Debt Free in 2007 - Did you make it?

[roadtripper]

Well as of tomorrow I will be totally debt free!! I even have enough to get the car problem fixed without making a dent in any savings!! Thank you guys for all the support!

All CC's balances I have paid off since June 2007:
Chase - $2000
Citicard - $3000
Dell - $1587
Capital One - $987
Credit Union Visa - $350
Bank of America - $1193

Balance on all cards as of 10/11/07... $0.00!!

Now all I need to do is direct the money into my savings account and keep the remaining CC's active with small charges every month (paid off before interest can accrue) and my credit score should be a lot better by the time we go mortgage hunting in February!

Congrats on your success! What an achievement!
I'm also confused about the small charges thing, though-- you can keep a card open, just cut it up and not use it at all. A zero balance will be good for your credit score because it will increase your available balance. I have cards I haven't used in years, with really high credit limits. I thought it was best not to close them. Or maybe I'm missing something-- you certainly seem to have thought this out. Yay for you!

 

[girli565]

Congrats on your success! What an achievement!
I'm also confused about the small charges thing, though-- you can keep a card open, just cut it up and not use it at all. A zero balance will be good for your credit score because it will increase your available balance. I have cards I haven't used in years, with really high credit limits. I thought it was best not to close them. Or maybe I'm missing something-- you certainly seem to have thought this out. Yay for you!

I had a problem with a merrick bank visa that was closed for lack of use. I had it, used it once and then never used it again for almost a year and a half. I got a letter from them stating that my account was being closed because I haven't used it in over a year. When it closed it dropped my score by almost 20 points so I figure, if I leave other cards unused it may happen with them as well. So small charges every month that get paid off is what I"ll have to do.

Thank you fo rthe congrats!!

 

[minnie1928]

Wow! You guys are both doing GREAT!!! Congratulations!!!!

 

[cmbonneville]

Ok - so between DH and I we have about $13,000.00 in CC limits over about 10 cards - and have a mediocre utilization rate right now....

I want to increase our credit scores over the next 9-12 months to buy a new house... I plan to pay off the credit card balances by the March '08

Which plan is best reducing accounts to decrease the number of account open or the limits/credit available?

Thanks

Crystal

 

[wilsue]

Bump!!

 

[MagicalMom]

Ok - so between DH and I we have about $13,000.00 in CC limits over about 10 cards - and have a mediocre utilization rate right now....

I want to increase our credit scores over the next 9-12 months to buy a new house... I plan to pay off the credit card balances by the March '08

Which plan is best reducing accounts to decrease the number of account open or the limits/credit available?

Thanks

Crystal

Don't close the acct. right now. It would drop your fico score. If you want to close them, wait until after you have moved. I would focus on getting each card down to below 50% of the creidt limit. After that I would start snowballing with either a focus on the lowest balance or the highest interest. You have to figure which way would work better for you.

 

[deanainnc]

Just wanted to post progress. In the last 3 weeks we have paid off dh's truck and my car. Our debt reduction for the past year has been a little slower than we had hoped but we are getting it all paid off. After long discussion my dh and myself have decided to take the money from the 2 payments and not roll over to another bill right now, we are going to the bank and open a money market acct. and deposit the 2 payments a month which is $1,050 into it and build an emergency fund. Our aim is to build up $5000 and that will cover our expenses for a couple of months if we should be out of work. What do you guys think about that plan? Is that enough money or do you think we need more. After we build that up we are going to be switching the $1,050 over to our home equity ever month and get that bill paid off.

 

[comicguy]

I think that putting 1050 a month in a savings account as an emergency fund is a great idea. After you have 5-6000 dollars then you can reallocate to pay off debt.

Good luck. I have been paying off a lot off debt recently and doing some home repairs that will save money for the comming winter (3 new windows that we installed today plus the city gives us back 50/window and the Fed's will give us a tax credit as well).

 

[Teacher03]

I wanted to report a small victory-I just paid off one of my student loans! I'm excited, now I have $100 extra dollars a month to go towards another loan !

 

[minnie1928]

Just wanted to post progress. In the last 3 weeks we have paid off dh's truck and my car. Our debt reduction for the past year has been a little slower than we had hoped but we are getting it all paid off. After long discussion my dh and myself have decided to take the money from the 2 payments and not roll over to another bill right now, we are going to the bank and open a money market acct. and deposit the 2 payments a month which is $1,050 into it and build an emergency fund. Our aim is to build up $5000 and that will cover our expenses for a couple of months if we should be out of work. What do you guys think about that plan? Is that enough money or do you think we need more. After we build that up we are going to be switching the $1,050 over to our home equity ever month and get that bill paid off.

I think this is a great idea, but before you open an account at the local bank take a look at the interest rate they are offering. Compare it to an online savings account (ex: ING, Emigrant, HSBC). If you are going to let money sit in an emergency fund, you want to make sure that it's getting paid the best interest rate available.

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

Can I still join this thread..or maybe I should start one for Debt free in 2008? We have been cutting back on expenses and putting every little bit of extra towards debt. Have anyone here done the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University program?

 

[Rodnegg]

I think starting a thread for getting out of debt in 2008 is a great idea, I am totally on board.

 

[jenm2878]

I'm up for a 2008 thread as well! Right now it looks like I'll be posting on these until 2014......

We're down to just my car, two GIGANTIC student loans, the HELOC, and the house. The student loans are what's going to take forever.

On the upside - my mortgage company called this weekend and wanted to give us a lower rate since we always pay on time and pay more then what's due. We got the rate lowered, the term shortened, and the PMI taken off, and all we have to pay out of pocket is $100 for the house appraisal. No closing costs, no points, nothing!!! I was just tickled that our monthly payment will go 'farther' now, ya know?

 

[minnie1928]

Can I still join this thread..or maybe I should start one for Debt free in 2008? We have been cutting back on expenses and putting every little bit of extra towards debt. Have anyone here done the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University program?

I did FPU, sort of. My employer offered it to the employees at a reduced rate of only $25! My DHs schedule didn't allow for us to actually, physically attend the classes and I didn't want to dump the kids off with someone for a few hours every week. So, I asked HR if I could take the class "correspondence" style and surprisingly enough...they agreed!

That was 2.5 years ago and since then we've paid off a boatload of debt, including 2 BMWs and most of our DVC contracts. We've never been ones to carry a CC balance, but on the other hand we were never ones to really pay off cars early or put significant amounts on "regular" loan debts either. FPU really helped us see that we needed to make paying off our debt a priority.

With that said, we do not follow his program 100%. We found the pieces that worked well for us and stuck to them. Like I said, CCs have never been an issue for us. So we continue to use them and rack up rewards, Dave would not approve!

I highly recommend the FPU course, you'll be glad you did it.

 

[minnie1928]

On the upside - my mortgage company called this weekend and wanted to give us a lower rate since we always pay on time and pay more then what's due. We got the rate lowered, the term shortened, and the PMI taken off, and all we have to pay out of pocket is $100 for the house appraisal. No closing costs, no points, nothing!!! I was just tickled that our monthly payment will go 'farther' now, ya know?

That's great news!!! I did something similar a year or two ago. We received a letter in the mail from a local bank offering a no cost refinance on my Home Equity loan. I called my current lender, explained that I really liked their service but I had this other offer in hand. I asked them if they could beat the offer. They said they would at no cost to me. One simple call saved me 2% on my HE loan, it's now 6.24% fixed. They changed the rate right then and there!

 

[starwishing]

Ok...so I think everybody is up for a 2008 thread....anybody care to start it? And please let us all know!!!!! Me & my dh are really sticking to our plan of paying off all our debt....but it is soooooooooooo long away, & soooooooooo much to pay down, but we are really trying to stay focused & just enjoy the little goals we are meeting.

jenm2878 - I'll be right here with ya posting on Debt Free 2014!

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

I started a Debt free in 2008 thread for those of you who are interested...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=21415254#post21415254

 

[isyt]

I wanted to post here since I am still paying off in 2007. I have learned alot this yearabout paying debt down, mortgages and just little tips, so thank you.

My hubby got a raise that is retro from January so I am thrilled. After October being really bad with car repairs, a chimney repair and a weak moment of going to Niagara Falls on a whim I was able to pay it all off before some of it was even billed!! I still have my one debt that was $8000 in September and is now $3900. I did not think I could pay it off before the end of the year but now I am really hopeful.

I will let everyone know here what happens before 2008 just to keep me honest. I am already on the 2008 thread but I am still hopeful. We are going to Disney in 2 weeks (yes I know) but I do have the money set aside for that. I already told the kids no souvies. If I can keep Christmas in check we should be okay.

 

[minnie1928]

I just had a thought, since the 2008 thread has been started and many of us jumped on to that one perhaps it might be a good idea to post our individual accomplishments on this thread at the end of the year. Maybe in the second half of December we could jump back on here and post a review for each of us (January vs December). If anyone isn't comfortable with dollar amounts, maybe they could post percent decrease in debt. And maybe everyone could add their most influential tip that they used in order to pay down their debt. I think this could be very inspirational to those looking at the 2008 thread.

Just my .02 cents...

 

[dcfromva]

I plan to go over to the 2008 thread and follow along. After today, we have 1 more loan to pay off (an interest free loan--hope to have it done in 7 months. )

Since we are approaching retirement in less than 5 years, our goal for 2007 was to pay off our mortgage (we set this goal 5 years ago and it has been a long time coming!).

Today is the day. We just paid off our mortgage!


-DC