This will be my last "money & banking" post for a while. Why? Because I've learned something important in my quest towards financial success. After you take a big step, you maintain.
You don't try to transfer anything.
You don't apply for anything.
You tear up all those offers the credit industry barrages you with the minute you could possibly withstand an additional $5 of debt without getting thrown out onto the streets.
You pay everything on-time, according to your plan, for six months. And then you pop your head back up and decide where you can make progress next. I've got two open credit card accounts sitting at 19.5% and 20% that are scheduled for the 2007 chopping block. Personally, I'm hoping Prosper expands to include loans over longer terms than 3 years.
Here's where I'm at now. My Prosper loan funded at 13.5% borrower rate (14.21% APR). This is 5% less than the loan I'm going to pay off when it hits my checking account. Sweet!
Double bonus, the loan account will stay open and available, and since it's a loan (not a card), I won't use it. So that will help the ratio of my debt to my available credit.
On the negative side, I still can't handle credit cards with available credit. Emotionally, I think I'm almost there, but when you're buried in debt, you're bound to need - really need - car repairs or food or a million other things, and if you have a credit card, you use it.
I had a slippage because of the eight days unpaid that I took to shadow on the TV show last fall, and it snowballed a bit for a while. I learned that my finances plunge into chaos after only eight days without pay. It took months to recover, and the whole experience has been a serious wake-up call.
I do feel confident that I won't touch that open loan. I'm hoping to get a sweet balance transfer offer in the mail after a time and maybe move some debt there and close my second card. Let's face it, the whole debt to available credit ratio just isn't my primary concern right now. And it's a shitty ratio for anyone to be looking at anyway. Fuck 'em.
My priority is getting my interest rates down.
The other big thing happening this year is that I should be getting a substantial unclaimed funds check. This is going directly to a closed account that has an ex's name on it. It won't pay it off completely, but it will bring it down enough that I should have it completely paid off by the end of the year. This one is so important to me on so many levels that I've decided not to get my car air conditioning fixed and just send it all.
I've just had it with my debt. It's insane, I'm buried, and I'm done slipping. I can't beat it today, but it is my number one priority. It's killing my dreams, and that's one thing I won't let anything do. There is no reason I shouldn't be debt-free by 40 if I get serious now. And I am beyond sick of spending hundreds of dollars a month on nothing every month. I hate that I can't live at my income level. I can't buy a car; I can't even buy a bicycle. I hate this debt-ridden life. I have to get free. I can't live this way anymore. I have to beat my way to the light at the end of the debt tunnel to survive and to succeed.
Of course, the trick is that it is a battle waged slowly by making good choices everyday.
I'm ready now.
