fbpx
:::: MENU ::::

Ashley’s August 2015 Debt Update

by

Happy Monday, all! It’s officially the first day of the Fall semester for both of my jobs (the full-time in-person position & part-time online teaching position. If you didn’t hear – I recently posted the good news about keeping my online job!). I’m teaching two classes for each this semester (4 classes total), but only one is in-person, so I’ll be able to do most of my work online. I’m very grateful for the flexibility! I’ve already been a little swamped, but I’m getting by. It’s helped that I’ve had a very strict work distinction. I ONLY do my part-time job at home. And, for the most part, I’m only doing my full-time job at school (with the exception of checking/responding to emails, etc. at home).

Hopefully I’ll start making some really killer debt payments soon as I officially start receiving TWO paychecks in the month of September. Can’t wait!

In the meantime, this month’s debt payment wasn’t too shabby, either! Check it out:

PlaceCurrent BalanceAPRLast Payment MadeLast Payment DateOriginal debt, March 2014
Capital One CC-17.9%-Paid off in March 2014$413
Mattress Firm-0%-Paid off in May 2014$1381
Wells Fargo CC-13.65%-Paid off in May 2014$7697
BoA CC-7.24%-Paid off in June 2014$2220
License Fees-2.5%-Paid off in April 2015$5808
Navient - Federal Student Loan$34158.25%$266August$4687
ACS Student Loans$209927.24%$77July$21035
Navient - Dept of Education student loans$665526.55%$257August$63254
PenFed Car Loan$121872.49%$1500August$24040
Balance Transfer student loan (Former Navient 1-01)$47120% (through April 2016)$125August$5937
Medical Bills$60360%$25August$9000
Totals$113,894 (July balance = 115,871)$2250Starting Debt = $145,472

Hopefully the debt payments stay steady (or increase!). I’d love to break the $3,000/month toward debt mark. This month was $2250 and it just blows my mind! We’ve worked so hard to make debt payments in the two-thousand-plus dollar range. But the more we can throw at our debt (especially the car!) the sooner it will be gone and the closer we’ll come to meeting our 2015 financial goals. Wish us luck, because we’ll certainly need it to meet our lofty goal (paying $30,000 toward debt in 2015).

 


8 Comments

  • Reply anon |

    Nice total! Can you explain the payment to the Balance Transfer Loan? I see that you have basically 8 months to pay off $4800, which would be $600/month, but you only paid $125 this past month. How are you planning to pay off that total? Will you reallocate your car loan payment? Or wait and see when you get your new paychecks and have a better idea of your monthly income?

    • Reply Ashley |

      A little of both. Once I start getting the double paychecks I’ll see how much we have to work with and probably allocate more toward the balance transfer loan. But I also definitely plan on throwing all the car loan funds toward this loan once the car loan is paid. Also, this balance transfer loan is different than some other loans (like my old Mattress Firm loan I had), in that once the promotional period expires, they DO NOT charge back-interest. So I still intend to have the balance transfer paid by April 2016, but if there’s some huge disaster and that doesn’t happen, at least I won’t be hit with a ton of back interest.

  • Reply Liz |

    You go girl! I just wrote a post today about the official beginning of our debt pay-off journey! My husband and I are going to work really hard to make 1500 a month payments towards our debt starting in October, and try to increase those to $2000 a month in January 2016. You’re doing so great! Keep up the good work.

    • Reply Ashley |

      Thanks! And congrats on starting your debt pay-off journey, too! It can be a challenge, but is incredibly exciting and rewarding, too!

  • Reply Maureen |

    Bravo! I echo anon’s comments. There is no guarantee from one month to the next. Pay $500-$600 on the balance transfer or it’s going to be a reverse snowball effect if disaster strikes.

  • Reply TENN |

    Great job this month. Just want to also say that paying $500-$600 on the balance transfer each month seems wise. What will be the interest rate in April 2016?

  • Reply Sarah |

    You are doing so great! Can you remind us how much you have paid to date in 2015? Just so we can see how close you are to $30k. Also, any chance you could transfer the 8.25% loan to the balance transfer? It is a low balance and such a high interest rate!

So, what do you think ?