Nothing else needs to be said here.
Jan 292011
Jan 252011
My transportation woes are no more, as I am the proud papa of a brand new…14 year old car! A 1997 Buick LeSabre!
For being as old as it is, it was taken care of incredibly well. There a few dings on the exterior, and some paint peeling on the bumper, but overall it looks very nice. It even has a CD Player (AND…a Tape Deck!). WooT!
The best part about this is that I was able to pay cash, so I have no loan, and I don’t owe my uncle anymore money for it. He fixed up some minor issues with it and took care of the inspection, so all I had to do was insure it and get tags. I did join AAA, just because I wanted to have some extra security (and because I’ve been known to forget to turn off headlights and lock myself out). I also intend to take good care of this car (and not run it into the ground like I basically did the van) because I’d like it to last me at least a few years, and since it only has about 75,000 miles on it I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
So WooT! I can actually go places outside of walking distance, including the gym on a more regular basis! And I don’t need to rely on rides anymore! Yay independence!
Jan 222011
I have an updated total for my bad debt!
As of today my bad debt stands at about $9700, which is a drop of about $3500!
So how exactly did it happen? Part payment, and part misunderstanding to be honest. Here’s the breakdown.
- Consumer Credit Counseling Service: $3071.85. This amount remains unchanged, I’m hoping to make another payment (have already paid $1500 this month) in next couple weeks, but I have to see how the car situation works out and how much that is going to actually end up costing me.
- State Collection Unit: About $3100. Down $808! Basically, I completed my state tax return. I was due a refund from my state taxes, but since I owe this money, the state automatically put it towards the debt. It sucks not getting the actual refund, but in all honestly, it would have been used for this anyway. Here’s hoping next year I actually get to see the money!
- Default Auto Loan: About $3300. Down $2700! And this is where the misunderstanding comes in. When I called the bank to get the balance on this, I was given $3300 as the payoff balance. Generally, in my experience with bad debt, the “payoff balance” is usually attributed to a “settlemant balance”, which is a lesser amount the bank/collection agency/whoever will sometimes accept in lieu of the full payment. So I went with it, especially since in my mind I thought I still owed about $6000. I had to call again to get the ACTUAL balance though, which is when I found out that, yeah, that was it! This was a pretty exciting revelation, and in a way managed to lift some weight off of my shoulders, because this was the debt I was most afraid of. The only downside is that for every day the debt isn’t paid in full, the bank is charging me $.77. So this is the debt that I want to knock out first!
- Misc: $250.00. Unchanged. I haven’t really done anything with this yet.
So WooT! The load has been somewhat lessened, and being able to pay this off THIS YEAR has become a bit more realistic (I was worried for a bit there).
Yay!
