Debt Dumpers 2026

[Bellex917]

That's just what I had heard. But I don't think that's necessarily true. I hadn't charged on my card with the AF since September, and it hadn't closed. But there'd always been a balance. Now there's no balance, I'm not sure how it works. I need to Google it. You might be correct.


This comes from experience. Last time I closed a paid off a CC and closed it, my score plummeted because my credit utilization dropped so much. I've been working for 3 years now to get my score out of the deep freeze from when it dropped so much. It's plummets so much, and it's such a long process to get it back.

I have found that some creditors will close an account if there is no activity over a period of time, and closing an account if it is your longest history of credit OR a majority of your available credit can definitely hurt.

Honestly, if it was me, I'd send one small bill there automatically each month (like my Netflix or something) and then set up autopay so that bill is paid in full each month. Set it and forget it. I think you're right not to close them since you're working to repair your credit, as long as you KNOW you won't use them for frivolous purchases.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I have found that some creditors will close an account if there is no activity over a period of time, and closing an account if it is your longest history of credit OR a majority of your available credit can definitely hurt.

Honestly, if it was me, I'd send one small bill there automatically each month (like my Netflix or something) and then set up autopay so that bill is paid in full each month. Set it and forget it. I think you're right not to close them since you're working to repair your credit, as long as you KNOW you won't use them for frivolous purchases.

Yea, we won't be using them anymore. Looking back, I hate I paid so much interest. I know it's not the case, but I almost felt like I was giving the bank free money. I know that wasn't the case, but sometimes it felt that way.

 

[Bellex917]

Yea, we won't be using them anymore. Looking back, I hate I paid so much interest. I know it's not the case, but I almost felt like I was giving the bank free money. I know that wasn't the case, but sometimes it felt that way.

It was the case. You gave them free money. Now you signed up and agreed for that when you took on the card, saw the APR, and still didn't pay it in full (which is not a judgement, we had a LOT of credit card debt at points in our lives before we got serious)... so they didn't steal it from you, but you DID give them free money. Be mad about it so you don't do it again.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

It was the case. You gave them free money. Now you signed up and agreed for that when you took on the card, saw the APR, and still didn't pay it in full (which is not a judgement, we had a LOT of credit card debt at points in our lives before we got serious)... so they didn't steal it from you, but you DID give them free money. Be mad about it so you don't do it again.

Oh I know I agreed on it. I'm not doubting that. I'm not mad. I was dumb. I'm hoping I've smartened up a little bit, and I hope I don't do it again. I'll charge a little something and pay it off each month. And not run it up like I did before on stupid stuff (groceries, light bill, etc).

 

[barkley]

Honestly, if it was me, I'd send one small bill there automatically each month (like my Netflix or something) and then set up autopay so that bill is paid in full each month.

I think that's the way to go as well-and I would use a card that at minimum charges no fee, at best it also pays me back. the basic no fee american express card (blue cash everyday card) has a benefit wherein if you set up your Disney+, Hulu or some kind of ESPN streaming to pay from your card you can get up to a $7 statement credit each month.

 

[barkley]

Honestly, if it was me, I'd send one small bill there automatically each month (like my Netflix or something) and then set up autopay so that bill is paid in full each month.

I think that's the way to go as well-and I would use a card that at minimum charges no fee, at best it also pays me back. the basic no fee american express card (blue cash everyday card) has a benefit wherein if you set up your Disney+, Hulu or some kind of ESPN streaming to pay from your card you can get up to a $7 statement credit each month.

 

[firefly_ris]

Not much change over here... I have to push off starting that extra mortgage payment another month though.

I think we may have finally solved our attic moisture issue by adding 2 louvre vents, seems like the ridge vent just wasn't pulling enough up and out even after replacing it... another "wait and see" sort of thing, but fingers crossed that is the final component. Later this spring we will climb up there and pull some of the soffit away and make sure that's not blocked anywhere.

The next house thing that is delaying some other goals is window replacements. We still have 6 windows that are original to our 1963 home, and they've been hanging in there, but this winter was really rough on the 2 worst ones and I have one that is literally crumbling at this point, so finally biting the bullet. They are wood windows that will be getting replaced with maintenance-free vinyl. Because of their custom size and our utter lack of time lately, we opted to have them professionally installed by a local company and so this will set us back 8 grand. I have not had someone other than us put windows in (or frankly much of anything else for that matter) and I'm always wary of hiring out for work but hopefully all will go well. I guess one advantage is they have a labor warranty on them so if they screw it up they have to come and fix it.

I have at least been keeping up with my personal goals, been keeping up with book reading and working on dropping a couple more pounds. I will still be on target to max out the IRA and I also want to open a Roth and add to that too, but I think both of those targets will wait until closer to the end of summer to dump all of that in. Looks like I can still try for an extra mortgage payment next month, but I'll probably wait until after we do our taxes to see what the damage will be there first.

 

[pblack]

Finally filed my taxes. This was my first year using freetaxusa and it was pretty easy and way less expensive than others I usually use (Turbo Tax/Tax Act/HR Block). Fingers crossed everything goes through a-ok.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Finally filed my taxes. This was my first year using freetaxusa and it was pretty easy and way less expensive than others I usually use (Turbo Tax/Tax Act/HR Block). Fingers crossed everything goes through a-ok.

I used freetaxusa for the first time this year too and it was a flawless process. My refund was in my account within two weeks of filing. Wishing for the same for you.

 

[pblack]

I used freetaxusa for the first time this year too and it was a flawless process. My refund was in my account within two weeks of filing. Wishing for the same for you.

I got emails already that both my federal and state taxes were accepted so woohoo. Can't wait to go blow that $100 refund on 3 items at the grocery store or maybe a tank of gas.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Glad to see so many positives for freetaxusa! I have used turbo tax for years and noticed last year I was missing an extra $1k that I later learned was for "fees". I did all the work, so why would they charge more?

I was debating on who to go to and saw about freetaxusa but wasn't sure how it was. Going to plug all our info in there and see what it says.

 

[pblack]

Glad to see so many positives for freetaxusa! I have used turbo tax for years and noticed last year I was missing an extra $1k that I later learned was for "fees". I did all the work, so why would they charge more?

I was debating on who to go to and saw about freetaxusa but wasn't sure how it was. Going to plug all our info in there and see what it says.

I plugged my numbers into 3 different tax places and they all were pretty much the same as far as what I was getting back or owed. Maybe $1 or $2 difference. The biggest difference was the price to file between all of them. Freetaxusa was completely free to file my federal taxes and then only $16 to file my state taxes. With the others I think it was going to cost me close to $100.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I plugged my numbers into 3 different tax places and they all were pretty much the same as far as what I was getting back or owed. Maybe $1 or $2 difference. The biggest difference was the price to file between all of them. Freetaxusa was completely free to file my federal taxes and then only $16 to file my state taxes. With the others I think it was going to cost me close to $100.

H&R Block cost us $180 this year. Last year, it was like $470 or something crazy. I prefer to have a professional do them. If I do them, I'd be afraid I'd mess something up, lol. It's worth the $80 over doing them myself on Turbotax.

 

[barkley]

H&R Block cost us $180 this year. Last year, it was like $470 or something crazy. I prefer to have a professional do them. If I do them, I'd be afraid I'd mess something up, lol. It's worth the $80 over doing them myself on Turbotax.

ours are pretty vanilla straight forward so I still do paper forms by hand and snail mail them but up through a handful of years ago when I still had one in college and we were dealing with all the education credits and such I had used cpa's to do our taxes since we first married. I don't know that I would still do it if we had to file state taxes but with just the fed it's not too bad (and the new senior citizen version of the 1040 I qualify to use after this year looks pretty streamlined).

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

ours are pretty vanilla straight forward so I still do paper forms by hand and snail mail them but up through a handful of years ago when I still had one in college and we were dealing with all the education credits and such I had used cpa's to do our taxes since we first married. I don't know that I would still do it if we had to file state taxes but with just the fed it's not too bad (and the new senior citizen version of the 1040 I qualify to use after this year looks pretty streamlined).

Yep, ours are pretty straight forward. Just a pair of Ws. I don't turn in my school interest form because I don't want to pay extra. So it's just the 2 Ws, fill in the blanks and we're done. It took about 20 minutes in person.

 

[afan]

Yep, ours are pretty straight forward. Just a pair of Ws. I don't turn in my school interest form because I don't want to pay extra. So it's just the 2 Ws, fill in the blanks and we're done. It took about 20 minutes in person.

You get to deduct the interest for student loans so you are actually losing money but not including them.

Nevermind you shouldn't decide to not report anything you get a tax form for.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

You get to deduct the interest for student loans so you are actually losing money but not including them.
Nevermind you shouldn't decide to not report anything you get a tax form for.

Actually, I told the guy i have student loan interest that I paid. He said how much, and I told him $730. But he said it wasn't enough to report.

 

[Tygerlilly]

If we didn't have a bunch of gambling winnings to report, ours would be super easy too. But I have a ridiculous stack of them to add and they add up. Plus my 1099 for sparking. I really should just take everything in.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Actually, I told the guy i have student loan interest that I paid. He said how much, and I told him $730. But he said it wasn't enough to report.

You get a 1098-E form so long as you've paid $600 in interest. The question isn't about reporting (the IRS already knows if you paid at least $600 anyhow) but about getting a deduction and TBH I don't know why you wouldn't just input the information about it. You're not getting good information from the person who did your taxes if they didn't explain why they wouldn't input the information in (like ineligibility based on what the loan was, how you were filing, etc) because otherwise you're missing out on it changing your adjusted gross income.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We will. The only thing we will probably do is charge something in the $20-$25 range and pay it off immediately to be able to keep it open. I don't want to close them because my score will plummet. I just got it back to 640 from being sub 500 just 3 years ago. And I don't want to close them, have my score plummet below 500 again and start the 3-year journey all over again.

Paying down more debt (faster) will also raise your credit score.
Pay every little bit you can to your debt. Seriously, I made payments of $5 at times. It sounds like peanuts but over the course of a year, $5 per week is $260 per year. How much is the annual fee?

ours are pretty vanilla straight forward so I still do paper forms by hand and snail mail them but up through a handful of years ago when I still had one in college and we were dealing with all the education credits and such I had used cpa's to do our taxes since we first married. I don't know that I would still do it if we had to file state taxes but with just the fed it's not too bad (and the new senior citizen version of the 1040 I qualify to use after this year looks pretty streamlined).

If you're used to doing it on paper but want to file online, IRS recommended freefilefillableforms.com years ago and I've been using them ever since. It feels like you're using the familiar paper forms but typing it online instead. It's easy to add any forms you need.
You can print it out at any time too. If you made any errors, it will be rejected by the IRS and they'll email within a day or so to tell you what the error is and what you need to do to correct it.