a moment before revealing the terrifying truth... The girls existing balances were on the order of $19,000 with interest rates ranging from 19.80% to 29.99%! She shrieked and immediately ran for the door, but soon realized there was no escape. The only way she could get out (of debt) alive was to beat these monsters at their own game. It was time to pull out the secret weapon: balance transfers.A balance transfer is a powerful tool if used wisely. However, failing to understand your balance transfer can be deadly cost you more in the long run.The main things to consider when selecting a balance transfer:Promotional APRThis is what they are goi... More About: Tales , Discover
Carnival of Personal Finance: Naughty or Nice Edition
2007-12-20 14:20:00 The Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Get Rich Slowly. Be sure to check out my post Scorewatch Alert. Some more good reads:The Dough Roller: The ultimate guide to traditional and Roth 401(k) and IRA accountsBankerGirl: Reading (and understanding) ?The Fine Print? I?ve Paid for This Twice Already: Five golden rules for ?snowflaking??Big Dreams and Small Change: Is it bad to ask for toilet paper for Christmas?Green Panda Treehouse: 3 ways to wisely spend your bonusBrip Blap: How to start investing More About: Personal Finance , Nice
Just a little update...
2007-12-19 13:49:00 I've been workin' hard at my day job, trying to earn my Christmas bonus (keep your fingers crossed for me please!) and meet some deadlines. Plus there is plenty of free fun to be had. Old friends are in town, etc. I'm working on a pretty interesting blog about extreme frugality, but I don't expect it to be done until tomorrow night later this week. Stay tuned :) More About: Update
118th Carnival of Debt Reduction - Winter Solstice Edition
2007-12-17 15:00:00 Welcome to the 118th Carnival of Debt Reduction - Winter Solstice Edition ! This week in Earth's orbit, our hemisphere is the tilted away from the sun - minimizing our precious daylight hours. Since most of our days will be night this week, I thought we should look to the stars to guide us through debt reduction. I'll be highlighting some of the constellations that will be visible at winter solstice (December 22 at 1:08 am EST).Editor's Picks with Ursula MajorThe Big Dipper is perhaps the most distinctive pattern in the year-round night sky. It is part of the Ursala Major constellation, Latin for the Great Bear. You'll be able to see Ursala Major on the solstice. Look in the north-east sky you'll see her tail pointing down to the horizon.Lynnae presents 12 Days of Christmas - Personal Finance Style posted at beingfrugal.net. She kicks off the 12 Days of Christmas with the first principle (and possibly the most distinctive pattern) of debt reduction - spend less than you e...
Health Savings Account: What are my options?
2007-12-16 02:08:00 In a previous post I discussed why the High Deductible Health Plan / Health Savings Plan works for me. If you're maxing out your tax-sheltered retirement accounts, any additional money put in an HSA is essentially equivalent to an IRA since you can withdraw penalty free for any purpose after age 65 (you pay income tax like an IRA unless it's for medical expenses.) In fact, even if you're not maxing your 401K and Roth it may be worth deferring some of that and maxing out the HSA because of the tax-free medical use provision. Some may think this would be counter-productive in a 3% account, of course, but with real investment vehicles it's a different story.Either way if you've decided to go with an HSA you might be wondering what to do next. Based on my initial search I'd say you have two main options:HSA Deposit Account Deposit accounts are generally FDIC insured up to $100,000. Most interest rates range from 0.5% to 4%, often tiered based on account value. There are generall... More About: Taxes , Options
Get out of Sprint Contract with No Fee
2007-12-15 16:24:00 My Money Blog posted a great article on breaking your Sprint contract. If you're a Sprint customer you may have noticed the change of terms slip in your last statement. I noticed mine, but it never occurred to me that this could be leveraged into breaking the contract. It can. Right now is the time to break your contract with no penalty.As of right now I am happy with my Sprint SERO plan. Its a great deal:500 Anytime minutesFree Nights and Weekends starting at 7pmUnlimited PCS to PCSUnlimited data (web)$30 per monthRead here about how to switch to the SERO plan and here about how Sprint's poor accounting could end up working in your favor. If you are a Sprint customer and you don't have the SERO plan, this might be a good chance to switch without penalty. Be prepared to lose your phone number if you don't have a temporary plan. I switched my number to an ATT pay-as-you-go phone for a couple days to keep mine. Just a thought! More About: Contract
Carnival of Debt Reduction is Coming to Me vs Debt!
2007-12-14 02:21:00 Nows the time to submit an article for the 118th Carnival of Debt Reduction which will be hosted right here at Me vs Debt on Monday, December 17th :)
Score Watch Alert (Your FICO Score Has Gone Up)
2007-12-12 13:42:00 Finally, after two months of lying dormant, my FICO score has begun to crawl upwards! By four points! A small victory, sure, but I love the feeling nonethless :)This has inspired me to post a blog or possibly a series on credit scoring. This post will focus on FICO scores, but keep in mind that other scores do exist and are sometimes used. Since the majority of the scores pulled are FICO we'll focus on that for now.FICO Basics I'll start with the basics. Banks and lenders generally use FICO scores to gauge the risk of borrowers. When you go to open a credit card, take out a loan, mortgage, possibly even rent an apartment or apply for a job... someone is checking out this score. When I say this score I actually mean one of these scores. Each of the three credit bureaus has an independent score for you based on some magical secret formula. The whole system is kind of shady so the most you can do is work towards keeping yourself in check and hope for the best. You hope for ... More About: Watch , Alert , Score
Comic Relief plus Good Deals at CVS
2007-12-11 23:18:00 Please read this post over at Punny Money. Its hilarious :) More About: Comic , Good , Relief , Comic Relief
Meet Debt Goals or Invest in Roth IRA?
2007-12-11 04:26:00 Lately I've been giving a lot of thought to meeting my financial goals. Its to the point where I'm already planning my financial goals for 2009! Assuming that I am already debt free by 2009, my financial goal will be to fully fund a Roth IRA and make maximum contribution to my 401(k)...Thats a very, very ambitious goal. Maybe not entirely realistic since I will still have about $40k in student loans to pay off... But thats not the point! My point is I'm starting to think about investing for retirement. The Dough Roller posted The Ultimate Guide to Traditional and Roth 401(k) and IRA Retirement Accounts today. This is a great introduction to retirement investments.Reading through this got me thinking... am I missing out on an important investment opportunity? The answer is yes. The important difference between Traditional and Roth accounts are the tax advantages.Traditional 401(k) or IRAMoney is invested pre-taxMoney gains interest tax-freeTax is paid on qualified withdraw... More About: Goals , Meet , Debt , Invest
Breakfast on the Cheap (and Cheaper)
2007-12-08 14:48:00 In my efforts to cut cost everywhere possible I have discovered some classic meals that are cheap, tasty, and if not healthy definitely not unhealthy. (Count those negatives.) I've cut my breakfast costs by 75%! I'll share my new recipe and compare it to my typical breakfast.Breakfast on the Cheap I've always been a HUGE fan of cereal and instant oatmeal for a breakfast. Talk about frugal. Find the right sale and you have a box of cereal for $2 and gallon of milk for $2.50. Assuming you will be able to use all of the servings in your gallon before they go bad I estimate this breakfast costs $0.28 per serving. Great deal and fairly healthy. Most cereals are fortified with vitamins and if you're careful about your selection they can be low on sugar, high on fiber and protein.... and CheaperI've recently re-discovered old fashioned oatmeal with honey and vanilla. It's tasty and very cheap. Not to mention nice and warm on cold winter mornings! Here is my recipe:1/3 cup...
Deposited Rebate Check from Sprint
2007-12-07 00:45:00 A previous post described how I got a great deal on a Sprint phone/plan.More recent news is that they gave me more rebate than I expected.To be precise, they gave me a $200 rebate. I paid $158.99 for my new phone before rebates which means they are paying me $41.01 for taking a phone and getting a great deal on a service plan. My first two bills were only $6.80 after the $25 invoice credits. Wow, I'm glad I switched plans. I'm counting this money as December Challenge income and snowflaking it towards my highest interest card! More About: Check , Rebate
This Week's Carnivals
2007-12-06 12:35:00 Thanks to Patrick at Cash Money Life for hosting two Carnivals this week! Stop by and check out the 1st Carnival of Financial Goals and the 129th Carnival of Personal Finance.I loved reading through everyone's financial goals for 2008. Its interesting to see people going through different stages of financial goals. Best wishes to everyone!Some PF that I enjoyed:Five Lessons Monopoly can Teach us about Real Estate Investing at Two Acres. After carefully considering my Monopoly strategy I think that it may actually be a bad influence on my life. It usually involves going into debt because I want to buy everything, then eventually I make my money back on some obscure investment like railroads. Thats a winning ticket in Monopoly but not so much in real life. Great post.Generation X Finance provides a Visual History of the Stock Market from 1997-2007. This reminds me not to freak out about volatility in the market.Paid Twice posted Budgeting and Time Management - Two Surprisingl...
Sprint Rebate More Than Expected... Should I be suspicious?
2007-12-06 05:09:00 I finally got my Sprint Rebate ... I think. As I discussed in my first post, I am waiting for 2 rebates. One from Sprint for $50 and one from Kellogg for $75. Basic math tells me to expect $125 total, probably in two payments. The rebate check I received in the mail today was for $200....?It doesn't look fake. But it doesn't make sense.Does anyone else have any idea what might be going on here?
Made an Extra Payment to Prosper Loan
More articles from this author:2007-12-04 02:35:00 This month I expected to have a traffic violation related expense. Turns out I'm off the hook so I'm using the money I had allocated for that to make an extra payment to Prosper :) I've been making an additional payment towards my loan every other month or so. The cool thing about extra payments to the Prosper loan is that it pushes back your due date each time. I still plan on paying once (or twice) a month but my next payment isn't scheduled until March 28, 2008. Nice to know that I'd have a little leeway if I needed it. I almost wish that credit cards worked that way... More About: Loan , Made , Payment , Extra 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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