Shell Game

My balance on my Discover card is $10,625.64. I cut it up months ago, and I've asked for reduced APR. I'm going to call and ask for a bigger reduction.

I'd been making payments of $250/mo since August, incurring finance charges of ~$156 monthly. When I checked my statement this morning, Discover let me know that if I made minimum payments, I'd end up paying over $30,000 in the next 28 years. I'm not that much of an idiot, but I found it interesting that they also suggested I up my monthly payments to $379 so at most I'd shell out $13,636.

So I've moved some things around.

• Thank you work, for the bonus that let me close out my Citicard account, which I'd been paying $300/mo
  
• Added $250 to my Discover card payment for a total of $500/mo
• Increased my Blue AmEx payment from $165/mo to $250 (thank you, raise at work). Current balance is ~$4,500. Card also has been cut up but I use it for the occasional parking ticket fine.
• US Bank: has 0% interest through the end of 2010, so I'm making minimum payments of $65/mo. Balance is $6,424.

I think I like this. I'll try it for a couple months to see how it goes.

Dear Baby Jesus, please let me find the end of my debt one day soon. I promise to be nice to strangers, even creepy ones.

Love,
k