Credit Card Victory

A few weeks ago Steve and I decided to tackle some of the paper work in our house. We threw out bags, not Walmart bags – trashbags, full of unneeded papers. We spent the better part of a rare day off together tackling this project. It is by no means a completed project, but things are semi organized and when we have another “day off” we can get down to serious business.

Anyhow, in the process of going through the mountains of bills, medical records, church bulletins and acts of congress, I found a credit card offer. I know, I know. Red flags are being thrown up in all directions. Stay away from more credit cards. They’re evil. The essence of the devil. The nectur of sin. I am well aware of the life sucking qualities credit cards can have on one’s life. Hello my name is Renee and in college I earned a degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management and about oh $15,000 in credit card debt. So believe me when I say, I know. I KNOW

Despite all prior knowledge of credit card fatalities, I opened the offer letter. I took a gander at it, and passed it over to Steve. He took a gander at it, and passed it back. I looked at him, and he looked at me, and we both went, “It’s worth a shot.” So, I applied for this credit card (DANGER, DANGER). I was approved for this card (DANGER WILL ROBINSON, DANGER)!

I’ haven’t applied for a credit card, or any credit for that matter since Moanna was born. I take that back, about two months after she was born, we traded in our car for a newer model with four doors. Since that, I’ve applied for zero credit. I’ve not needed it. I’ve not wanted it. I wouldn’t have qualified for it if I tried.

However, I applied, and I was approved. If my living room floor didn’t look like the recycling center drove through the brick walls of our house, I would have done cartwheels and toe touches.

I was approved for a line of credit of $4,300 with a 0% (ZERO PERCENT) interest rate on all balance transfers until September 2011!!!!! (I’m sorry, but that is worth a lot of these !!!!) After September 2011 the interest rate jumps to 13.9%.

Do you know what this means?

Do you?

I don’t think you do.

This means that my credit card with the insane-o interest rate ( the one with the 25% interest rate) has been transferred a card with a zero interest rate for the next year. For the next year, any payments I make on that bad boy goes directly to the principle. No more paying $120 some odd dollars on interest alone. If I pay $334.00 per month to the roughly $4000.00 balance, it would be paid off in a year. IN A YEAR!

VICTORY! HIP-HIP-HOORAY!

Of course, things are not that simple…

Unfortunately, we have other debts. We have another creidt card that carries a balance. The current balance on that card is $6,046.07 ($2,579.02 is at 24.99% and $3,793.42 is at 9.90%). For now all of our extra financial recourses need to go to that card. Eventually, we will need to do a break even analysis to find out exactly how much of our extra money needs to go to which card to minimize our finance charges. That is math that I am not interested in going at this hour of the night. I would like to believe that both of these cards will be paid off by September 2011, and the two hours it will take me to do the math won’t be worth it.

For now, I am just going to dream about all of the money we are saving and not forking over to that life sucking credit card!

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