Have to share my good news...

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-05-2003
Have to share my good news...
5
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 11:31am
Totally NOT on the topic of dating, but oh well...

This morning I paid off my last debt! (Well, except for my student loan from going to school last year, but that's a GOOD debt).

When I was with my son's dad, my credit cards together were up to $3300.00, and when we split up I then took out a $2000.00 loan for the lawyer. So I was in debt for $5300.00. Then I moved back to the town I grew up in, but couldn't find work- so I made the decision to go to Community College. I was unable to pay any of that debt off, and of course was sent to collections for all of it. Well, after 9 months of schooling and 3 months of job searching, I landed a good job and since June of 2003 to today I have paid off this entire debt. 14 months.

I AM SOOOOOO PROUD OF MYSELF!!!!

And what did we learn from all this? Don't let your drunk bf use your card. LOL- NO! Don't assume more credit and more credit just because they keep upping your limit. Keep it to what you can handle to pay off every month.

I feel good.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 11:50am
WHAT FANTASTIC NEWS!! Girl, you ROCK!! I'm so proud of you. Yeah, I didn't learn until I sat down with a finance person that getting all those credit cards and having such high limits actually looks bad to a creditor EVEN though you use them like cash cards and pay them up at the end of the month. The way they see it is that on any given month, you could go crazy and charge up every card to the limit. I called up visa and told them to drop it to 5K and leave it there. I admit though that when I make an especially large purchase, I will sign up for a card to get that 10/15% break and then turn around and cut up the card, cancel the service.
Avatar for cl_beckty
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 12:35pm

That's AWESOME.


You have so much to be proud of and are an inspiration.
ENJOY your financial freedom!!!


Can't wait to get there myself... ;)

Becky

Becky

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-05-2003
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 5:39pm
Thanks guys, I do feel really good.

I don't have and don't want any credit cards. As pointed out, the more credit you have means the less you can get. (Besides the fact that I don't have a good rating right now, since I was unable to make my payments while I was in school.) But even when my rating is back up, I don't see myself getting one. If I need to book something and they need a card number to hold it, my mother has said I can use her number, since I would be paying for it cash.

So I look at finances a whole new way now. I will be paying myself first, 10% of my income into savings. After regular bills and food, if I decide that I want something big, I will save up for it. I hope to go away on vacation next year, so I will be looking at how much I will need to get there, stay there and play there. Then I will divide that amount by the time I have to save and see how much I will need to put aside each month.

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Avatar for cl_tcranky1
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 5:42pm

Awesome for you!

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-25-2004
Thu, 08-12-2004 - 7:17am
That is wonderful news - good for you - and thanks for sharing. You should be really proud of yourself. You are an inspiration for all of us.