Story Of The Week...

Those cases of beer I bought in college on my credit cards are probably costing me more like $40 a case instead of the $7.99 I paid back then. Swimming in debt but hey I have a great credit history. I only have around $16,000 more dollars to pay on my credit cards. Oh how did it all start. Well here goes my sad but true reality.

I received my first credit card (Department store card) it was only for $100.00 around 19% I believe. This was my first year at college and knew that I needed to start a credit history. What I didn't realize was how this one credit card and the power of it could turn me into a plastic maniac. Since my first card I have had probably every other major credit card along with department store cards. I realized after about 2 years that department cards were way to high of interest so I paid those all off. However I thought I was very cleaver with my major credit cards, I bought a car for $3000 the introductory rate was only 6.9% better than a used car loan, so I thought hey why not. I have the whole summer to pay it off. Bad thinking my interest rate went up to 18% but then more credit card offers came in the mail with low intro APR's so that began my downfall. I would get a credit card and play the credit card balance transfer games, figuring that once again I would pay them off before the interest went up. Not only did I not pay them off I now had more credit than I could afford but that didn't stop me. I have been playing this game for around 5 years and yes I keep the interest low for the most part but sometimes there are months at a time that I can't transfer balances and I am stuck with an 18-19% interest. When it is over $10,000 the interest is horrible.

One of the funny things was that one-day I received a letter from one of my credit cards and they said that they were canceling my account. So I called to find out why and they said my credit exceeded my income. I said that was funny I actually have a job that pays and you are canceling my account. I had this card for years in college and was barely making enough money to live on, but low and behold they kept increasing my limit. But now I am paying huge amounts on my credit cards instead of the minimum payments and now they want to cancel my card. Oh well, I had 6 others to keep me happy.

Now that reality has hit me and I no longer have that $3000 car though I am sure somehow that I am still paying for it, I can luckily say that my credit history is great. I only received a few late balance notices, but if you call them and it is your only one for the year they will take it off your account. Top...

The bad note is that I want to be a stay at home mom and only work a few hours a week once I have children, if I didn't have this huge credit card debt I am sure I would be having them now. I also have student loans to pay off. So until my credit cards are paid off I have to continue working full time. Though I love my career, my biological clock is ticking. I am on a track to have my credit cards paid off by Dec of 2001. However we are now buying a house so my plan of Dec 2001 may more like be Dec of 2002. My reality of being a stay at home mom is becoming harder than I thought.

I still have 5 major credit cards but only 2 have balances on them. I would cancel the others but I use them to transfer balances every 6 months average 2.9%-9.9% and none of them have yearly fees.

A few tips for those who are in debt like myself:
* Try to transfer balances to lower cards.

* Call your credit card companies and tell them your situation and they may lower the rate for you.

* Also ask them about the yearly fee's they usually will also take them off or reduce them.

* Pay extra on one credit card rather than equal on all of them. I feel so much better when I finally pay off one credit card. Little steps are about all you can do when you are in debt like myself.

IF AT ALL POSSIBLE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T HAVE A CREDIT CARD KEEP IT THAT WAY IF AT OR ONLY HAVE ONE WITH A LOW CREDIT LIMIT. WITH TODAY'S DEBIT CARDS FROM YOUR BANK YOU CAN USE THEM JUST LIKE CREDIT CARD EXCEPT YOU ARE USING YOUR OWN MONEY. Top...