Debt Dumpers - 2016

[ruadisneyfan2]

Wow, that is a nice chunk of change!

Yes!

The Chase bonus was so easy. Just one direct deposit and we got the bonus. Then I was able to cancel the direct deposit to that account. I just signed up for an offer I got from TIAA for $200. I will have just one $2500 direct deposit to them this month, then after that I can cancel the direct deposit, keep just $100 in the account (no minimum required!) and call it a day.

I'll look into it, thanks!
Was this a direct offer to you?

The funny thing is a lot of the banks cant tell the difference between a real direct deposit and an electronic transfer. So with Chase I only had to transfer money from our Capital One 360 account, then transfer it back and it worked. Then to avoid the monthly fee, you must have at least $500 in dd so I scheduled recurring monthly transfers back & forth from Cap One 360.
If that doesn't work I can always change the dd for my paycheck.
M&T only requires any type of transaction so I split my dd so that our car ins fund goes to them then auto transfers back to CO360.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Yes!

I'll look into it, thanks!
Was this a direct offer to you?

The funny thing is a lot of the banks cant tell the difference between a real direct deposit and an electronic transfer. So with Chase I only had to transfer money from our Capital One 360 account, then transfer it back and it worked. Then to avoid the monthly fee, you must have at least $500 in dd so I scheduled recurring monthly transfers back & forth from Cap One 360.
If that doesn't work I can always change the dd for my paycheck.
M&T only requires any type of transaction so I split my dd so that our car ins fund goes to them then auto transfers back to CO360.

It was a directed offer. I have my 403(b) retirement account through TIAA, so that is how I received it. Since there was no minimum amount that must be kept in the account and I only need to make a single dd, I jumped on the offer. Makes it really easy.

 

[Eureka]

We go on vacation tomorrow and even though I really need a break from real life, I'm anxious. Which is not like me before a well-needed vacation. I mean, I'm a big worrier, but usually on vacation I really can use it as an escape.

Not looking forward to starting the whole credit card debt thing again, but since I was laid off, we haven't been able to save what we would have for the rest of the trip. Anxious that I'll be missing out on a great job posting, or a call back, even though I plan to bring a laptop with me. Checked back in with the company that screened me and due to unforeseen circumstances, they are behind on their next steps, so I'm nervous they'll want to do a phone interview while I'm gone and I'll have to figure out when to make that work, but then more nervous that they will pass me over bc I'll be away for two weeks. Anxious that DS and I will go over our data for our international plan (200mb each and 25 cents overage for each mb and we'll be out of the country for 11 days) even though we plan to only use the free wifi. I just reminded him that when we're in the car from one city to the next, he can't be watching movie trailers etc. Nervous about eating in restaurants for two weeks straight bc I have GERD and IBS and need to make good choices All.The.Time if I'll be eating out that much Anxious because I have back and hip issues and lots of hours in the car can be uncomfortable. (Yes, I sound like I'm an old lady but only in my mid-40s). And finally....two weeks with my family pretty much in one room...I know everyone will get on my nerves at some point. They always do when we're away for only one week! (Not to mention no night-time privacy (cough, cough, lol) for that long either).

Sigh, vacation should be fun, right?

 

[Ngwira]

We go on vacation tomorrow and even though I really need a break from real life, I'm anxious. Which is not like me before a well-needed vacation. I mean, I'm a big worrier, but usually on vacation I really can use it as an escape.

Not looking forward to starting the whole credit card debt thing again, but since I was laid off, we haven't been able to save what we would have for the rest of the trip. Anxious that I'll be missing out on a great job posting, or a call back, even though I plan to bring a laptop with me. Checked back in with the company that screened me and due to unforeseen circumstances, they are behind on their next steps, so I'm nervous they'll want to do a phone interview while I'm gone and I'll have to figure out when to make that work, but then more nervous that they will pass me over bc I'll be away for two weeks. Anxious that DS and I will go over our data for our international plan (200mb each and 25 cents overage for each mb and we'll be out of the country for 11 days) even though we plan to only use the free wifi. I just reminded him that when we're in the car from one city to the next, he can't be watching movie trailers etc. Nervous about eating in restaurants for two weeks straight bc I have GERD and IBS and need to make good choices All.The.Time if I'll be eating out that much Anxious because I have back and hip issues and lots of hours in the car can be uncomfortable. (Yes, I sound like I'm an old lady but only in my mid-40s). And finally....two weeks with my family pretty much in one room...I know everyone will get on my nerves at some point. They always do when we're away for only one week! (Not to mention no night-time privacy (cough, cough, lol) for that long either).

Sigh, vacation should be fun, right?

You'll be fine. Choose to focus on the positive which is that one, you're alive, two, your family is alive and three, you are together getting ready to go on an eleven day vacation! Life is about choices, you can choose to focus on the positives or you can choose to focus on the negatives. How many people get to go on vacation, let alone an eleven day one? You are extremely blessed! While I know that you are nervous and anxious, please try to relax and enjoy yourself!

First, can you advise the HR person at the job you were screened at that you will be on vacation and will be back on "x" date. That should alleviate some anxiety. Most people understand that due to vacations and such, people are not as accessible during the summer months. Plus you'll have your laptop and you will be checking your email so hopefully nothing will be missed.

Second, can you contact your phone company to advise them to shut off your data once you reach your limit? This should alleviate any stress about overages. Third, can you get out of the car every few hours or so to stretch, refuel etc ? As for being in one room for 2 weeks, it will be tight, but hopefully will bring your family closer.

Take this time to enjoy yourself because you don't know if it will be your last vacation for a good while. Who knows if you will get a new job shortly whereby you will have no vacation time or if you do have to stay home for awhile you may need to cut back on luxuries due to finances. I hope you have a wonderful vacation!!!

 

[Eureka]

You'll be fine. Choose to focus on the positive which is that one, you're alive, two, your family is alive and three, you are together getting ready to go on an eleven day vacation! Life is about choices, you can choose to focus on the positives or you can choose to focus on the negatives. How many people get to go on vacation, let alone an eleven day one? You are extremely blessed! While I know that you are nervous and anxious, please try to relax and enjoy yourself!

First, can you advise the HR person at the job you were screened at that you will be on vacation and will be back on "x" date. That should alleviate some anxiety. Most people understand that due to vacations and such, people are not as accessible during the summer months. Plus you'll have your laptop and you will be checking your email so hopefully nothing will be missed.

Second, can you contact your phone company to advise them to shut off your data once you reach your limit? This should alleviate any stress about overages. Third, can you get out of the car every few hours or so to stretch, refuel etc ? As for being in one room for 2 weeks, it will be tight, but hopefully will bring your family closer.

Take this time to enjoy yourself because you don't know if it will be your last vacation for a good while. Who knows if you will get a new job shortly whereby you will have no vacation time or if you do have to stay home for awhile you may need to cut back on luxuries due to finances. I hope you have a wonderful vacation!!!

I know, you are right. I have already told the HR person I'll be away, so I think that will be fine. I don't know about the data thing, I'll have to look at my AT&T app. And yes, we do plan to stop every so often to stretch....I just get cranky when I travel .

On a good note, the CEO of the small company I've been freelancing for this summer emailed me today to ask if I'd be interested (bc he knows I am really looking for full time, not just part time) in doing some work for a client of his. He said he told them I do great work and work quickly, so they are interested. I told him definitely and that I'd be in touch when I get home.

 

[Ngwira]

I know, you are right. I have already told the HR person I'll be away, so I think that will be fine. I don't know about the data thing, I'll have to look at my AT&T app. And yes, we do plan to stop every so often to stretch....I just get cranky when I travel .

On a good note, the CEO of the small company I've been freelancing for this summer emailed me today to ask if I'd be interested (bc he knows I am really looking for full time, not just part time) in doing some work for a client of his. He said he told them I do great work and work quickly, so they are interested. I told him definitely and that I'd be in touch when I get home.

That's awesome, and should give you a great start to your vacation! Enjoy and post a trip report in the Niagara Falls thread! Have some poutine for me .

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

asking here to see if anyone knows:

2 months ago DH got a new phone with Verizon on that basically leasing/financing option they do now where you pay like $25 a month on your bill.
Our contract is up with Verizon in about 6 weeks and we are ditching them. He doesn't like the phone that well it doesn't have very good reception (even though the sales guy said it would....nope) so can he basically turn the phone back in? Or are we stuck with it?

 

[momtosam]

We are looking at refinancing. We are over 5% currently so can probably do better. I hate the whole process though. Any tips?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We are looking at refinancing. We are over 5% currently so can probably do better. I hate the whole process though. Any tips?

Wow, you can do a lot better. We are currently at 3%. You should be able to save enough each month that if you're currently on a 30 yr loan you could switch to a 15 yr loan. It's usually not much more in monthly payment but you pay less each month in interest and your overall APR is lower.
Shop around because there's a huge difference in what banks charge in closing costs. Don't just look at their rates. Recently I considered refinancing from 3% to 2.5%. The lowered monthly payment sounded appealing but TD Bank has a calculator which lets you compare scenarios. We have 11.75 years left so to refi would extend to 15 yrs again.
The calculator showed me the total of all future payments for either option. It would cost us more in the long run to refinance simply because we'd be making those smaller payments for longer time.
I did look into 10 yr loans and the monthly payment would cut into my snowball too much. That would be great if our mortgage was our only debt.

asking here to see if anyone knows:

2 months ago DH got a new phone with Verizon on that basically leasing/financing option they do now where you pay like $25 a month on your bill.
Our contract is up with Verizon in about 6 weeks and we are ditching them. He doesn't like the phone that well it doesn't have very good reception (even though the sales guy said it would....nope) so can he basically turn the phone back in? Or are we stuck with it?

I don't have Verizon for cell service but I think they all have some early termination fee. ATT has a similar program called Next where they just add $25/month to your bill for the new phone. The way it's listed on our bill, under each phone line that upgraded, and we have 2 of them, they list the total cost of the phone. Let's say it's $625. Then each month you make a payment, it gets deducted from the total. So it's like 0% financing. I would think if it's beyond the return policy, you'd be stuck paying that amount too.

Since it's only been 2 months, I'd first check the paperwork from where/when you bought it to see if it lists their return policy. Then head back to where you got the phones with the paperwork asap if you're still within the return window. If not, they could tell you how much you'd have to pay to break your contract.

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Since it's only been 2 months, I'd first check the paperwork from where/when you bought it to see if it lists their return policy. Then head back to where you got the phones with the paperwork asap if you're still within the return window. If not, they could tell you how much you'd have to pay to break your contract.[/QUOTE]

that's where I'm confused on. Our contract is up in a few weeks. Getting this phone didn't extend the contract so I'm not sure what the options are. If the phone even had decent signal/reception we would suck it up and keep it even though it's pricey.

DH old phone had great signal/reception but the battery was going bad & we were told this model (wish I knew what it was off the top of my head) had even better signal/reception. He works in a rural fire dept and most times he doesn't even get calls coming through on this phone unlike on his previous phone.

I just wish the stores could be held accountable for their bogus sales points...ugh be glad when we get to straight talk I know their customer service is terrible but at least I won't be paying $150/month for terrible service.

 

[Ngwira]

Nothing new to report. August will be a spendy month with vacation coming up in less than 3 weeks. Eek! Hope everyone has renewed energy and focus to dump debt in this new month.

 

[momtosam]

We are holding our breath on a re-fix this week. The appraisal is going to be crucial. We need a good one!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We are holding our breath on a re-fix this week. The appraisal is going to be crucial. We need a good one!

Do you have to get someone to come see your house?
For our recent home equity loan, they used some computer generated program. It was very generous, I thought. For our first 2 refi's we had to get a real person to come inspect our house and gather comps.
Chase has a similar website. You can look at a map of your street and see what everyone's estimated home value is.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Still chugging away at our Christmas fund. It's up to almost $2000 and I should be able to cross this off my list by the end of Sept and go back to focusing on the Parent Plus loan.

 

[momtosam]

Do you have to get someone to come see your house?
For our recent home equity loan, they used some computer generated program. It was very generous, I thought. For our first 2 refi's we had to get a real person to come inspect our house and gather comps.
Chase has a similar website. You can look at a map of your street and see what everyone's estimated home value is.

Yep, they're sending a real person. Of course since the time we've purchased values have gone down some. We will see!

 

[gracie1]

Still chugging away at our Christmas fund. It's up to almost $2000 and I should be able to cross this off my list by the end of Sept and go back to focusing on the Parent Plus loan.

Wow! That's a big christmas fund! I actually ordered my first Christmas present tonight!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Wow! That's a big christmas fund! I actually ordered my first Christmas present tonight!

Yes, I think it's too much also. Besides spending a lot on our kids & parents, dh used to get a bonus at the end of each year which he would give to me in a card, telling me to go book a trip. Well, they didn't cut his bonus but gave it in the form of a raise instead of all at once in Dec. So he wants me to set that aside in a separate Christmas fund so he still has a present to give me. Last year's bonus after tax was $1700.
I told him if he gives me $1700 for Christmas I will just be applying it to whatever bill I'm snowballing. He would rather me book a trip or do something fun with it but we're already cruising this summer. Booking one vacation after another is what got us in this situation (well, also car loan, student loans & our back porch/office addition lately).

Who knows, maybe in the dead of winter I'll be wanting to escape some place warm.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yep, they're sending a real person. Of course since the time we've purchased values have gone down some. We will see!

Good luck! I hope it works out for you.

 

[Ngwira]

I made a $1,000 payment on my car loan. It's down to $5500.00

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I made a $1,000 payment on my car loan. It's down to $5500.00