I haven't posted much because dogedly paying your bills every month isn't that exciting. Well, until you start making some headway, at least. So what has been happening lately?
1. Well, after a year or so of being lazy and putting it off, I finally shipped off all of my jewelry cast-offs to a company called
Gold Stash. It came highly recommended by Dave Ramsey. I had several pieces - some earrings, bracelets, necklaces given to me by my ex that I knew I absolutely did not want to keep. I also had no idea what they were really worth, but I am too reluctant to spend much time putting effort into trying to get the best deal. The Gold Stash method of getting rid of your unwanted gold is painless and pretty easy. Was it worth it? Well, given what I had sent them - 2 pr. earrings, 4 necklaces, 2 bracelets and 2 rings, I only garnered about $120. Nothing worth running to the blog to write about, but it was better than letting these unwanted items languish in my dresser drawer for another 10 years. I don't feel ripped off, but given the price of gold right now, I was expecting something more in the $200 range.
2. We are now celebrating 18 mo. of credit-free living. We paid off the second of Dean's three credit cards and closed one of them since it required an annual fee. We will begin using the one that is paid off on a quarterly or monthly basis by using it on something small and paying it off immediately. Our loan officer said that we don't want the card to go completely inactive, because for purposes of raising the credit score, active credit that is paid in full every month looks really, really good. We are considering maybe putting something really small like Netflix on there, and then paying it immediately.
3. I called my credit card company last week to request that they lower my interest rate. I've had this account for about 20 years now, so I have a long history with them. Most of it good, with a few mistakes here and there, and because of those mistakes, I got penalized with a ridiculous rate of 29.99% a few years back. I got that reduced after some tough negotiating, and I've been stuck paying 19.99% for almost two years now. I called about a year ago, and they refused to budge, even though my payment history for the prior year was spotless. So, I thought it was time to try again. I got nowhere (of course - they don't ever give in immediately) with the first person I talked to, so I requested her manager. In the span of a couple minutes, he came on the line and agreed that they would reduce my rate to 12.99%. It's that easy! Don't ever take 'no' for an answer. If you keep up with on-time payments AND your credit/loan payment history with other lenders looks good as well (on-time payments and so forth), you should be able to make your case and get the rate reduction that you are looking for. It is worth the phone call - so be patient, be persistent and don't delay! This move alone, when we plugged the numbers into the remaining snowball payment spreadsheet, saved several hundred dollars in interest and moved up our debt-free date by a month.
4. Debt consolidation. The day after my phone call to the credit card company, I went into our bank to make a deposit for Jordan. The teller asked me what rates we were currently paying on our credit cards and car loan. Was it prying? Yes. Was I irritated? Hell no - I was proud of the fact that I had scored a huge win against the evil credit card people, so I was only too happy to share! He asked if I would be interested in exploring the possibility of reducing our auto loan rate. Sure - call me up! So, the next day a loan officer from the bank called me and we set up an appointment for later in the week. We have been paying on our van loan for about four years now. We will be using the van as collateral to secure a debt consolidation loan at a 4.99% interest rate. We will be using the funds to pay off the remaining balance on the van loan (7.25%), the last of Dean's credit cards (17.99%), and about a third of my remaining credit card balance (now 12.99%). By shuffling our debts around like this and consolidating them, we will be saving an additional two thousand in interest and moving up our debt pay-off date by another month. Another bonus is that Dean will no longer have any revolving debt, and come September, our next debt target - my credit card - will be paid off in full, which means I will no longer have any revolving debt either. This fact alone will boost our credit scores by around 70-80 points, putting us back in the range of 750-780. I don't know how to express how HUGE this is. We will be officially in the market for a new home at the beginning of next year, and our debt-payoff date is that October, so things are really, really looking up.
This has, at times, felt like an endless slog that was getting us nowhere, but we are finally seeing the results of living on a budget. Had we stuck to our budget with absolute rigidity we might have kept our original payoff date of July '14, but we've needed wiggle-room every now and then. We've still got this final goal to meet, but with the end in sight, it will be easier to say 'no' to the financial wants and desires that have sent us off-track in the past.
