Got a 3% raise!!!

Wow! I'm very excited and happy!

I know it's tough out there for a lot of folks. And I just hope the economy gets better.

My own personal news is that I got a 3% raise this month! That really helps my budget! Hopefully I'll have all my debt paid off one day. Still looking at sometime around December 2011 or early 2012.

Other news is that my wife will get a 6% raise starting in August. Every bit of good news helps.

Without a refrigerator for two weeks.

We rent. And the condo we rent came with a (Maytag) refrigerator. But there's been problems with it for almost two weeks. So we've resorted to coupons at fast food places but not for all of our meals. Sometimes a good PB&J hits the spot Other times a can of soup. But we can't refrigerate milk, any dairy products, no frozen goods, etc.

We had to toss out a lot of food that started to go bad when the refrigerator broke down. We dont own the refrigerator. And the landlord has already spent $500 trying to fix it. Maytag now says it needs a new compressor. They already shipped one but it came in damaged so now we have to wait another week without a working refrigerator.

What would you all eat? (besides MREs:)

CitiCard - had to sign up again for 1 YR BLP

My 1-yr Balance Liquidation plan with Citicard (my former AT&T Universal Card) ended last month. I missed the payment because they stopped auto-debiting my monthly payments from my checking account last month.

I explained my debt/income situation and I requested another 1-YR plan. This will be my third and final debt repayment plan with them. They said that regulations only allow three (3) one-year debt reduction plans back to back. They gave me the option of signing up for a 5-year plan with higher payments but if I missed any then there would be no other programs they could offer me - at least, that's what they told me.

So I opted for my third and final one-year repayment plan. In August of 2010 I will have to start paying a higher monthly payment and a higher interest rate. I pray that I will be in a better financial position to absorb those higher payments by then.

Setback - Got a speeding ticket

My wife and I were driving the freeway. I was going with the flow of traffic at about 76 mph in the fast lane (lane #1) when we came around a curve. There was a CHP. Everyone in front of me starting hitting their brakes. I pulled my foot off the gas pedal but people braking in front of me were slowing down faster than I was so I decided to change lanes. I put on my blinker checked that the middle lane (lane #2) was open and then I changed lanes.

As all of us passed the officer I saw him in my rear view mirror turn on his lights and speed onto the freeway. He came after me. Once he got behind me I pulled over off the freeway. He said he clocked me at 82 mph using Lidar (laser radar). He is mistaken. I told him I really disagreed with him giving me a speeding ticket since I was driving with the flow of traffic. I was only going 74 mph in a 70 mph zone. My wife agrees with me that I wasn't doing anything wrong and that I was not speeding - speed scares her for one thing and she'll always tell me to slow down when others are passing us by on the road.

Well, I told the officer I would fight the ticket. He said that he can't pull everyone over at the same time and that he has to pull over someone. I said I thought he pulled me over only because I was driving a sports car. He just repeated again that he has to pull someone over.

I told him that I think that sports car is a target and that our being the victim of a hit and run driver was proof along with the many times I have to swerve away from someone - usually a truck - that swerves into me. Just two days before receiving that ticket I had a minivan swerve into me on the freeway. The time I go that hit and run repair it cost me $1000 - $500 for insurance deductible and $500 for renting a car while my car was in the repair shop. I think people automatically assume that someone who drives a sports car is automatically an asshole and also has money to burn so they can and should pay for repairs, rentals and speeding tickets.

I consider speeding to be when someone passes me at 10+ mph over what I'm driving. When I'm not passing anyone else on the road and we're all driving the same speed - within 5 to 10 mph of the posted speed limit - then I dont think I'm speeding nor should I get cited when everyone else is driving the same speed.

My total CC debt now at $89K

My total CC debt was once at $143K in 2007.

So I'm at least making progress in paying my CC debt off. Goal for being debt free is in three years: 2012.

Of course, I've got other worries. My car comes off a lease at end of the year so I've got to prepare for that. Either save some cash to pay what I know I'll owe and then turn the car in and then buy a $2k beater car. Or get a new loan to buy the car outright and start making new payments at end of year.

I've also got to worry about taxes next year. Since I sold our house I dont have any more tax writeoffs. Its going to hurt next year. I'll probably owe around $9K, maybe more. And being in our 50's and with so much debt I doubt we'll ever own a home again. Not that we ever did anyway. All we ever did was make payments to a lender.

Well, at least we can cash flow my kids through college. Get them into being successful adults. At least I have that satisfaction.

Added $4500 medical debt

Well, last month my wife had some elective surgery. Cost was $7000 but we paid $2500 cash and put the rest of the debt ($4500) on a new card specifically taken out for this new debt.

Well, one step forward, two steps back - in terms of debt repayment, that is.

Household Financial Corp (HFC) creditor raised rate from 6% to 28.99%

HFC raised my rate from 6% to 28.99% last month. I called and was told I was not eligible for a rate reduction because I've already been on two back to back 6 month hardship plans and I had reached my hardship duration limit with them. An HFC customer service supervisor said they would not lower my rate and that they did not have anymore debt repayment plans available for me. The supervisor recommended I call their Hardship department. Their Hardship department told me to call AICCA at 800-450-1794. AICCA routed my call to CreditGuard of America (CGA). CGA said they could put me on a 9% interest rate debt repayment plan with my HFC creditor. I am waiting to hear back from CGA (and my HFC creditor) if this is acceptable.

Hope this works out.

When I was paying 6% interest my monthly payment was $144/mo. If they jack my rate up to 28.99% then my monthly payment would be $184/mo AND the financial charge would be about $183.50/mo. SO my minimum monthly payment would just barely cover the interest.