29.99% You’ve got to be kidding me!

That is what it will cost you if you are late making credit card payments. Take it from me. Someone who is living that right at this very moment! How in the world! To pay $180.00 in finance charges on a 7000.00 credit card balance with a min. payment due of 250.00…and rising gas prices, how does one even pay that? Please explain it to me. Sure, you can cut back on things, but seriously, is it going to even make a difference in what you owe? I was seriously looking around my home trying to figure out what I can sell! Anyone want a broken dining room set? How about a couch with tears in the fabric from when I thought it was safe to put a running vacuum on the cushion to clean it, come to find out, it ruined my material? Oh, I got it, how about selling the coffee table and end tables that my mother in law gave us 15 years ago that we still use in our living room that has wet cup ring marks, and artwork from when the kids thought it was fun to write on them with markers? Or, I know, the 19″ television that still works but is about 18 years old and with the new digital stuff going on, you need to have a box or whatever to make it work? Or the swingset in the backyard that the kids only play on because there is nothing else to do? Yes, selling old stuff…will cover about half of what I am being charged in interest. What about next month? What do I sell then? Old gold chains that we don’t wear anymore?

Ok, so how do you get rid of that high finance rate? I am looking for people who have a high rate card now, or have had one and was able to get it lowered. I am looking for people who were able to get themselves out of the debt hell hole and are living care free right now. I am looking for those who have suggestions and are willing to share their experiences, either past or present. I really want to know how to best handle our troubled finances without having to fall victim to bankruptcy.

Hell, to make it fun, I can offer to send you a paper clip if you provide me with a self address stamped envelope! Perhaps you can use it to clip all your crappy high financed credit card bills together so you too can sit there with a puzzled look on your face every week!

Damn Gas Companies

In this day and age it is unheard of to not have debt, or no credit cards, right?  There are a few lucky ones who are fortunate enough to live debt free and with no credit cards carrying a balance.  I for one am not that lucky.  We are currently living way above our means and have an enormous amount of debt.  I thought perhaps I can call the companies as suggested by many financial advisors and ask them to lower our interest rates.  I have to say, I was a bit terrified at first, but after the first call, I felt more at ease and it just flowed off my tongue with no shame.  The first company I called starts with the letter K and rhymes with holes.  I was told that they cannot lower the rate and I was basically out of luck.  Well, ok, on to the next.  It was Capital One.  They were so wonderful to speak with. Right away I was told I was a valuable customer of 7 years and they would like to keep our relationship a positive one so they offered to lower my rate 5% to a fixed 9.9%!  I was amazed!  How cool is that!  Then I moved on to another independent store and no, they said, sorry, we can’t do that.  Those two cards were at a 22% rate (give or take), so when I was talking to Capital One, they told me I can transfer balances at 0% for 18 months and there are no transfer fees!!!!!  After the 18 months, the transfered balance/s would go to the fixed rate of 9.9%, so right there, I would be saving 12.1%!



 I found out that the ability to help was 50/50.  I did not think to myself, “Oh, yeah this is great” as most were not willing to work with us after explaining our situation.  I know  a lot of people are in similar situations and I would love to hear what has helped or just your experiences in general with regards to resolving credit card debt.  Please feel free to leave a comment below. 


After figuring out that I need to transfer those two high rated cards to the lower one, I decided to call a gas company.  We are at our limit on those as well, but they too have a 23% rate!  I called they said, sure lets see what we can do.  Then came back with, sorry you don’t qualify.  WTF?  We don’t “Qualify”, how does one qualify?  Do you randomly pick people and say, here, it is your lucky day.  You get a lower rate!  So yeah, on top of paying $3.10 a gallon, you can’t lower your interest rate?  They sent me to their consolidation department.  They were closed, but I plan on calling tomorrow to find out what exactly they wish to consolidate.  Would they risk bankruptcy or agree to work with us?  Let stay tuned and find out tomorrow.


When ever I hear consolidation, it freaks me out and makes me think of people running around with my money, or scamming me and I’d end up owing more than I really needed to pay to begin with after their “fees”.   Not sure what exactly this consolidation department is all about, but I will share what happens, that’s for sure.


I just thought that was a kicker…here pay $3.10 a gallon for gas, and pay 24% interest so we can collect even more money from you suckers!!!