Monday, February 28, 2011

And So It Begins...

 
 
Today began the actual chipping away process. We both tend to get impatient and want to see major results right NOW, however we know that with something like debt and money, it's the accumulation of a bunch of little actions that will have the greatest impact.

So, what did we do?

  1. Kyle already sold his shotgun to a family friend! Hooray for an extra 100 bucks! (He has two others he wants to sell, if anyone is interested)
  2. I noticed that I was still signed up for "Credit Protector" on one of my credit cards, charging me a ridiculous $40/ month for the supposed "peace of mind" of knowing that if I were to lose my job, get a divorce, or have babies, my payments could be put on hold for a couple months. It turns out I am self-employed, not currently married, and have no plans to pop out any babies soon, so I figured this could afford to go.
  3. I  managed to get my highest credit card interest rate lowered!
Let me just say that I am a huge pushover when it comes to simply asking for something I want, so when it came to calling up the credit card company to ask them for a lower interest rate, I used to think "there's no way I would have the balls to do that". However, "Love vs. Debt" Megan is a new and improved, "I'll tell YOU what I want" Megan, and I was super motivated to get things done today.

So, I did a little research-- I figured out how long I had been a customer with their company, how many times I missed a payment, and what other credit card rates and balance transfers were available to use as leverage.

I took a few deep breaths, then I called them up and told them that "I would hate to have to cancel my card, but I would not hesitate to do it if they couldn't do something to lower my rate." I also (casually) mentioned the fact that I have been their customer for almost 8 years and haven't missed one payment.

The moment they heard the word "cancel" they transferred me to the higher-ups and lowered my interest rate by 6%!

Wow... that was easy.

Moral of the Story: It never hurts to ask. The worst thing that could happen is they say "No" and then you are no worse off than you were before. I only regret that I didn't do it sooner.

Keep you posted on our progress!

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3 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 28, 2011 at 8:04 PM

    Dear MegaBall,
    1) I came up with your combined couple name just now. In case you didn't guess, it's MegaBall.
    2) We made the decision not to get cable in our current apt and it saves us each about $40-ish a month! I don't even notice the lack of TV anymore actually, I just fill all my time stalking people on facebook. (Sweet life, right?) Anyway, the interwebs has tons of shows to stream in the place of that $40 :)

    Hoping you didn't already think of that which would make this post useless,
    Darcy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kyle and MeganMarch 1, 2011 at 6:08 AM

    Haha, interesting couple name choice. We are partial to Kygan or Megle, but to each their own!

    Thanks for the TV advice! Definitely something to consider.

    We are big fans of Netflix. Yes, it's still another monthly payment but we are selling most of our DVD collection since we can get them on Netflix instead... sneaky.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JenMarch 1, 2011 at 10:48 AM

    Sign up for Swagbucks, too, guys. If you use my link, I get something...but I don't really understand how the referral thing works. In 4 months I've earned $20 in Amazon gift cards. Of course, I use them for diapers, etc. but Amazon has some really good deals out there. Just an idea :)
    http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/mrspate22
    Love you guys!

    ReplyDelete

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