Tax refund/gone in 60 seconds

Avatar for colomom99
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Tax refund/gone in 60 seconds
5
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 4:44pm

Well, my tax refunds (2850- fed, 980-state) are already gone! Basically before I could get my grubby hands on them. As soon as they came they went in the bank and I immeidately wrote a couple big checks. Discover card is GONE, ditto Target and three store credit cards. That left $800 to be immediately deposited into savings. I am now down to four credit cards -- but three of the four are whoppers. I plan on working on the one where I only owe about $450 and paying it off in a month or so and then buckling down on the biggies. The good news is the biggest one (Sears Mastercard) is 4 percent life of the loan and I pay $300 every month on it even though the minimum has dropped down to about $175. The other two are dicier in that I've noticed the minimums are going up even as I pay them down. I may move the smaller one (MBNA) over to Sears because I don't really trust that company.

Anyway, it feels weird to get so much money all at once and not "enjoy" it but I guess paying off debt is a whole other kind of enjoyment.

jenny

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 9:10pm
Jenny!

All my best,
Danni

Avatar for endomagazine
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2004
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 9:13pm

Hello Jenny,

Congratulations on paying off those credit cards! Sure, it doesn't feel like a tax refund is "earned" money like some of those snowflakes you work hard to save, but really, it's *your* income that was overpaid in taxes that the IRS is returning to you. Good job on setting up some automatic payments so you don't spend the tax refund. =)

In my case, I just "amended" my tax return, after having filed it in early February. My employer sent me and my husband a corrected W-2, which means we have to pay taxes that I wasn't expecting. So my state refund will pretty much cover the federal tax amount. Of course, they never show up at the same time!

Anyway, I also received a letter from the IRS stating that my 2004 income was different than what I reported (huh?). I now owe $1500 in taxes for that. I'm not sure what's going on there, but I'll check my Turbotax records to make sure my income info is correct on my return. Maybe I can contest it. In any case, if I have to pay it, I can do so from our emergency fund. It's just money I would rather pay toward debt!

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-12-2006
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 10:03pm

Hats off to you! I know that must take discipline to use the $ for credit cards when there are so many tempting things to buy.

I'm hoping to do a similar thing in about a month...expecting a bonus from work and I plan to use it to pay off my 2nd mortgage.

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Avatar for mymartes
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 12:34am

congrats.

you're getting closer. lol

MYM

Avatar for cl_beckymk
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 9:26am
Congratulations!!!