Steve vs. Debt

Hi ya’ll.

I’ve mentioned several times throughout my time blogging that I want to pay down my debt, and I even made it a resolution to completely pay it off this year.

I never really discussed it much further though.  Part of this was embarassment, because a lot of it was the result of irresponsibility, and it’s a pretty huge balance for irreponsibility to be a concern.  Another part of it was, well, this wasn’t really the place for it for a long time there.

But anywho…I’ve been making my payments, but in line with the resolution, I’m ready to pay it down and destroy it for good.  So here ya go.

My total bad debt is $13224.20, and it breaks down as follows:

• Consumer Credit Counseling Service:  $3071.85.  Consumer Credit Counseling Service is a debt management that is currently handling my outstanding credit card debt, as well as debt from a checking account that went into excessive overdraft.  I entered this program in mid 2009 with a total balance of $6919.98, so so far I’ve think I’ve done a pretty good job with it.
• State Collection Unit:  $3902.35.  This is current balance debt that is owed to the State, that couldn’t be managed by CCCS.  A couple of years ago I enrolled in a semester at a state school, and withdrew, but was stupid enough to do it without going through the actual “withdrawal” process.  That means that I was still responsible for the tuition.
• Default Auto Loan:  About $6000.  You all know that I am currently without a car, but that’s because my van broke down and was donated.  The only reason I was driving the van was because I defaulted on an auto loan and had my Pontiac Grand Prix repossessed.  This is the leftover balance of the loan after the car was auctioned, and I honestly have not touched it since.  However, I am still responsible for the money and if I want any hope of getting any type of loan in the future that doesn’t have an astronomical interest rate, then I need to take care of this.  I am actually in the works to add this to my CCCS program, so that way its payment can be consolidated into that one monthly payment.
• Misc: $250.00.  I have a few misc small charges (small credit cards, DSL service from my old place) that have gone to collections that I didn’t add to CCCS for some reason (most of them due to the low balance).

Keep in mind that I said that this was “bad debt”.  Once I am finished with school I am going to have student loan debt, but I am not factoring that in yet because it is still a few years off, and this debt is more detrimental to my credit score than the student loans.

If I want to succeed in paying this off this year then I will need to be able to pay about $1200 a month towards it.  Whether this is going to be possible or not remains to be seen, but I have a plan to at least knock out a chunk of it in the next month or so.

• Financial Aid Money.  I started a new semester this month and will be getting a financial aid refund soon, and I plan to put most of it towards the debt.  I know that technically I’m not paying the debt down, and only “delaying” it, but like I said, this is more detrimental to my credit than student loans will be, so I want to knock this out.
• Tax Returns.  My State income tax return is going to automatically go towards the debt, which is going to help knock the balance down.  I have a rough idea of what I’m getting back in Federal returns, and a large chunk of this will go towards the debt as well.
• Pay.  Between overtime and incentives at work, I tend to do pretty well pay wise.  I almost grossed 50k last year, and I’m cautiously optimistic that I will be able to do the same this year.  If I manage to cut down/cut out bullshit expenses, then I should end up with at least something after my regular bills that I can put towards this.
• Second job?  I’m up in the air about this one, because I already work well over 40 hours a week at my regular job, and I have a full time course load (and academic probation due to not being able to keep up) to deal with.  If push comes to shove though, or if my overtime is cut further this year (which would be tragic!) then I can probably pick something in the evenings nearby.  I swore up and down that I would never, EVER, work retail again, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

What about transportation?  As I’ve been saying, another goal for the next few months was to get a new (used) car, as I am currently without transportation.  In all honesty though, I can hold off for a while.  I mean, I work at home, so it’s not like I have to commute (a car would come in handy though if I got a second job), and I am within walking (or even biking distance?) from most things.  There are also buses that run nearby, and I have a roommate who is usually pretty cool about giving me rides.  I want to try to be as self sufficient as possible in this regard, but it’s nice to know that I do have options.

With that said though, I do not want to go all year without a car, so part of my tax return and part of my pay is going into the car fund.  I’m hoping that I can find something cheap and reliable that I can pay cash for, but I do know that I can get an auto loan (albeit a high interest rate one), so at the very least I’d like to have a sizeable down payment.

How did I let it get so bad?  Well, I guess the same way I let my weight get out of control.  I didn’t think about it, I was selfish, and irresponsible.  I blew money on other things besides my bills,  I paid a lot of stuff on credit cards (which I don’t do anymore, mind you, I have no open credit card accounts), I told myself I’d worry about it later, etc…etc…  It is what it is, but I’m ready to finally grow up some and deal with it.  I’d like to start a family, buy a house, and all that fun stuff in the next few years, so I need to take care of this now.

So there you have it.  I am fat and grossly in debt, and hopefully you all will stick with me while I try to right those wrongs.   If anyone has been in a similar situation and has ideas or advice, I’m more than open.  I have absolutely no intention of online panhandling (ala Save Karyn), but if anyone wants to send me some money I’m open to it!*