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The Journey Begins!

May 12th, 2009 Can_Do No comments

To say that I was surprised when I went over my credit card accounts yesterday is a big understatement.

I noticed that I was transferring a lot of money to credit card accounts so I added up the balances of my four credit cards and it came to $16,253.63!

This is the breakdown:

Discover Card: $7,235.97
Bank of America American Express: $4,736.97
SST Visa (formerly Sharebuilder Visa): $1,230.15
Chase Visa: $3,050.54  
Total $16,253.63 on May 12, 2009

 My immediate thought was how did I ever let this happen and how am I going to get out from under this heavy financial weight on my back? 

This is very scary because my pre-tax income is $60,000 so credit card debt now accounts for more than 25% of my annual salary. I estimate that this debt is probably close to 40% of my income because I live in New York City where everything is taxed.

So how am I going to get out of this bind? I briefly considered filing for bankruptcy. I have had several friends who have gone this route and it’s not as bad as it sounds. In fact one of them just purchased a house after spending a few years cleaning up their credit.

But bankruptcy is not an option for me because I own a co-op apartment worth at least $180,000. I paid off the mortgage a few years ago and if I filed for bankruptcy protection, I would have to sell my beloved home.

Rather than panic, I have decided to simply pay it off. I am going to make a few lifestyle and job changes. But I am determined to get rid of the debt. This blog is going to document how it I am going about trimming all my credit card debt.

And I know this won’t be an easy journey.

Categories: Bankruptcy, Credit Card Debt, Getting Started, Monthly Credit Card Payments Tags: , , , , ,