Update for June

As of the beginning of July, here is where I stand.

I forgot a small-balance credit card when I calculated my initial balance in April. So my debt amount was even worse than I thought, and should have been $112,065.63 total debt (including the car loan).

The required minimum payments were $2062.07, plus the new charges on the card I pay in full every month, of approximately $1650, which is where I came up with the approximately $3700 in credit payments I need to make every month.

But since I have to pay those new charges on the one card in full every month, I decided to recalculate the minimum payment amount to reflect only the revolving credit payments. That amount varies depending on the balances, but is around $2000 - $2200 each month.

Since April, I have transferred some of my higher interest rate balances to the 0% promotional interest rate CitiCard mentioned previously, and made payments on some of the cards. The thumbnail sketch is as follows:

April:

Total debt before payments this month: $112,065.63
Total minimum payments due: $2062.00
Payments made: $ 680.00, plus transferred $8400 to CitiCard with the 0% promotional interest rate.

Note that I did not meet my goal of paying $335 "extra" in April. I didn't even make the $2062 minimum payments. All I did was move money around. Not very helpful.

May:

Total debt before this month's payments: $106,671.82
Total minimum payments due: $2099.07
Payments made: $2173.00
Extra payment above minimum: $73.93

It appears the debt has decreased by nearly $4000, but it hasn't. Some of the balance transfers had posted to my "payee" accounts, but not yet posted to the Citi card, so my total debt looked a lot less than it really was.

June:

Total debt before this month's payments: $110,233.39
Total minimum payments due: $2191.07
Payments made: $2555.00
Extra payments above minimum: $363.93

This month the minimum payments have gone up. That is because of some new charges on one of my revolving charge accounts - and also because of the new payment required for the Citi card. It may go up again for July, as I needed to purchase clothes for my kids and pay property taxes of $750 and had no other funds available. I already had reached my $1600 credit limit on the card that I pay in full every month.

The total debt at the beginning of June is accurate, though, and includes all the balance transfer debt plus all the previously existing debts and credits.

Also note, I met my goal in June of paying at least $335 "extra" above the minimum payments! (Although, to be honest, I charged more than the $335 "extra" on my revolving accounts, so I'm not sure this really counts, as it did not go to debt reduction, but to paying for things I bought this month. But at least I paid extra instead of just paying the minimum and running up the cards.)

July:

Total estimated debt before this month's payments: $110,104.

Summary:

So, during these three months, I have made payments totaling $5408.00, and reduced the total debt by approximately $1961.00 ($112,065 - $110,104 = $1961.00).

That's a lot of money going to interest payments. But at least I can see some progress, which is encouraging. Certainly it is better than it was before I embarked on this project. It used to be that every time I added up the debt it was more than the last time I added it up.

Wish me luck as I continue this ridiculously hard battle to get rid of credit debt.

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