Debt Dumpers 2022

[crazycatstacy]

I hope someone is able to find it for you!!

I was able to order it and the Christmas piece online!

 

[npatellye]

Happy to say contract negotiations at work at finished and we are seeing lump sum payments to make up for when our increases were frozen. I took some of that money and bought an outdoor sectional. The rest is reserved for all star cheer fees, shoes, uniforms, etc. times two. Both girls are heading back to full year all star cheer.

I just told the kids (now 9 and 7) yesterday that there was no more buying toys every week just because. They were in the habit of getting toys (Lego sets for the older one and Barbie or Rainbow High for the little one) every time they went to the store with my husband. Today, we all went and they asked for nothing. With ever rising costs for everything up here (heating oil is through the roof, gas is still over $4.30 with a $0.25 gas tax holiday, food is so expensive right now), we simply cannot afford full year all star cheer times two without some changes.

Uniforms are $650 each (plus tax). Team sneakers are $125 each (plus tax). Practice wear is $150/set (plus tax) and each girl needs two sets. Then there are comp entry fees (always $100+ per child), travel costs (hotel, food, spectator tickets, gas, etc.), monthly tuition, and monthly tumbling tuition. With two kids, it all adds up very quickly to a mind numbing 5 figure amount. We made it work during the 2020-2021 season because gas was cheap, I was working from home, heating oil was cheap, and groceries were cheap. Things are different now. But they love it and we’ve seen a lot of progress in terms of skills so we have figured out a way to make it work.

They also know Christmas will be cut way, way down this year. They’re also getting older and their gifts are getting more pricey than even two years ago. They said they would adhere to everything and be okay with it all as long as they could cheer competitively.

 

[Carol_]

I got self owned this week when I paid a chunk of my student loans out of the wrong account, incurring bounced check fees from my bank, and soon, from Navient.
I’m such a maroon.
This evil thing will be paid off soon but not soon enough. I’ve already paid over 143% of the original loan.

 

[ErinInWornderland]

Well, we went about 4k into debt Monday. We've been putting off getting a new fridge for over a year. We simply just outgrew it. And as luck would have it, our couch broke in the middle. So we took advantage of Conn's having a 4th of July sale and a 12 months no interest deal and got a big beautiful fridge and a new sectional. I'm VERY happy with both purchases and have a plan made out to get that payment gone before the 12 months.

Yeah, for a sectional I'd go into debt as well, now I'm hoping for our couch to get broken so I can convince hubby to get a sectional as well

 

[DL1WDW2]

Can anybody tell me if those Zero Interest credit card offers for balance transfer are consider a credit card advance or a cash advance?
Thanks

 

[disney212]

Can anybody tell me if those Zero Interest credit card offers for balance transfer are consider a credit card advance or a cash advance? Because the monthly finance charge for cashadvance is horrifying and I accidentally made my payment on the 16th instead of the 15th and already have a $30 late fee !
I have never been late on any payment ever!
I have been trying to read all that fine print I ignored cause I knew I would easily be able to make monthly $1000 payments and have it paid off early! Now I am in panic mode. Will never do a zero interest transfer ever again!
Is it credit financing or cash advance financing ?
Thanks

Call them. I turn and churn a lot and had the same issue once. They waived the late fee and didn't give me any issue at all.

 

[Carol_]

Good news: The bank reversed the bounced check charge and Navient only charged me $0.99.
Then I paid $13k. I won’t have any $$ for an upcoming trip but my total student loan should be down to $23k this week assuming it goes through properly.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Can anybody tell me if those Zero Interest credit card offers for balance transfer are consider a credit card advance or a cash advance?
Thanks

I never really noticed. We've gotten several through our Discover & Chase cards and I just pay attention to promo terms and make sure it's paid off before the end of promotional rate. I have found that when they mail blank checks meant to pay off another credit card, if you read the fine print, you are permitted to simply write a check to yourself, deposit it in your bank account, and use it for whatever you need.
We did this for when ds22 went to welding school and we needed a quick $9000.

 

[barkley]

i know nothing about the credit cards being spoken of but i will HIGHLY caution people to read the fine print of any 'x days same as cash' financing offers (frequently available through appliance and furniture stores). back in the day i worked in bookkeeping for a furniture chain and these were one of our biggest sources of revenue b/c people didn't realize that if they were so much as one day late with their obligatory payment the contract reverted to crazy terms as in-retroactive interest back to day one, fees and penalties...it could quadruple the purchase price of an item even if a person came in and paid the entirety of the original balance the day after that missed payment. it was all entirely legal and i cringe when i see these offers still being advertised today

 

[disney212]

i know nothing about the credit cards being spoken of but i will HIGHLY caution people to read the fine print of any 'x days same as cash' financing offers (frequently available through appliance and furniture stores). back in the day i worked in bookkeeping for a furniture chain and these were one of our biggest sources of revenue b/c people didn't realize that if they were so much as one day late with their obligatory payment the contract reverted to crazy terms as in-retroactive interest back to day one, fees and penalties...it could quadruple the purchase price of an item even if a person came in and paid the entirety of the original balance the day after that missed payment. it was all entirely legal and i cringe when i see these offers still being advertised today

That is advice but I LOVE those offers, use them frequently. If it's 12 months same as I cash I pay off 10 months from the date of purchase. You have to be very vigilant making sure to pay them off.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Hi all!! Been a while since I checked in... not even sure when the last time was. I think I was getting ready to leave for my Yellowstone/Grand Tetons/Glacier trip. Well... that didn't happen. 12 days before we were supposed to leave, all the floods hit Yellowstone. I was initially thinking it would be ok and I could salvage the trip, but our first night's stay was in Gardiner, MT. It was completely surrounded by water and had no potable water or anything. On top of that, Glacier National Park continued to experience serious snowfall at high elevations throughout the month of June, causing avalanche risks throughout the park. So 11 days before we were supposed to leave, I woke up and told DH I was going to rebook us somewhere else. I ended up getting us direct flights to Denver and we spent a week in CO! We hit Great Sand Dunes National Park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park. We had an absolutely beautiful trip and the highlight was definitely seeing a moose for the first time!!

In relevant news, everything is going fine financially. I finally updated my paycheck for retirement contribution to come out since I got my raise last month. It's three paycheck month here and retirement contributions don't come out of our third check, so I'll see that reflected in my first August check. When I got home from vacation I had a letter that my mortgage has been sold. I didn't make an extra principal payment this month because it took 17 days for them to deduct my montly payment But I did take that money and put it towards some more investments. I'll resume the principal payment next month once I have my online account set up with the new mortgage servicer.

Still waiting to hear if student loan payments will resume in september... my money is on them getting delayed again. Regardless of anyone's political affiliation, I don't see them starting them back up before the midterm elections. My student loans were sold to Mohelo since I'm on PSLF so hopefully all that gets transferred over correctly as well.

Hope everyone is well!

 

[barkley]

Still waiting to hear if student loan payments will resume in september... my money is on them getting delayed again. Regardless of anyone's political affiliation, I don't see them starting them back up before the midterm elections.

we are waiting to hear on our oldest's as well. if the terrible, contradictory, 'oops our system transition/update didn't happen/oops we misspoke on the timeline for x conversion, oops we don't need that info from you now but know we'll get back to you...' communications they are constantly sending borrowers about the conversion from the one major federal lender to the new one plays any factor in this i think it could be another year or more. oh well, the kid keeps putting the money that would be paid to it in a small interest earning account (actually has more at this point than is needed for payoff but we advised to just keep putting that dollar amount away b/c it can build up an emergency fund and if the powers that be forgive the loans it will be a bit better emergency fund).

 

[crazycatstacy]

Hi all!! Been a while since I checked in... not even sure when the last time was. I think I was getting ready to leave for my Yellowstone/Grand Tetons/Glacier trip. Well... that didn't happen. 12 days before we were supposed to leave, all the floods hit Yellowstone. I was initially thinking it would be ok and I could salvage the trip, but our first night's stay was in Gardiner, MT. It was completely surrounded by water and had no potable water or anything. On top of that, Glacier National Park continued to experience serious snowfall at high elevations throughout the month of June, causing avalanche risks throughout the park. So 11 days before we were supposed to leave, I woke up and told DH I was going to rebook us somewhere else. I ended up getting us direct flights to Denver and we spent a week in CO! We hit Great Sand Dunes National Park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park. We had an absolutely beautiful trip and the highlight was definitely seeing a moose for the first time!!

In relevant news, everything is going fine financially. I finally updated my paycheck for retirement contribution to come out since I got my raise last month. It's three paycheck month here and retirement contributions don't come out of our third check, so I'll see that reflected in my first August check. When I got home from vacation I had a letter that my mortgage has been sold. I didn't make an extra principal payment this month because it took 17 days for them to deduct my montly payment But I did take that money and put it towards some more investments. I'll resume the principal payment next month once I have my online account set up with the new mortgage servicer.

Still waiting to hear if student loan payments will resume in september... my money is on them getting delayed again. Regardless of anyone's political affiliation, I don't see them starting them back up before the midterm elections. My student loans were sold to Mohelo since I'm on PSLF so hopefully all that gets transferred over correctly as well.

Hope everyone is well!

I am waiting to hear about student loans too! I too think they will be pushed back again. If they start counting the previous forbearance time I should be done, however; I'm sure that will take forever. I got an email about being transferred to Mohelo but nothing has happened as of yet.

 

[Eureka]

We just got back from vacation. Need to pay off the hotel and meals on the credit card. Then yesterday the boys’ car (a 2010) died and we needed to get it towed. One thing wrong was under warranty but it has more wrong that’s age-related. We’re doing those repairs bc we all have stuff going on the rest of the summer that they need the car for but need to decide what to do. Do we buy them a new used one? Do they chip in on one if they want one for school? (They are 19 and 21 and will be living off campus this year, their car is the only one in the house of five guys and it’s easier for grocery shopping for sure). That and other things (life and work) is making me very overwhelmed this week. All the vacation calm is officially over.

 

[Carol_]

Brought the student loans down to $19 because !!!!!! ALMOST THERE!!!
Got a nail in a tire, and they were all bald enough to replace, so got 4 new tires… Now my mpg is down
Joined the mega millions office pool for $5.
When we win, I’m moving us to Golden Oaks.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

i know nothing about the credit cards being spoken of but i will HIGHLY caution people to read the fine print of any 'x days same as cash' financing offers (frequently available through appliance and furniture stores). back in the day i worked in bookkeeping for a furniture chain and these were one of our biggest sources of revenue b/c people didn't realize that if they were so much as one day late with their obligatory payment the contract reverted to crazy terms as in-retroactive interest back to day one, fees and penalties...it could quadruple the purchase price of an item even if a person came in and paid the entirety of the original balance the day after that missed payment. it was all entirely legal and i cringe when i see these offers still being advertised today

I did many of those when we first bought our house: mattress, carpeting, TV, etc. The good thing is that nowadays it's easy to schedule the payment online and KNOW that it's been paid on time. In the old days we'd mail a check with the little coupon and they'd take their sweet ol' time applying the payment to our account. I swore they did that intentionally to screw people. I used to mail it like 2-3 weeks early just to be on the safe side. Luckily, we were always able to pay it off within the promo time with no penalties. I think our mattress statement would list the amount of interest that was accruing that would be applied to our balance IF we were ever late. Seeing that piling up was good motivation to keep paying early each month.

 

[Tygerlilly]

I did many of those when we first bought our house: mattress, carpeting, TV, etc. The good thing is that nowadays it's easy to schedule the payment online and KNOW that it's been paid on time. In the old days we'd mail a check with the little coupon and they'd take their sweet ol' time applying the payment to our account. I swore they did that intentionally to screw people. I used to mail it like 2-3 weeks early just to be on the safe side. Luckily, we were always able to pay it off within the promo time with no penalties. I think our mattress statement would list the amount of interest that was accruing that would be applied to our balance IF we were ever late. Seeing that piling up was good motivation to keep paying early each month.

I got the cute little payment book in the mail yesterday. I have it set up to pay online so I won't use it, but seeing the total if not paid within the year and paying over the 3 years made me go . It's $4100 vs $8500. That's motivation enough to get that paid off quickly. We have a couple smaller trips coming up in the next few months and Christmas, but after that I'll be paying plenty extra towards it.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I got the cute little payment book in the mail yesterday. I have it set up to pay online so I won't use it, but seeing the total if not paid within the year and paying over the 3 years made me go . It's $4100 vs $8500. That's motivation enough to get that paid off quickly. We have a couple smaller trips coming up in the next few months and Christmas, but after that I'll be paying plenty extra towards it.

I guess some banks still use them. I haven’t seen one in so long. It is so predatory how much interest they charge, like they are just hoping someone screws up.

 

[pblack]

End of July Update (purple text reflects what's changed):

My 2022 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Camry loan (currently sitting just under $12k)....This has now been paid off and replaced with our home equity loan payment.
• Continue to pay extra to our Highlander loan (especially once the Camry is paid off)....Back to paying $50 extra.
• Save an extra $1000 towards my main savings account outside of my automatic monthly transfers....I think I'm just going to scrap this goal. I don't see it happening by the end of the year.
• Save money for the following expenses: cat/gifts/annual credit card fees....$200 added 7/15
• Save $$ for family trip (tentatively April 2023)....Crossing this off my list since my in-laws will be paying for most of it and what we'll need to come out of pocket for isn't much.
• Re-pay $2000 that I borrowed from my main savings to pay off the Camry loan....$535/2000...no additional money added.
• *New* Wasn't originally a goal, but I upped my DH's retirement contributions by 1%. He received an unexpected raise/COLA so I figured I'd go ahead and up this. We're now saving a total of 16% from his paychecks towards retirement. I may also increase my contributions once my 2% raise goes into effect for my July check. If I'm correct I'm at roughly 11% savings from my paychecks....my "raise" appeared on this paycheck and I'm now receiving less money (~$40) than I have been. I'm going to leave my contributions as is for now.

My 2022 Personal Goals:

• Professional pool replaster/remodel …..The pool is complete and it looks amazing!!!
• Exercise at least 4 times a week...I was finally back on track with this this month. Was able to do 4 times every week in July.
• Spend less money on items that we don't need....Doing pretty good with this one.
• *New* Sell more items from around the house that I don't need to add to my vacation savings....Still have quite a few things listed on Mercari with no bites. I may try and "rebrand" my postings to see if I can get anywhere with it. Otherwise I'll probably donate the items/give them away in the buy nothing group I'm in.

Don't have too many updates. Tomorrow we're going to the baseball game we've had tickets for for months now. I anticipate spending a decent amount of money tomorrow. We've also decided against going to Disneyland for our anniversary in August. We decided we don't want to spend that kind of money for just the weekend when we're going to Texas labor day weekend and then Disney in Sept. Instead we'll be doing an overnight trip somewhere nearby and doing a bunch of brewery hopping. My bff's (in Texas) life went to hell in a handbasket over the last few days and I'm now tentatively planning on flying out their later in August for almost a week to help her out with things. I say tentatively because if she ends up not needing me to come, then we'll just see her over labor day.

I have to go back to the office at least 3 days starting next week and I'm still not happy about it. But I did just find out that Carnival dropped their pre-testing requirements for cruises that are less than 5 days which means we won't have to worry about pre-testing in November (as of right now, obviously things could change back). So I'm pretty happy about that. Not much more to update on. Hope everyone had a good July!

 

[Tygerlilly]

We have had loose plans to do *something* for my bday/anniversary weekend. My best friend said she'd keep the kids and is off every other Friday. It just happens to land on my birthday weekend, so I've been debating between places to visit.

I can't decide if I want to do a quick 3 hour drive over to Branson, do a day at Silver Dollar City, a river boat dinner cruise, and a dinner at Dixie Stampede. That came out to be about $1300. But, we can realistically do this anytime since it's so close.

Orrrr... I played around with numbers and flights, hotel for 3 nights, and 2 days of park hoppers to WDW came out to $1800. We'd mainly focus on Epcot for food and wine because the last time we went I had 2 tiny humans and we didn't get to really enjoy everything in detail.


What would you do?