Debt Dumpers - 2014

[Eureka]

Hugs!! I know how you feel - washing machine went up on Thursday Sooo.... since the washer and dryer are the same age I just took the plunge and replaced both. Really didn't want too but with all the discounts applied I basically got the dryer 1/2 off. And I figured if not, Murphy would hit and then the dryer would go up.

Yeah, and this is after our dryer died last month too. On the bright side, got the kids registered for summer swim team and finished saving for our beach house rental this week without pulling from savings.

Good plan to buy both at once. Our dryer lasted 2.5 years longer than our washer but it's clear now we wasted a lot of electricity when it was slowly dying.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hi guys. Joining in & not sure how to start, but here goes! I have about $1,200 in various credit card debt at the moment that I'm looking to pay off. Not a great time for me to get motivated since they have cut our hours at work. But, having my hours cut was a bit of a wake-up call, too. It's definitely temporary, but it's put us in a bit of a crunch at the moment.

I'm trying to cut spending. I'm making a daily log of everything I spend money on this month so I can figure out where my money is going day-to-day. I've cut out some monthly expenses including our satellite; we mostly use Netflix, anyway, and the only new show we watch - the Walking Dead - we can buy individual episodes on Amazon when it comes back on this fall. So that's saving $82 a month. I purchased a $30 antenna at Wal-Mart so we can get our local channels.

I have $1,000 socked away for emergencies so my next step is the snowball method. Once I get everything paid off, I'll start on my car which I owe a little under $5K on. It will be paid off March 2015 if I stay on schedule, but I'd like to pay it off a little early. Then the mortgage, which has a $97K balance.

On the mortgage... I have a question. I have a 30 year mortgage which I've been paying on for about 5 years. Would it be better to refinance to a 15 year mortgage when I get these other debts paid off? I'm really clueless on this subject and thought I might start here finding help.

You're off to a good start!
I would call your mortgage bank and ask about refinancing. Going from a 30 yr to a 15 yr isn't much more per month because the rate is usually lower also.
Depending on your interest rate on your current mortgage, it may not even go up at all.
We refi'd our 15 yr 3 yrs ago and still the rates dropped so much that we refi'd again in early 2013. At first we thought that was crazy to do it again so soon but it knocked 260/month off our payment. That $260 is now part of our snowball.
Our mortgage is with Chase and they made it easy with almost 0 out of pocket. We just had to pay a couple hundred for the appraisal.


YMMV.

 

[freckles04]

You're off to a good start!
I would call your mortgage bank and ask about refinancing. Going from a 30 yr to a 15 yr isn't much more per month because the rate is usually lower also.
Depending on your interest rate on your current mortgage, it may not even go up at all.
We refi'd our 15 yr 3 yrs ago and still the rates dropped so much that we refi'd again in early 2013. At first we thought that was crazy to do it again so soon but it knocked 260/month off our payment. That $260 is now part of our snowball.
Our mortgage is with Chase and they made it easy with almost 0 out of pocket. We just had to pay a couple hundred for the appraisal.


YMMV.

Thank you so much! I will definitely talk to the bank after I get the car paid off.

Do you typically have to make a down payment again when refinancing?

 

[lovingeire]

Hi all! I was in the 2013 group and while we've made some progress we are still very slowly working on our debt snowball and getting rid of our debt. We have cut up all of our credit cards so there's no putting anything on credit cards for us! We just keep finding things happen and then we're back to rebuilding our emergency fund! So here we are still working on paying off the cc debt that I was hoping to have all paid off by the end of this year. But I guess slow and steady wins the race! We will get there!

 

[LilacBarries]

Hi all! I was in the 2013 group and while we've made some progress we are still very slowly working on our debt snowball and getting rid of our debt. We have cut up all of our credit cards so there's no putting anything on credit cards for us! We just keep finding things happen and then we're back to rebuilding our emergency fund! So here we are still working on paying off the cc debt that I was hoping to have all paid off by the end of this year. But I guess slow and steady wins the race! We will get there!

We were in the same boat from 2010-2013. we hadn't used the cards but never seemed to be able to keep our EF funded but I always reminded myself at least we're not taking on more debt. We're finally on track to have all our cc debt paid off by the end of the year. Still a looooonngg way off from being debt free as we have a lot of student loans but as they say just keep swimming.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thank you so much! I will definitely talk to the bank after I get the car paid off.

Do you typically have to make a down payment again when refinancing?

No. Your equity is your down payment so to speak. Well we bought 17 yrs ago so we had a good amount of equity but tapped it to pay off cc's several years ago & remodeled our 1960s kitchen.

So true that the easy fix doesn't work, just like with dieting. Having liposuction may make the scale display fewer pounds but to fix it permanently it takes sometimes painful lifestyle changes. This time we're doing it the right way: diet & exercise.


I suppose if you're under water or have very little equity, it may be difficult. There were closing costs, a few thousand, but they rolled it into the new mortgage. Even with them doing that, our payment still dropped enough to make it worth our while.

IIRC, there are new laws that once you have to buy mortgage insurance, you are stuck with it the entire life of the mortgage. Back when we first bought, we simply needed to show to our mortgage company by appraisal that we had at least 20% equity and they dropped it. So I would probably not want to enter into a situation where you now have to pay it when before you did not but closing costs added to your balance would cause you to have to pay it. I would avoid that PMI if at all possible.

 

[PrincessKymm]

So frustrated right now!!! DS may need a loop recorder to read his heartbeats to even get a diagnosis for treatment. Ok fine scary but doable. So I try to find out if it's covered but they can't help me until I have a diagnostic code. Ok fine so I call today and will get a call back. I get a call from the billing department that my balance is $2,337.46. WHAT?!?! The hospital is telling me the insurance company denied claim and that his secondary insurances paid $1100. So I get all my options hang up and go online to my insurance company and get the EOBs and they say I owe $1248.12 before the second insurance picks anything up. I'm soooooo mad and frustrated. I called our insurance rep (the lady who comes in to sell to us) and she is helping me figure this out since I'm at work. This is just so stupid!

 

[Tanzanite]

Last year i got Slate credit card it has 0% plus no balance transfer fee . I transfered a balance and will pay it off by Nov so no interest .Only card no transfer fee i know of. Saves a lot of interest as long paid off.

 

[Tanzanite]

So frustrated right now!!! DS may need a loop recorder to read his heartbeats to even get a diagnosis for treatment. Ok fine scary but doable. So I try to find out if it's covered but they can't help me until I have a diagnostic code. Ok fine so I call today and will get a call back. I get a call from the billing department that my balance is $2,337.46. WHAT?!?! The hospital is telling me the insurance company denied claim and that his secondary insurances paid $1100. So I get all my options hang up and go online to my insurance company and get the EOBs and they say I owe $1248.12 before the second insurance picks anything up. I'm soooooo mad and frustrated. I called our insurance rep (the lady who comes in to sell to us) and she is helping me figure this out since I'm at work. This is just so stupid!

So sorry hope it ok i hate insurance companys and hospitals big rip offs My insurance always makes me get a pre Authorization .

 

[dayvewc]

Hey all. Back again. Been missing from the Dis for a couple of months. Just had to come here and vent a little bit.

Things were going well. Had 1 cc paid off with tax refund. Was working on paying down the other 2 with the snowball and BAM!! Missed a month of work at my second job b/c my dad was in the hospital for prostate surgery (and then back in for improper drainage on his catheter, then back in to reset the catheter, then back in again with a suspected stroke ... just a really rough 4-6 weeks).

Dad is finally doing better, and at home, when mom has a mini-stroke and loses the sight in her left eye. So, now I'm missing more days of work (though not all weekends) driving her to do her shopping etc. Luckily, my sister is able to take her (and dad) to their doctor appointments.

Then last week, my SO became unemployed. So no contributions towards bills, mortgage, or utilities.

AAARRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! Can I just scream a little bit? Why is it that it seems like the harder I work, it just means the further behind I get?

Anyway. Thanks for letting me vent.

On the positive sides, I did get a stipend today from my primary job that I wasn't expecting for another month AND it was for the full amount that they pay (I thought I was going to have to split it with two other people b/c we were sharing the responsibilities). Plus, I got notice about 2 weeks ago that I do have my normal summer job (they got a new director this January, and she had mentioned that she wanted an entire new summer crew). So, it's not all bad, it just seemed to pile up all at once. These things should be spread out and scheduled. Kind of like FP+ "Yes, I need to schedule the mental breakdown on Oct 28, but the heart attack fits best if it isn't until March 15."

 

[Eureka]

Hey all. Back again. Been missing from the Dis for a couple of months. Just had to come here and vent a little bit.

Things were going well. Had 1 cc paid off with tax refund. Was working on paying down the other 2 with the snowball and BAM!! Missed a month of work at my second job b/c my dad was in the hospital for prostate surgery (and then back in for improper drainage on his catheter, then back in to reset the catheter, then back in again with a suspected stroke ... just a really rough 4-6 weeks).

Dad is finally doing better, and at home, when mom has a mini-stroke and loses the sight in her left eye. So, now I'm missing more days of work (though not all weekends) driving her to do her shopping etc. Luckily, my sister is able to take her (and dad) to their doctor appointments.

Then last week, my SO became unemployed. So no contributions towards bills, mortgage, or utilities.

AAARRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! Can I just scream a little bit? Why is it that it seems like the harder I work, it just means the further behind I get?

Anyway. Thanks for letting me vent.

On the positive sides, I did get a stipend today from my primary job that I wasn't expecting for another month AND it was for the full amount that they pay (I thought I was going to have to split it with two other people b/c we were sharing the responsibilities). Plus, I got notice about 2 weeks ago that I do have my normal summer job (they got a new director this January, and she had mentioned that she wanted an entire new summer crew). So, it's not all bad, it just seemed to pile up all at once. These things should be spread out and scheduled. Kind of like FP+ "Yes, I need to schedule the mental breakdown on Oct 28, but the heart attack fits best if it isn't until March 15."

Sorry to hear about your parents. I hope recovery continues well for both of them. Glad to see you have a sense of humor about it all happening at once. You know this will all pass and somehow it's all going to work out. Just think how lucky you are to be able to help your family through this (and how lucky they are to have you). Some families don't have that option for whatever reasons.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

IIRC, there are new laws that once you have to buy mortgage insurance, you are stuck with it the entire life of the mortgage. Back when we first bought, we simply needed to show to our mortgage company by appraisal that we had at least 20% equity and they dropped it. So I would probably not want to enter into a situation where you now have to pay it when before you did not but closing costs added to your balance would cause you to have to pay it. I would avoid that PMI if at all possible.

Yikes! I did not know that! All the more reason to have the full 20% down payment when we go to buy a house in about 2 yrs. Thanks for the heads up!

I'm re-reading Millionaire Next Door and reading Stop Acting Rich (same author) - he recommends not getting a mortgage for more than 2x your annual income. If we can keep our heads and stick to that, we'll be able to meet our 20% down payment goal within our buying timeline.

 

[gjl]

Removed

 

[zy144622]

Trying to "just keep swimming" but starting to feel like I'm in a hamster ball. Only have $4160 left in CC debt but and was feeling great about plowing throw it. Of course being in a wedding had a few other Murphy's law events have come up. I've only been able to thrown $200-250 towards debt for the last 3 months when my goal was $300-400. I know the fact that's there's no new debt is great but want to see more progress!!!

 

[rusafee1183]

Said good bye to Sallie Mae today! It feels so good to get rid of that bill!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Duplicate

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hey all. Back again. Been missing from the Dis for a couple of months. Just had to come here and vent a little bit.

Things were going well. Had 1 cc paid off with tax refund. Was working on paying down the other 2 with the snowball and BAM!! Missed a month of work at my second job b/c my dad was in the hospital for prostate surgery (and then back in for improper drainage on his catheter, then back in to reset the catheter, then back in again with a suspected stroke ... just a really rough 4-6 weeks).

Dad is finally doing better, and at home, when mom has a mini-stroke and loses the sight in her left eye. So, now I'm missing more days of work (though not all weekends) driving her to do her shopping etc. Luckily, my sister is able to take her (and dad) to their doctor appointments.

Then last week, my SO became unemployed. So no contributions towards bills, mortgage, or utilities.

AAARRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! Can I just scream a little bit? Why is it that it seems like the harder I work, it just means the further behind I get?

Anyway. Thanks for letting me vent.

On the positive sides, I did get a stipend today from my primary job that I wasn't expecting for another month AND it was for the full amount that they pay (I thought I was going to have to split it with two other people b/c we were sharing the responsibilities). Plus, I got notice about 2 weeks ago that I do have my normal summer job (they got a new director this January, and she had mentioned that she wanted an entire new summer crew). So, it's not all bad, it just seemed to pile up all at once. These things should be spread out and scheduled. Kind of like FP+ "Yes, I need to schedule the mental breakdown on Oct 28, but the heart attack fits best if it isn't until March 15."

I hope your parents get better soon. It's so hard. My in-laws are in the same boat. They keep taking turns in and out of the hospital.
All you can do is take one day at a time.

Hopefully your SO can get another job quickly. Dh has been laid off 4x since we've been together but luckily he's really handy & could do side work until the next job. One of those times was 2 weeks after we bought our house which was a fixer upper. Then 4 days later had a baby. We were so glad we went with the smaller, less expensive of the 2 homes we wanted.

Hang in there...

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Our good news: tomorrow I'll be paying off cc #7.

The bad: now I get to funnel our snowball for the next few weeks to the $1200 needed for our termite treatment.

Still swimming here!

 

[OhMari]

Said good bye to Sallie Mae today! It feels so good to get rid of that bill!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Modern day Loan Sharks.

 

[PrincessKymm]

Said good bye to Sallie Mae today! It feels so good to get rid of that bill! Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Congratulations!!!!