Debt Dumpers - 2019

[MegWheels]

Hey everyone!

I could use some advice. I have a couple big expenses to pay off...one is for a new cell phone and the other is medical bills. I opened a new CC account (Chase Freedom) so I could charge some medical bills and get a statement credit back. Would I be crazy to do this again for another card? I have a great credit score and the statement credits could help! Thoughts?

 

[barkley]

Hey everyone!

I could use some advice. I have a couple big expenses to pay off...one is for a new cell phone and the other is medical bills. I opened a new CC account (Chase Freedom) so I could charge some medical bills and get a statement credit back. Would I be crazy to do this again for another card? I have a great credit score and the statement credits could help! Thoughts?

will you have to carry the debt on a card or will it be immediately paid off? if carried i would default in favor of an existing or new card that offered no/low interest vs. a statement credit. if it will be immediately paid off (so the cash is available) i would first hit up any medical provider to see if they will offer a paid in full cash discount (local to us providers/hospitals offer 10% minimum right off the top, i've negotiated up to 50% off for paying in full my portion after insurance payments via a check vs. a credit card).

 

[jen7233]

Well, DH's raise seems to be retroactive to the past month and a half or so. That means that he ended up with an extra $1100 additional paycheck this week that we weren't expecting. We put the majority of it towards his car loan. This means that if we put all of the extra money from his raise each month into his car loan, then we should have his car paid off in December or January.

We went over on our grocery budget again for April, but we have been working from a deficit each month since December, so DH requested that I top off the grocery fund to the normal $500 for May. Hopefully, this will get us back on track there. We also went over on the baby fund. DD is getting more proficient at opening doors so I had to buy a few more baby proofing items. We also got her a new helmet with MIPS because her head is big enough now for the Giro Scamp.

We did not go over on our dining out budget for the first time in a while, so I was pleased about that. I also was able to make an extra $325 in payments towards the trailer loan. I have about another $400 pending in swagbucks that I should be able to apply to the loan later this month. I did the Door Dash offer for $150 for both myself and DH, so that alone netted me about $320 after payment for the single "dash" that I did for each of us. Our trailer loan should be down to about $10,600 by the end of the month!

That's great about the unexpected extra $! I do Swagbucks but haven't figured it out to that extent, mainly I'll get enough to get a $5 Amazon gift card here and there. Yes, true about tackling loans on earlier post. I think I rather just free up money to use elsewhere if wanted is probably the best way I should say it!

Hey everyone!

I could use some advice. I have a couple big expenses to pay off...one is for a new cell phone and the other is medical bills. I opened a new CC account (Chase Freedom) so I could charge some medical bills and get a statement credit back. Would I be crazy to do this again for another card? I have a great credit score and the statement credits could help! Thoughts?

I personally wouldn't chase the statement credits too far, there is only so much room where I think that would work in your favor. Freedom is a good one to have with no annual fee, and you may have seen Chase has a 5/24 rule about how many cards you can have in a 24 month period, so if you want to maintain a relationship with Chase, that is something to consider. Amex is a little quirky, too. What I mainly see is the credit card sign up for the sign up bonuses, and travel perks, or to collect enough points to use for travel. A few on here may try the bank account sign up bonuses. I barely churn cards and typically have just done so for travel and for balance transfer, so not the best advice on card methods from me, but as I said I wouldn't personally sign up to pay bills, but that's me. I would not be opposed to getting a card that has an extended 15-18 month 0% APR for bill paying, and that I would do if needed. You may have some other advice over on the I love Credit Cards thread.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Perhaps it could go to better use, I’m just tired of looking at the amount autodrafted come out each month from checking. I’d probably not bother at 0% or if it were less of a payment I wouldn’t feel so bothered seeing it. Now, it’s doable in our budget, I just am really finding I hate seeing it! I didn’t have an auto loan for years. I don’t know what I’ll end up doing, it’s just on the table, to relook down the road. My bank accounts that earn anything worth talking about are Ally which is 2.2% on savings and Vanguard Prime MM which I also use as my savings currently at 2.44.

DH's auto loan is at 1.9% and we hope to have it eliminated by the end of the year. It isn't so much that I care about the auto draft, but I want to free up the money so that we have greater cashflow when a baby #2 comes along. We need that money for daycare expenses. The most logical thing to do would be to put the money towards our HELOC which is at 6.5% interest, but that loan won't be paid off in a year and therefore won't help us with increased cash flow. People have different reasons for tackling loans early.

We did the same thing with DH's car loan. It was also at 1.9% but I hated the huge monthly payment. Our student loan interest rates were at higher amounts, but I preferred to have the additional car payment amount back in our budget each month.

 

[MN_Andi]

End of the month reflections:

My Financial Goals for 2019:

• Have $5000 in my savings account: I added $300 to my savings account, bringing the balance to $2400.
• Have under $28,000 in student loans: My student loans are now at $32,935.84. A net of about $430 down. A total of $2000 net for the year.
• Save $2,000 for vacation in November to California/Disneyland: $426/$2000. Set aside $200 specifically for the DCA Halloween Party.

April was good. Paid a little extra on my student loans, and set aside money for my vacation. Got tickets for the DCA Halloween Party for Halloween night for my parents and I, at a nice $145 each. Yeesh! I'm super excited for it though!

Looking into May, there will be some extra expenses in the form of my sister's birthdays, and Mother's Day. I plan on getting my sisters each a $50 Disney gift card, as they are heading to Disney World here in less than two weeks! For Mother's Day my portion of her gift is only $26, as she mostly wants us around to spend time with her for her gift. I also have my ortho appointment which I need to put at least $500 down for, so that is a decent chunk of change as well!

 

[amalone1013]

Progress as of 5/2/19:
Car Loans = $25,810 - $15,739 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $19,339 - $1,689 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $3,295 - $1016 change from the beginning of the year

First car is not officially paid off, but currently that money is set aside and earning interest (~$1800 left). I made a $1800 payment on the other car today (not reflected here), and still have another $3000 or so to put towards it this month.

We had a really great time on our Flower and Garden trip. Just need to decide if I want to use credit card cashback to cover the cash expenditures or the travel fund. Otherwise just chugging ahead until our June cruise. Meanwhile it looks like DH will still be traveling a lot (he's earned 34k Southwest points so far). I'll probably try to make a trip back home this month, maybe Memorial Day weekend, so that's our unexpected yet expected expenses for the month.

2019 starting balances:
Car Loans - $7616 + $33933 = $41,549
House Fund = $17,650
Emergency Fund = $2,279

Progress as of 1/30/19:
Car Loans - $5216 + $33485 = $37,746 - $3,803 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $17,650 - $0 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $2,323 - $44 change from the beginning of the year
Weight goal - 0%, 20 weeks to go

Progress as of 3/4/19:
Car Loans - $0 + $33024 = $33,024 - $8,525 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $18,290 - $640 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $2,704 - $425 change from the beginning of the year
Weight goal - ?%, 16 weeks to go (need to weigh myself...)

Progress as of 4/7/19:
Car Loans - $0 + $29152 = $29,152 - $12,397 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $18,694 - $1,044 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $2,906 - $627 change from the beginning of the year

 

[MegWheels]

will you have to carry the debt on a card or will it be immediately paid off? if carried i would default in favor of an existing or new card that offered no/low interest vs. a statement credit. if it will be immediately paid off (so the cash is available) i would first hit up any medical provider to see if they will offer a paid in full cash discount (local to us providers/hospitals offer 10% minimum right off the top, i've negotiated up to 50% off for paying in full my portion after insurance payments via a check vs. a credit card).

I personally wouldn't chase the statement credits too far, there is only so much room where I think that would work in your favor. Freedom is a good one to have with no annual fee, and you may have seen Chase has a 5/24 rule about how many cards you can have in a 24 month period, so if you want to maintain a relationship with Chase, that is something to consider. Amex is a little quirky, too. What I mainly see is the credit card sign up for the sign up bonuses, and travel perks, or to collect enough points to use for travel. A few on here may try the bank account sign up bonuses. I barely churn cards and typically have just done so for travel and for balance transfer, so not the best advice on card methods from me, but as I said I wouldn't personally sign up to pay bills, but that's me. I would not be opposed to getting a card that has an extended 15-18 month 0% APR for bill paying, and that I would do if needed. You may have some other advice over on the I love Credit Cards thread.

Thanks for the advice! The Freedom card I have now is 0% interest for 15 months so I'm going to put some bills on it and then work at paying them off over the next year. I called my provider today and asked about paying in cash...they said they don't offer any discounts which surprised me.

 

[jen7233]

I just received an email offer from Chase to upgrade my SW Plus to a Premier, gains 2500 RR points if choosing to upgrade, and then rather than 3000 points will be 6000 points on card anniversary. I'm not sure if I'll take that for the extra RR points, or even keep the Plus card after next year I don't use it. If I had planned trips, maybe that would factor, but as of now there are no travel plans to look forward to.

 

[amalone1013]

I just received an email offer from Chase to upgrade my SW Plus to a Premier, gains 2500 RR points if choosing to upgrade, and then rather than 3000 points will be 6000 points on card anniversary. I'm not sure if I'll take that for the extra RR points, or even keep the Plus card after next year I don't use it. If I had planned trips, maybe that would factor, but as of now there are no travel plans to look forward to.

I'm curious, how old is your card? Is it close to your anniversary? I would like to get an offer like this on my SW Plus

 

[jen7233]

I'm curious, how old is your card? Is it close to your anniversary? I would like to get an offer like this on my SW Plus

My card is over a year old, Feb is my anniversary. I just went ahead and took the upgrade, see how it goes. Although, that means if approved on the upgrade the new anniversary would be May rather than Feb I believe since it's a change.

 

[thiabelle]

It's been a spendy week over here! Started on Monday with tickets to the Villains After Hours. I think with my AP discounts they were like $232 with tax. (I have to stop being suckered into extra events- I added up how much I've spend on them and was a little sick! I know it will be fun- at least that's what I keep telling myself). DH took care of DD's hair and makeup and I paid the tips. I think she had fun at the prom- I'm glad it's over. Now we turn our attention to AP tests. DH said I could write a check out of his/our account for $376. DD doesn't seem to understand why I am like "no- you aren't going to spend the weekend binging Game of Thrones when I am paying so much for these tests that could result in college credit". We also crunched numbers to see what we will likely owe whenever UF bills us for first semester. I ordered DD's grad announcements from Shutterfly and we very pleased with the results. Now I just have to address them all! I really want to go out for Cinco de Mayo but I don't want to pay!! So I think we will just enjoy a day in plus it's raining so I really don't want to drive later.
I hope everyone has a great week!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hey everyone!

I could use some advice. I have a couple big expenses to pay off...one is for a new cell phone and the other is medical bills. I opened a new CC account (Chase Freedom) so I could charge some medical bills and get a statement credit back. Would I be crazy to do this again for another card? I have a great credit score and the statement credits could help! Thoughts?

I would look into churning bank bonuses. Depending where you live and if you’re married, it can add up to quite a sum. We’ve earned close to $5000/yr for 2017 and 2018. Of course that has to be declared as income to the IRS but I look at it like this, no one ever declines a pay raise from their employer for having to pay tax on that raise.
I use doctorofcredit.com then click on Bank Bonus tab. We put each acct in my name and in dh’s name separately to double our earnngs.
Good luck!

 

[thiabelle]

I wanted to share my DD's prom pic. She's the one in blue. She was definitely going for the "princess" look! (And trolling her father with UF colors!!)

ETA- she bought her tiara at Disney Springs! I told her to keep it for her wedding

 

[jen7233]

@thiabelle lovely pictures! Love the dresses!

 

[amalone1013]

The main reason I've been sitting on that last chunk to pay off my car was waiting for an opportunity to earn some credit card points when I paid it. That opportunity came around and today I put in the final payment

 

[jen7233]

The main reason I've been sitting on that last chunk to pay off my car was waiting for an opportunity to earn some credit card points when I paid it. That opportunity came around and today I put in the final payment

You were able to put that much on cc to pay it off!? That's awesome! Congrats on your car payoff!

 

[amalone1013]

You were able to put that much on cc to pay it off!? That's awesome! Congrats on your car payoff!

Thank you! This was the $1800ish one

 

[crazycatstacy]

Sold my sewing/embroidery machine this weekend. Put that money towards an unexpected car repair. Have been suffering for a few weeks with a terrible case of tennis elbow. OMG it is so painful and makes concentrating difficult! Pretty sure I am going to have a huge bill at the chiropractors office from acupuncture to try to help.

 

[Ngwira]

Back from our wonderful vacation out west. We hit Arizona, Nevada and Utah. Headed to WDW in 2 weeks for Memorial Day so not really looking at the budget lol. Approaching 30 pounds lost since January 1, 2019!
Hope everyone is still chugging along.

 

[StacyStrong]

In 2019 I have:

• Added 1486.38 to my emergency fund
• Upped my 401k contributions by 1% (I am now officially past company match)
• Continued contributing $100 to my Christmas fund monthly
• Continued bi-weekly contributions to Maid of Honor and Vacation Funds
• Paid off my car
• Paid off 1 credit card
• Continued snowball with consumer debt payoff estimated at October 2019
• Ran a 10k
• Ran 125.1 miles total