Debt Dumpers - 2015

[AlohaNow]

Today DH’s student loans will be paid off. The monthly amount was never killing us, and we consolidated through the fed about nine years ago at an historic low interest rate of 2.25%. That is why we never paid this one off early, although at certain times we could have. The payment cannot be snowballed into paying our credit card though, as his pay has been down since the spring, so we need that money just to live. But still, the only red I see in Quicken now is mortgage and credit card!

Small victories, ya know?

 

[Colleen27]

Someone mentioned the ticket and food prices at WDW. I feel we hit our thresh hold too. Me and my dh both have some days left on our non expiring tickets. I feel we are going to hold onto them until some of this construction gets completed. We have been going every Feb. or April for the last 10 years and my dh loves to go, just not to the parks. He feels there is too much construction or he is tired of seeing the same things. (Gasp) but I agree. In Feb. we are going over to Universal-haven't been there in a long time.

We're getting there too. I've got a solo trip for a conference in Orlando next month and that's the only trip we have planned for the immediate future unless we end up tagging along with my mother again (just me & my girls). My husband and son have no desire to go back to WDW until the Star Wars expansion is complete - between the construction and FP+ we just don't get as much out of it as we used to, and DH in particular feels the cost to value ratio is way out of whack these days. But we are heading to Universal in January to see the Harry Potter and Springfield additions.

For those looking for a credit score, Quizzle.com will give you a free score every 6 months, no credit card or subscription required. (Of course they offer subscription-based plans with more frequent access, but they don't push them agressively or spam you with offers so the free service is definitely worth checking out.)

 

[dayvewc]

Hi. I am enjoying reading this thread as we are currently working our way out of debt. I recently pulled our credit reports to make sure there are no surprises there and their wasn't. I just pulled the free annual report. I wasn't going to pay extra for the FICO score. I see some talking about FICO score. Really, do you need to know what that is? I have no idea what ours is but I know I have a high debt ratio. I have used the USAA debt tools, calculators, etc. on their website since I am a USAA member and do my banking, investments, etc with them.

I have an appointment Wed with a financial advisor (this is a free service through my company which is a financial institution, but I don't work in the financial side) to get their opinion. I already know what they will say but figured since they were offering face-to-face reviews with employees in the other departments I would take them up on it. It did prompt me to put together a spreadsheet of all our debt, current balances, interest rates, etc. So now I have a clear picture of which accounts I should target to paying off first. There are a couple I plan to snowball because of the high interest rate, and a couple for their low balance but higher monthly payment to free up that cash to snowball another. For example, our second mortgage is now just a few months from being paid off, but I plan to pay it off on September 1st because that's $805 to free up although the interest is much lower than other debts. I have paid off about 6 accounts (Best Buy, Firestone, JcPenny, etc.) within the last 9 months and that feels great!

These are the three accounts that I am targeting to pay off September 1st if I receive a check I am expecting. Plus we have to do some home repairs with the extra check (dapper in the attic needs replacing, etc).

$2,753.15 9.625% Second Mortgage

$1,865.36 10.24% Military Star Card (It's like a store card just for the base store. It has the lowest balance of all my active accounts, so I am targeting it and we received notice the program is changing so good time to pay it off and now switch to the new program!)

$3,297.67 28.99% Zales (Hate this account, I was going to pay it off before the interest hit and then let it slip. But I love my upgraded wedding ring. )

$4,982.16 26.99% CareCredit (for emergency surgery for my adult son when he didn't have health insurance. broke his wrist and needed 7 pins, 3 screws and metal plates. Ugh. He is primary on the account but I had to co-sign).

I am really wondering if I should pay for my FICO score? There is a paid service I know I can sigh up for through USAA that monitors your credit for you, but not sure if I should sign-up.

After paying off the bills mentioned that leaves our primary mortgage, two car loans, A/C replacement account, and four credit cards! I should take paying off the primary mortgage off the goals as that has a long ways to go, but getting rid of the other interest bearing accounts is going to be fantastic!

People talk about getting rid of cable, but I checked on that option once. Cancelling cable would INCREASE my monthly bill because of the cable/internet bundle. I was told the internet we have is the best (most expensive) they offer so the price of internet would increase to the regular price vs. the bundle price, increasing the monthly bill. So we do have cable. I don't think my DH and 3 boys would want to get rid of it although they do also watch shows on netflicks. I am taking online college classes, my kids taken online classes with their school as well in addition to regular school/home work needs the Internet for their online textbooks, etc. so getting rid of Internet is not an option.

Many credit card companies and banks now offer FICO scores for free. I have one credit card and my credit union account that let's me do it for sure. I might have more. Try logging I to your accounts and clucking around. Maybe you have one that offers it too.

I was going to add in that my Wal-Mart card (that I use for gas at Murphy's to get the extra 3 cent discount) offers a free credit score each month. It is kind of hidden on the website, but it is there if you click around. Also, when I had a Discover card, they were offering a free score each month as well. I'm not sure if any of my other credit cards offer the free score, but I know I have seen it advertised for several different ones, so it won't hurt to check.

I'm kind of agreeing with the exasperation with Disney and construction. Why can't it be finished yesterday? ;-) I'm still planning a couple of trips over the next several years, but I am going to Universal as much or more than to Disney at this point. I will be very happy when all the expansions are finished, but am also very anxious to see what they do with the Star Wars world.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Great job! We've been packing lunches for years and I cringe when I see what some coworkers pay each day for lunch. So if they're married or have a S.O. that means x2!! Yikes!
Have you tried sitting your dh down to talk about paying more than minimums? This would make me bonkers and would get my dh fired from his bill-paying job. lol. He is very passive and doesn't argue much on how we go about it, as long as we were making progress. Not all men are so easy to let go of the reins.
You really get no where paying just the minimum. If you look on your statement it will spell out how long it will take to pay off if you only pay the minimum, assuming you don't charge any more. Maybe you could convince him to part with more savings to pay bills down? It's good to have some safety net but as long as you're paying interest on debt, that is likely costing you more than what your savings account earns. Of course if that $ is earmarked for certain future, non-monthly bills such as car insurance or property taxes, it would make sense to hold onto it.
I followed Dave Ramsey for paying down debt and he suggested keeping $1000 for an emergency fund. It does seem like a small amount but rarely in our 2 years of paying down did something suddenly cost us more than that. Even $2K would be good but once you start seeing that balance drop, drop, drop it's actually exciting to pay bills on payday. (or maybe I just really need to get out more! lol!) There are some aspects about DR's plan that I just couldn't agree with such as cutting out all unnecessary spending such as cable, cell phones, car payments, vacations, etc. He also suggested to stop funding our retirement plans while we're paying down debt. I just couldn't cut down that far. He is right in that the more spending that gets cut out of the budget, the faster the debt pay down occurs. So perhaps instead of it taking us 2 years, maybe it would have only taken us 8-10 months if we followed every piece of advice. It's good to find the right balance so that you're reminded of your motivation but not on a starvation diet that is unrealistic to stick to.
Good luck to you.

Well he wants to have all our "extra" accounts into savings then we'll look at how to attack our debt he says. We have LOTS of various cards with 0% balances so I know he has no interest in attacking those with our extra money right now. (Best Buy, Home Depot, a CC to pay for our siding, etc). We have 2 credit cards sitting on 0% offers right now about to expire. One has $1500, the other $10k! I think I need to shop around to move that $10k to something zero again (not sure I'll qualify for a $10k balance right off the bat again....ah those were the days).

I agree though $25-35 here and there isn't making a dent on these balances (except the 0% interest). So we need to gather up each card and get a game plan going on them.....And stop absorbing "found" money all the time. For us, a pay raise or an unexpected refund equals more money to live off of. We need to live off what we are now (or maybe a bit less) and use that found money to pay off our mountain!

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Joining in! I need all the motivation and encouragement I can get

We have been tackling our debt hardcore since January 2014. At the time we were in the triple digits, not including mortgage Some of it was from stupid, unnecessary things. Some of it was completely necessary. Lots of it was just from being young and stupid with our money and not having a budget for years and years.

I am proud to say that we are now in the double digits for our total balance, but we still have a LONG way to go. I'm not comfortable disclosing the monetary amount, but if I don't have some visibility I won't stay completely accountable. So, I will say this. We have 12 medical bills, 6 credit cards, 7 student loans, 2 personal loans, 1 stupid collection, our son's private school tuition, 1 car and padding our savings account.

And I know many people will disagree with this, but although we are working hard at paying all this off, we aren't giving up 100% everything that we could to do so. We want to teach our kids the importance of budgets and how to be smart with their money. However, we also do not want to deprive them because of OUR mistakes. Plus, I know us and if we got rid of every single "fun" thing in our life we would crash and burn. Quick. So, yes, we do have cable and we go to the movies sometimes, or to the fair or to Chuck 'E Cheese. And, yes, we have a trip we are planning that we don't intend to cancel. But we are working hard on not going out to eat so much. Every time we come in to unexpected money we put 75% towards debt and 25% towards our fun fund. We are using the snowball method and so far it's working for us.

So, in a nutshell that's our story. Can't wait to read everyone's success stories

While we're not in the triple digits (I'm assuming you mean 6 figures with that), we are in the 5 figure range without cars or mortgage...that would take us into the 6 figures and then some!

I agree with your mindset. When I posted in a group I'm in on FB (not a money related group) people were telling me to sell my house and move, get rid of my cars, go to only one (my husband and I both have GREAT jobs and both need cars). They told me to pull my daughter from travel soccer (her lifeline) and my son from hockey (his MUCH NEEDED energy activity). Basically lots of stuff that doesn't work for my family. For example, I live in one of the NICEST areas of SE Michigan. We bought the cheapest house in the nicest area.....Our mortgage is $1200. We could NOT get an apartment for that in this area. Our option would be to move to a less save area with crappier schools (ours are top notch and as a teacher that's VERY important). So why would the maybe $300-400 I save a month be worth something like that?

Anyways, I'm of the opinion if you have a plan that works and you are making the sacrifices your family can do...and then maybe push the envelope a bit more....then that's good! Think of it as a diet. If you went 500 calories, you'd lose weight fast, but you couldn't do that very long.

 

[momtosam]

What has really been working for me is focusing on just one debt at a time. I know this is what DR preaches, but having debt spread out over several accounts/cards has always made me panic. I've found myself throwing small amounts of money here or there without making a dent in any of them. I've finally gotten myself focused on just one bill at a time and throw everything at it that I can. I can see the balance go down and it is very motivating. I'm so mad at myself for not getting a focused plan sooner.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

What has really been working for me is focusing on just one debt at a time. I know this is what DR preaches, but having debt spread out over several accounts/cards has always made me panic. I've found myself throwing small amounts of money here or there without making a dent in any of them. I've finally gotten myself focused on just one bill at a time and throw everything at it that I can. I can see the balance go down and it is very motivating. I'm so mad at myself for not getting a focused plan sooner.

This was the key for me. I never knew how to create a plan. It all just seemed so overwhelming. I added up all of our bills just using minimum payment amounts. To be rid of all of it except our mortgage would free up $15k per year. Wow!
That's a lot of $ for US instead of toward bills!
That's what motivated me in the beginning and then having some guidance and a simple plan pointed me in the right direction. I used to disagree with DR in that one should start with higher interest bills but was willing to try his plan of starting with the smallest. It really is a psychological thing. It a few weeks I was crossing small bills off the list (like $275 for our lawn mower at Sears). In a few months my snowball was really growing and it felt great. Seeing that progress and knowing that your plan is working is the greatest motivation to keep going.

 

[ariel1025]

I don't disagree!! You need to have family time & fun too! You have a plan that's working for you & your family, that's what matters most.

DH & I love going to the movies, so to make it fit our budget we almost always do matinees on our days off together which is only $5 each! Plus the theatre always has a coupon on their site for a free small popcorn! Also if we dine out I try to go to a place with coupons (Olive Garden, carrabbas, Outback always have coupons) or a good special of the day (Carrabbas & Outback have good 3 Course meal deals on sun & wed).

Life is short, you have to enjoy it!

Welcome aboard! There's a great bunch of people here!!

Thanks for the support

We also try to make sure our dining is at places with coupons. That or the 2 for $20 specials. My kiddos fall into the "grazer" categories of eating so one 2 for $20 special feeds all of us easily.

This happened to me. Multiple times. And more than just crashing and burning, I would rubberband back completely to OVERSPEND OVERSPEND and end up in even worse shape than I started. So now I am embracing the idea that fun can be part of your life while paying off debt.

Good luck!!

Oh, yeah, I definitely fell into the rubberband cycle for a long, long time. A BIG reason we are in the position we are in today. That and working at the mall in my "younger" days was NEVER a good idea for me

You can get your free score at creditkarma.com You do have to set up an account. I've been using them for 2 years.

Someone mentioned the ticket and food prices at WDW. I feel we hit our thresh hold too. Me and my dh both have some days left on our non expiring tickets. I feel we are going to hold onto them until some of this construction gets completed. We have been going every Feb. or April for the last 10 years and my dh loves to go, just not to the parks. He feels there is too much construction or he is tired of seeing the same things. (Gasp) but I agree. In Feb. we are going over to Universal-haven't been there in a long time.

Thanks! We actually both did open a credit karma "account" a couple months ago It is frustrating to see our credit score rise on certain things and then take drops when we pay off a balance though

And, yes, I agree completely about the ticket and food prices and threshhold at Disney. The trip we are planning now was already pre-planned with my parents (we live 12 hours away, so their time with my kids is limited to a couple times a year), so we won't be cancelling this one. But my husband and I have already made an agreement with each other that this is the last year for back-to-back Disney trips. Going forward they will be every other (or every third) year. As much as I love (!) Disney there much less expensive options out there. And I suppose it would be good for my kids to see the real world

Well he wants to have all our "extra" accounts into savings then we'll look at how to attack our debt he says. We have LOTS of various cards with 0% balances so I know he has no interest in attacking those with our extra money right now. (Best Buy, Home Depot, a CC to pay for our siding, etc). We have 2 credit cards sitting on 0% offers right now about to expire. One has $1500, the other $10k! I think I need to shop around to move that $10k to something zero again (not sure I'll qualify for a $10k balance right off the bat again....ah those were the days).

I agree though $25-35 here and there isn't making a dent on these balances (except the 0% interest). So we need to gather up each card and get a game plan going on them.....And stop absorbing "found" money all the time. For us, a pay raise or an unexpected refund equals more money to live off of. We need to live off what we are now (or maybe a bit less) and use that found money to pay off our mountain!

This! This was our nemesis for such a long time. Both the mindset of it's 0% interest so it's not urgent AND increasing our way of living with every raise, bonus, birthday gift etc. It was ridiculously hard to break that cycle, but once we did it became easier and easier to begin to do. And we are so much less stressed now.

Good luck on your path

While we're not in the triple digits (I'm assuming you mean 6 figures with that), we are in the 5 figure range without cars or mortgage...that would take us into the 6 figures and then some!

I agree with your mindset. When I posted in a group I'm in on FB (not a money related group) people were telling me to sell my house and move, get rid of my cars, go to only one (my husband and I both have GREAT jobs and both need cars). They told me to pull my daughter from travel soccer (her lifeline) and my son from hockey (his MUCH NEEDED energy activity). Basically lots of stuff that doesn't work for my family. For example, I live in one of the NICEST areas of SE Michigan. We bought the cheapest house in the nicest area.....Our mortgage is $1200. We could NOT get an apartment for that in this area. Our option would be to move to a less save area with crappier schools (ours are top notch and as a teacher that's VERY important). So why would the maybe $300-400 I save a month be worth something like that?

Anyways, I'm of the opinion if you have a plan that works and you are making the sacrifices your family can do...and then maybe push the envelope a bit more....then that's good! Think of it as a diet. If you went 500 calories, you'd lose weight fast, but you couldn't do that very long.

Yes, I guess saying 6 figures makes more sense, sorry about that We have our car added into our debit figures and we are FINALLY down to 5 figures including that.

Yep, there was a Facebook group that I was in previously that I had to pull myself out of because they were too hardcore for our decisions. I get that it works for some, but I also don't want to be made to feel bad because I'm taking a different approach. An approach that is still very difficult for us and had us making some huge sacrifices (such as selling our dream house because we finally had to admit that we couldn't, now and probably not ever, comfortably afford the payment). However, it sounds like in your situation it would make absolutely NO sense to sell your home. We all have to do what works for us

Good luck on your journey!!

This was the key for me. I never knew how to create a plan. It all just seemed so overwhelming. I added up all of our bills just using minimum payment amounts. To be rid of all of it except our mortgage would free up $15k per year. Wow!
That's a lot of $ for US instead of toward bills!
That's what motivated me in the beginning and then having some guidance and a simple plan pointed me in the right direction. I used to disagree with DR in that one should start with higher interest bills but was willing to try his plan of starting with the smallest. It really is a psychological thing. It a few weeks I was crossing small bills off the list (like $275 for our lawn mower at Sears). In a few months my snowball was really growing and it felt great. Seeing that progress and knowing that your plan is working is the greatest motivation to keep going.

We hard a hard time realizing we needed a plan as well. It sounds crazy because it's seems so obvious, but it's true. And the minimum payment vs yearly savings math is what kicked us into gear too ($20k for us ).

We do our own version of the DR snowball plan. It's a combination of smallest balances, 0% interest deadlines, large payments vs small balances to free up more money etc. It took a bunch of different spreadsheets to see what would work out best, but I think I've figured out the best plan of attack. Over time, if we only paid minimum payments, we would pay a total of $7k in interest vs $12K if we did the snowball plan in the smallest to largest debt format.

But, yes, crossing debts off the list is most definitely freeing and huge motivator.

Best of luck to you

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Ariel1025, why would your credit score DROP after paying off a cc? Actually it should increase if other factors remained the same (no late payments, no new accounts, etc)
When a card is paid off it lowers your % of credit utilization which is a positive factor. It's a sign that you're not as "maxed out" as you were before.
There is a month or 2 lag time before the scores adjust though.

 

[ariel1025]

Ariel1025, why would your credit score DROP after paying off a cc? Actually it should increase if other factors remained the same (no late payments, no new accounts, etc)
When a card is paid off it lowers your % of credit utilization which is a positive factor. It's a sign that you're not as "maxed out" as you were before.
There is a month or 2 lag time before the scores adjust though.

That is what is so baffling to us. The last two credit cards we paid off our credit score has dropped (only a couple points, but still...) when the payoff has been reported. We had not had any lates and had not opened any other credit or loan accounts. The only thing I can think of is that it's because both those payoffs were on closed accounts so it doesn't make the same affect as paying on an open account thus not showing a bigger % of credit available

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

That's strange. Still don't let it deter you. I'd stop stressing over the score. Like age, it's just a number. Focus on being debt free and it will all work out in the end as long as there are no errors on your credit report.

 

[Miss Whimsy]

The only thing I can think of is that it's because both those payoffs were on closed accounts so it doesn't make the same affect as paying on an open account thus not showing a bigger % of credit available

I know closing accounts dings your credit score--maybe paying them off "officially" closed them, and that's why you took a hit?

Regardless, congratulations on paying them off!!

 

[bcwife76]

Update on us -
Been making headway on our HELOC, woohoo!
This week I sold some kids clothes and toys to the tune of $25, taking some clothes to a local kids used clothing store this coming week so hopefully I'll make some more.
Hubby and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this weekend and my mom gave us her yearly VERY generous gift. She gives us $100 for every year we've been married. We celebrated #11 yesterday so you can see how much she gave us. I told her we do NOT expect this every year, that we figured there would be a 'cap.'Her response: I'll let you know when it's too much money. Ok then, thanks mom!!!
Money goes straight into our vacation fund for our upcoming trip as we still need to pay for any cruise incidentals while onboard as well as food and souveniers at Disneyland after the cruise. Plus dog kennel while we are away.

Oh but was that Murphy knocking at the door? Yep. At the car door to be more precise. Clunking sound from the front of dh's car. Now he's pretty handy when it comes to cars, as an ex grease money (as he refers to himself) - does his own oil changes, tire rotations, fixed the brakes even. But this was beyond the scope. Garage just called to say it'll be approx $500. There goes half the anniversary money, bummer.

 

[dayvewc]

I know closing accounts dings your credit score--maybe paying them off "officially" closed them, and that's why you took a hit?

Regardless, congratulations on paying them off!!

That would be my unprofessional opinion. By paying off a "closed" account, it isn't changing the % of your credit utilization, but at that point it is reported as completely closed, as opposed to closed but making payments.

Update on us -
Been making headway on our HELOC, woohoo!
This week I sold some kids clothes and toys to the tune of $25, taking some clothes to a local kids used clothing store this coming week so hopefully I'll make some more.
Hubby and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this weekend and my mom gave us her yearly VERY generous gift. She gives us $100 for every year we've been married. We celebrated #11 yesterday so you can see how much she gave us. I told her we do NOT expect this every year, that we figured there would be a 'cap.'Her response: I'll let you know when it's too much money. Ok then, thanks mom!!!
Money goes straight into our vacation fund for our upcoming trip as we still need to pay for any cruise incidentals while onboard as well as food and souveniers at Disneyland after the cruise. Plus dog kennel while we are away.

Oh but was that Murphy knocking at the door? Yep. At the car door to be more precise. Clunking sound from the front of dh's car. Now he's pretty handy when it comes to cars, as an ex grease money (as he refers to himself) - does his own oil changes, tire rotations, fixed the brakes even. But this was beyond the scope. Garage just called to say it'll be approx $500. There goes half the anniversary money, bummer.

Ok, when I first read this, I saw the part I bolded and had to go back and re-read that sentence!!

I thought "that's one way to raise some extra money".

Congrats on the anniversary, and yeah, Murphy is a not nice person. At least you had the anniversary money to cover the bill. I'm going to have to put my insurance deductible on one of my cc's Monday from an accident last week. :-(. That's a $500 charge I was hoping I wouldn't have to pay until I had my emergency fund re-funded.

 

[bcwife76]

Haha, don't tempt me - it's been a long summer and some days I would sell them for an iced latte!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Update on us -
Been making headway on our HELOC, woohoo!
This week I sold some kids clothes and toys to the tune of $25, taking some clothes to a local kids used clothing store this coming week so hopefully I'll make some more.
Hubby and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this weekend and my mom gave us her yearly VERY generous gift. She gives us $100 for every year we've been married. We celebrated #11 yesterday so you can see how much she gave us. I told her we do NOT expect this every year, that we figured there would be a 'cap.'Her response: I'll let you know when it's too much money. Ok then, thanks mom!!!
Money goes straight into our vacation fund for our upcoming trip as we still need to pay for any cruise incidentals while onboard as well as food and souveniers at Disneyland after the cruise. Plus dog kennel while we are away.

Oh but was that Murphy knocking at the door? Yep. At the car door to be more precise. Clunking sound from the front of dh's car. Now he's pretty handy when it comes to cars, as an ex grease money (as he refers to himself) - does his own oil changes, tire rotations, fixed the brakes even. But this was beyond the scope. Garage just called to say it'll be approx $500. There goes half the anniversary money, bummer.

Wow that's so nice of your mom! We got a phone call from my mom for our first anniversary but that's been it. 20 years in Oct.
My grandmother is very generous like that at Christmas and on our birthdays. So the last 2 Christmases and 1 birthday it went toward bills but this Christmas it's going toward our March cruise. I never count my chicks before they hatch so I'll have a Plan B just in case for some reason she doesn't this year.

 

[Princesspolly0110]

So I fell off the wagon guys.. Work got slow. Vacation expenses crept up. Ugh. I did start a side home business doing it works global.. I love it! It was a 99 dollar investment but has paid itself off in less than a month and I've made profit. I would highly recommend this to anyone wanting to make some extra money. I'd also be happy to answer any questions anyone would have on a home side business. I'm using all profits to pay off debt. We will see how it goes!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Today DH’s student loans will be paid off. The monthly amount was never killing us, and we consolidated through the fed about nine years ago at an historic low interest rate of 2.25%. That is why we never paid this one off early, although at certain times we could have. The payment cannot be snowballed into paying our credit card though, as his pay has been down since the spring, so we need that money just to live. But still, the only red I see in Quicken now is mortgage and credit card!

Small victories, ya know?

Sorry I missed this earlier. Congratulations!

 

[dayvewc]

So I fell off the wagon guys.. Work got slow. Vacation expenses crept up. Ugh. I did start a side home business doing it works global.. I love it! It was a 99 dollar investment but has paid itself off in less than a month and I've made profit. I would highly recommend this to anyone wanting to make some extra money. I'd also be happy to answer any questions anyone would have on a home side business. I'm using all profits to pay off debt. We will see how it goes!

Don't stress too hard about falling off the wagon. Just pick yourself up and get back on the plan. Sounds like you have, if you are using all the profits from the It Works to reduce your debt. I've heard a little on the It Works program. I have a friend that started doing that a couple of years ago and she really likes it. I may message you later with some questions, since you offered.

On a totally different note, I just checked my FICO score through my credit card, and it has come up about 50 points in the past year. It had actually come up 53 points by May, but then dropped 7 points with the extra charges I had to make to cover my medical expenses. I wonder if I can get it up another 50 points in the next year?

 

[Princesspolly0110]

Don't stress too hard about falling off the wagon. Just pick yourself up and get back on the plan. Sounds like you have, if you are using all the profits from the It Works to reduce your debt. I've heard a little on the It Works program. I have a friend that started doing that a couple of years ago and she really likes it. I may message you later with some questions, since you offered.

On a totally different note, I just checked my FICO score through my credit card, and it has come up about 50 points in the past year. It had actually come up 53 points by May, but then dropped 7 points with the extra charges I had to make to cover my medical expenses. I wonder if I can get it up another 50 points in the next year?

Absolutely! Please feel free to message me at any time!