Playing the Shell Game, and some random thoughts
Ξ February 1st, 2008 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Observations, Credit Cards |
I don’t particularly hate BofA, so to speak. But I do hate 21.9% 18% interest. So I dug out an old Credit Card and called them up.
“Thank you for calling Chase, how may I help you?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “I either want to close an account or transfer a balance, depending on what offers you have available.”
“I see here that you have a $4000 limit and a zero balance. How much would you like to transfer?”
“It would depend on what balance transfer offers you can give me,” I said.
“OK,” they responded. “I can offer you a 3% transfer fee with a $75 maximum, up to $3700, zero percent interest until January 22nd of ‘09.”
“I would like to transfer $3500 from my BofA CC to this card then,” I told them.
“What is your account number at BofA?”
“XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX”
“Done.”
And that was that. I think that it is totally worth the one time $75 transfer fee to get zero percent for a year. Seeing as I was to have to pay over a hundred dollars per month in interest, I come out WAY ahead. Even if I were to pay this off over the summer I would come out ahead. After this and the Citi transfer go through, I will have a $2000 balance left on BofA, which I expect to make quick work of. I’ll be getting my W2 when I go to work this afternoon (or at least I expect to) and I’m hoping to get a little something back this year.
So as of right now, my intention is to pay off a card that I have with a $500 balance on payday, and then to knock out BofA next. After that I will begin paying off my non-zero percent CC’s from smallest to largest, and probably transfer my Air Conditioning financing over to BofA at 1.99% (that’s a lot better than 18%) and just include that in the mix.
I’ll be replenishing my EF first though. I will put the $100 back into it on payday and whatever is left in my checking after paying off the small card this time will go toward getting my wife something for Valentine’s day. I expect there to be somewhere around $300, assuming I work all of my hours today and tomorrow (which would finish my work week without getting canceled for the first time since July).
It feels good having a plan to get out of debt. I can totally see this debt going away in short order. Especially if I’m knocking the interest rates down. The only way I can think of that I can lose is to get frustrated and quit. That’s a lot of what this blog is about. Keeping myself motivated. It helps me to stay focused when I have to put it all into words and then proofread it. Of course, something unexpected could come up (like last year, when my AC fried) that could put me back. But if I’ve paid off a lot of my existing debt, I’d be in a lot better position to deal with it.
I can see myself getting better organized as the days go by. I still haven’t written all of my debts down in order yet though. So far I’ve taken the position that one at a time is all I can handle. But I’m getting to the point where I’m going to have to look at the whole picture if I want to really make the most impact. I think mostly I have just wanted to pay off those small debts that could be paid off in one paycheck (albeit with the WHOLE paycheck). After this next one, I will be to the point where I need to start thinking along the lines of paying things off in multiple paychecks. Paying something off in two or three months worth of paychecks is more difficult, but I would imagine, more rewarding.
I was somewhat taken aback when my 13 year old was looking the numbers over with me and he pointed out that at the end of March, the student loans will break through $6000.
I appreciate the comments that people have left so far. It’s a strange feeling to know that someone is actually reading what I have written here. I particularly like some of the observations that FranticWoman made.
So thanks a lot, you guys.
