Comments on: Seven Things We Did to Slash Our Finance Charges from $400/month to $0/month

By: Debtfree

Debtfree — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:01:05 +0000

Great advice. I am going to check out Prosper.com. I have never heard of it before. Interesting.

By: Jade Cow

Jade Cow — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:50:53 +0000

These are great tips! I would also recommend keeping track of the starting balance and the balance after each payment that you make, even if you just write it down on a piece of paper for yourself. It is so helpful to see that, yes, it is actually going down!

By: Sammy

Sammy — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:31:52 +0000

Excellent tips. I am definitely going to take this list and see if I can bring down my finance charges.

By: Aya @ Thrive

Aya @ Thrive — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:37:27 +0000

That’s a great plan you had working for you! I hope it helps others too.

By: San Francisco Certified Financial Planner

San Francisco Certified Financial Planner — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:26:31 +0000

What an awesome success story for dealing with credit card debt. As a financial planner, I cannot emphasize you first point enough. Call those credit card companies. It doesn’t always work, but when it does, it can be huge. I have one client who owes over $20,000 on a Visa that was at 18%. He spoke with a ‘rate specialist’, touting his rising credit score and declining balance and got his rate cut in half, from 18% to 9%! His monthly interest charge was instantly reduced by $150, which will help him pay off his debt even sooner.

By: MrsMoney

MrsMoney — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:46:06 +0000

Wow. That is amazing. Great job!!

By: Sara M

Sara M — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:05:05 +0000

Tricia,

Was reading through the Consumerist today, and your blog was mentioned-

http://consumerist.com/5077211/use-prospercom-loan-to-get-lower-fixed-interest-rate

By: Tricia

Tricia — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:43:04 +0000

Cheryl – it depends on the card because I think some of them may not do it for a card-to-card transfer. All of ours have done it, but some have had those actual paper checks that can be used to pay any creditor.

By: cheryl

cheryl — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:55:40 +0000

You can transfer a balance on your card to your husband’s card? I didn’t know this was possible.

By: Colleen in MA

Colleen in MA — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:05:31 +0000

Excellent advice. I have tried most of your suggestions and have been amused/appalled at how arbitrary the credit card industry can be when I have made calls about finance charges. I have concluded that yes, a positive answer in my favor will depend on my balance, having made payments on time, etc. but it can also depend on the operator’s mood/the moon phase, etc! For a while I even tried asking for lower available credit because I have been given monstrous amounts of it, but within a few months I get letters in the mail saying “Congratulations, we’ve raised your limit!” The bottom line – always read every statement and see what the competitors are doing. The credit card companies are not working for their consumer’s best interests. Congratulations Tricia on working so hard on this! I too will be debt free next year. It would have been this year but I was able to pay cash for my wedding in October (while my fiance paid the mortgage). Now he and I are concentrating on my remaining debt. It will feel so good to be debt free – I’m already planning how I’m going to celebrate that day!