More Plans for the Future
This has happened a lot… but figured it’s time again. The end of the year is approaching and more importantly a new year is approaching – which includes both tax refunds and Goalsharing bonus. What to do… what to do… I think part of that was decided today actually. I got a call from my collection agency. I think he was trying to say my current payment plan had expired (which is BS b/c I just renewed it a couple months ago) but offered me a settlement. Now after today’s payment cleared for November, my balance was down to about …
One Step Forward, 35 Steps Back
On the same day that I discover that my “total debt” has finally gone below $50k (school, car, credit, etc), I get some of the bills for my little hospital visit. Who knew an appendectomy could cost $15k? Well that’s at least the full itemized statement that is being sent to my insurance. I also received another “Statement of Physician Services” that says I have $462.70 due. So I’m really not sure what is what yet. I very highly doubt that I only owe $460 out of $15,000. Oh well I guess. I’ll just have to see what happens and …
Good Things and Bad Things About Credit
I probably check my credit and financial stuff online too often. Is that possible? Was just going through Credit Karma again (score unchanged) and going through their Report Card thing. It’s really quite nice. They show you all sorts of goodies. For example, you can see graphs of fun things like you credit utilization… or maybe even your total debt?
That's Not Helpful
Any of you watching TV in the last 5 years have no doubt seen all of the “free credit report” and “free credit score” commercials. Essentially offering PAID credit monitoring services with free access to your score or report. They really aren’t free… you’re just getting a “trial” of the monitoring service and then can access the report and score during the trial. If you do not cancel within a certain time frame, you get hit with something like $30/month for the monitoring service. Well I noticed recently that Ben Stein is now selling out for one of these services. …
This is Getting Ridiculous
My car insurance renewed today for 9/09-3/10. And to no real surprise to me, it has gone up again. Totally lost count how many times it has gone up in a row. It is absolutely retarded. And now that Jen and her car are on my policy it gives me a comparison for rate changes. Mine went up $31 for 6 months. Her’s went up $2 for the same period. Not to mention that the “law enforcement fee” doubled now. That’s BS too. People with tCs need to seriously calm themselves and stop thinking they’re race cars (I know, irony…) …
Seesaws Are Usually Fun
Except when it involves my money. My revolving debt is up again. Or at least since May. I don’t know what my June numbers looked like, but probably not great. Sad part is I can’t even speak to what exactly the money was spent on. Regardless, the total is going up and it sucks. On the other side of the seesaw, my other debts are dropping. I only owe about $6200 on my car (yes, I still owe that much). Thankfully it’s worth anywhere from $7k-9k for trade in (depending on what site you ask). My student loan is just …
It's Going to Be a While
I’ve been watching my credit score for a while now on Credit Karma and it hasn’t changed a single point. I think I might be at somewhat of a ceiling with regards to that… Using their little simulator thing, even if I pay off almost all of my revolving debt, it still won’t have much of any effect on my score. Even if I pay everything properly for the next 6 months… still nothing. I do have a theory though. A few years ago I had a bit of a spell of late payments as I started to get behind …
Turn it Around
I guess I’m going the wrong way with some of this debt stuff. I’m not 100% sure why… but I believe most of it is from various car needs (not necessarily parts). There was also a new digital camera involved – since BOTH batteries for my old one were bad and the camera is pretty old. No sense paying $50 for a battery when I can just get a new camera. Oh ya, and medical stuff… Wisdom teeth. More dental work. Thankfully that is all completed. In any case, it looks like I skipped this info for April, so I …
Debt Update, March Edition
It seems this month was not as good as past months. My decrease in debt is a bit less than previous months but I think that I know why. Since last month involved paying off my Best Buy card and this month involved not as much money, I stuck to paying minimum payments. I also wasn’t sure yet what I was doing with my goalsharing or taxes. Of course at this point, the extra money is just barely hanging on and I’m still trying to figure out what to do with what is left. I have about $250 due soon …
Credit Reports Revisited
If you’ve been playing along, you by now know that I no longer have access to my credit score from my WaMu credit card. It has officially changed to Chase and that feature is no longer available. So what is a guy to do? I just want to try to track my credit score as I attempt to rebuild my credit… I don’t want some stupid “monitoring” service. And the free credit report from the government doesn’t give the actual score. It helps to check your info and all, but no score, less useful. I have found an alternative. Credit …