I Paid Off Nice Collection Agency!!

Back in May 2008, shortly after creating this blog (woah reading those old entries is a bit painful) I posted about reaching a payment agreement with a creditor I termed "Nice Collection Agency." Every month for 21 months they have been deducting $125.81 from my bank account and I knew that, someday, this old credit card would be paid off.

Last month they only deducted $75 and I thought that was curious but since I haven't really been keeping track of the amount I still owed, I waited one more month to see what would happen. And this month it seems the debt has finally been paid off!

So yes, 21 months after entering into the agreement, and a full decade after racking up the charges, I am DONE with Nice Collection Agency. I feel very relieved to have that monkey off my back.

Next up is getting a copy of my credit report to make sure the account shows up as paid in full...and figuring out what to do with an extra $125.81 a month (I'll give you a hint....saving it!).

Today when I was digging through my old blog posts I remembered how frustrated and helpless I felt back in 2008, when I couldn't control how I was spending my money and future stability seemed so out of reach. I realize I still have a ways to go..but it's nice to know I have made some progress.

I'm Credit Card Debt Free!!!

Do I get to call Dave Ramsey? Haha, probably not yet but I have just paid off the full balance of my credit card. Goodbye $15 minimum payments. Goodbye 24.9% interest. I'm not going to close the card as it's my only credit card and only has a $500 limit on it. Hopefully they will enventually lower my rate and I can use the card responsibily to help bring up my credit score. That way in a few years if the fiance and I decide to buy a new place we can have both of our names on the mortgage.

I also paid the balance of my Overdue Utilities today so if you notice the sidebars I am currently free of all "short term debt" except for the "Boyfriend Debt." I plan on enjoying that picture for a few hours until I add new categories to it that I plan on snowballing.

Don't Fall for the Funny Free Credit Report Commercials

The New York Times had an article today about those catchy FreeCreditReport.com commercials and how the service they offer isn't actually free. Huh? How could that be, you ask? Well, one might ask how they can afford so much advertising time if they were giving away their product for free?

According to the Times, FreeCreditReport.com gets users to sign up for a credit monitoring service which comes with a montly fee of $14.95, which many of those interviewed for the article said wasn't clear to them when they signed up.

I sympathize with those people of course. Once I accidentally found myself in a Vacation Rewards club that cost me $12 a month for months before I wised up to the charge and had it cancelled. I gave $5 a month to Greenpeace for years because I felt too bad to call them up and cancel the donation that was only supposed to last for one year. It is too easy these days to get scammed. That's why I'm hooked on online banking now, so you can see the description of every charge that goes through your account.

Anyhow, if you're looking for a free credit report, here's what you should know:

1. You are entitled to one credit report every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.


2. The official place to get them is at AnnualCreditReport.com.


3. You can also obtain your credit report any time you have been denied for a loan, a job or an insurance policy based on your credit history.

In this economy people are more and more concerned with keeping up their credit and it seems like, of course, companies are looking for ways to profit from this. But if you know your rights you can avoid paying a monthly fee.