iWillBeDebtFree.net

It is a few days past the one year anniversary of the iWillBeDeptFree.net blog and I decided to tally up my credit card dept and check the progress after 12 months.

I am very disappointed. After checking the numbers, I now have $15,773.94, which is only $479.69 less than the $16,253.63 that I had on May 12, 2009.

This is where I stand on May 17, 2010

Chase Visa $2,230.31
Discover Card $8,832.22
Bank of America $4,711.41

Total: $15,773.94

And there is what I had on May 12, 2009

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

The bad news is I added $1,596.25 to my Discover Card account. This is a high-interest account. I am paying out 27% interest to this company. I need to review and see how this money was spent. I recall using this account to pay off my cell phone and cable company bills. I will analyze my account and detail my mistake in another post .

Read more…

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

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.

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