Independence Day Comes Early!!!

It's finally the end of June and I have A LOT of progress to report finally! At the begining of this month, I posted that my goals were to:

1. Avoid Evil Overdraft Monster

2. Stop Payday Loans Forever

And I am happy to report that, drumroll please....

I succeeded in both of my goals!!! It is such a relief to know that the money I earned this month actually went towards ME and what I needed to pay and didn't just dissapear out of the bank before I could even make a sustainable budget.

But, and here's the thing I've been sitting on for a while now. In the process of making these goals, I had to take a good hard look at how much my financial mistakes have cost me. And it's pretty damn shocking. So, please try not to judge me too harshly when I reveal the numbers:

This chart shows how my money has been spent from March 13 (the earliest I could look up online) to today. And it includes:

$2,375 in LOAN repayment. $100 of which was repaid to Friend A. $240 I eventually got back. But I did end up paying a grand total of $2035 to Payday Loans in three months time. And it's FINALLY OVER. My last payment posted on Friday. I am so happy I finally got out of the disastrous cycle. Now, I will have SO much more money to devote more wisely each month.

I also managed to avoid the Evil Overdraft Monster fees at my bank. Something that I've paid, wait for it, $741 to since March 13th, representing 7.41% of my spending. $741! That's more than a month's rent down the drain. Never again!!

Now that I have finally been released from the shackles of payday loans and regular bank overdrafts I am looking forward to planning a Master Budget that's more realistic and building an Emergency Fund so I never have to borrow money again!

June 2008 Goals, Midway Report

So in the beginning of the month I posted my June 2008 Goals. They were pretty small but very very important to me:

1. Do not get overdrafted by the Bank!
2. Stop Payday Loans forever!

Here's how I'm doing at the midway point of the month.

1. Haven't been overdrafted. Check! Spend less than I earn. Spend less than I earn. I'm doing all I can to stick to this goal.

2. Pay off remaining payday loan. Almost check! I have scheduled my VERY LAST payment on my very last loan for next Thursday. They payoff amount was $195, a high price for freedom, but worth very penny to get out of this terrible hole. I can't even imagine what life will be like without spending upwards of $400 a month on payments and fees.

I've even started making a list of things I want to focus on in July. One of them is to never ever use an out-of-network ATM machine again less I incur the Evil Bank Fee Monster. Still got a ways to go in the month but things are stable for now.

Now you see it.....now you don't

This morning I got a happy piece of news, another $120 deposited back into my account from my payday loan dispute. For a minute I thought of all the things I could have used the money for, birthday presents for Boyfriend, a new haircut or manicure before my interview on Wednesday, some new summer clothes, etc.

Alas, I still owed my student loans $127 from last month's bill which I underpaid. So off it went, just a few minutes after it came.

I'm happy about this development, though, as it frees up some flexibility in my next budget so that, eventually, I can get Boyfriend the birthday present I have decided on (more on that later).

June 2008 Goals and Payday Loan Recovery

A new month, my Rent Check has cleared (or will by the end of the day) and I am setting some goals. There are going to be fairly modest as I am still starting out getting myself out of the mess I created, but here they are:

1. Do not get overdrafted by the Bank!
2. Stop Payday Loans forever!

So the progress on the Payday Loans goes like this: I disputed some charges with my Bank and was able to get $120 back that was debited from my account last week. I also spoke with Evil Payday Loan Company and let them know that what they were doing was actually illegal in New York State (who knew?!) and that I had filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office. They agreed to stop debiting my account!

Now I know I shouldn't be so happy about this as they actually have taken a lot more than I actually owed them (no final numbers just yet, I'm working on it) but having taken out several of these loans in the past year, I sorta did know what I was getting into. I'm just glad it's going to STOP!

There is some recourse available to me to recover some of the money they took and I'm looking into it. This company, unlike several others I have dealt with, is extremely shady and even when I tried to pay them back, made it almost impossible. I need to wait until the next pay cycle to confirm it, but I think they are out of my life forever.

So that leaves one outstanding Payday Loan, Payoff amount = $325. I am fairly confident I can pay this whole amount on June 12, so I am only 12 days away from being free of the shackles of these stupid loans forever!

"You have excellent credit history"

Ha! That's what one of my Payday loans told me when I logged in to see how much would be debited from my bank account on the date of my next paycheck. They love me apparently since I have paid off two loans in full with them. It was nice, although a bit funny, to hear that. At least someone thinks I have good credit history! The good news is I wasn't sure if I still had money on that loan left to pay and the balance is zero, yay!

This means I can devote $100 to paying off the balance of the OTHER Payday loan I took with another company at the end of April ($350 borrowed, $455 owed). If I pay the finance fee plus $100, I am pretty sure I can knock off the balance by 5/29, my next due date.

Organization is key to debt management I realize. Sallie's Niece of the past would get so discouraged that she would go days without checking her account balances for fear of getting depressed. The overdrafts, finance fees, late fee, etc. would add up. The new Sallie's Niece is going to know exactly how much she owes, to whom, and when it is due at all times.

I didn't spend any money at all yesterday except for the soda from the vending machine. Went home for lunch (had a pitiful chicken noodle soup but oh well, my parents gave me like a case). So I still have $20 cash on hand and $27 in the bank. It's hard to get encouraged by this pitiful balance but at least I know where it is!