I got a note from Aspire that they increased my CL $500 (4,750 to 5,250) and realized that my efforts were paying off. I had not asked them, just out of the blue, there it was. I thought about posting here and thought, it would be great if there was a running thread where everyone could jump in with good news, or even steps they've taken without obvious results. For example, I paid down my DMB balance from 8,800 to 7,000 this month. Alright, way to go, Dan! My next goals: get 70% utilization down to 49%, get DMB to lower their 18.5% APR and get my son to flush the toilet. Alright, two out of three are possible...
I know you can pay down your debts. Please let me know HOW you taught your son to flush the toilet...
Agreed, and if you have any tips on keeping a 2 yr old asleep all night, that's appreciated as well ;-) BTW: Way to go!!!
Hmmm.....for the 2 yr old to sleep all night. Be firm...whenever he gets up take him back to bed and state he is to stay there. If he gets back up, do the same thing over again. Be firm and let him know you mean he is to stay "in bed!" Consistancy is the key and keep doing it til he understands. And DO NOT let him sleep in your bed as this won't help. As for flushing the toilet....gosh I have a girl and she's good at that LOL
HA!! With 3 boys, between flushing the toilet AND putting the seat down....NOT enough hours in my day! Let's not even go into the whole "MOOOOOOOMMMMM, I'm finished" issue! One word.....BENADRYL! ;o)
'preciate-it!!! I was being tounge in cheek on the query, but the problem isn't getting him to sleep, it's keeping him asleep with his 4am juice requests. When he was smaller, the ol' sock soaked in Jim Beam worked well, but I think that he's picked up on that trick LOL (just kidding, it was Jack Daniels HAHAHA!)
Re: Re: small steps - contribute, please well we got our nephew to keep the seat down (thankfully since he loves using my toilet instead of his moms, but flushing and WIPING is another story. He doesn't think he has to wipe if he does number 1...
Wellllll now, some people would argue that 4 a.m. IS all night - not me, but SOME people. Personally, I'd move a drink 'fridge to his room and tell him not to come out until daylight. Hey Dan, how do you like the way your thread's been hi-jacked?!! LOL!
Re: Re: small steps - contribute, p I guess I shoulda thought twice about "small steps" in the title... Not that this info will get us back on track, but my son will soon be 19. Apparently when he closes the lid, it's gone. Magic!
small steps cont'd Okay, just got a major shock - Cap1 has raised my CL from $500 to $1200 and credited me back my annual fee. I usually keep a $5 balance and found it's now MINUS $20!! I had asked for this a few months ago and told nothing could happen until my one year anniversary - September. I'm quite surprised. So this is two unexpected CL increases in a short period of time. Something's working!
small steps cont'd keeping all my small steps recorded here - DMB just lowered my interest rate from 18.5% to 15.5% - "automatically". Yeah, after calling every month and asking to get it lowered, it happened automatically! Have paid them down from $10,000 to $2,900 this year. That might have helped. Oh, and my son is now at college, out of state, so the only way I'll know about his flushing the toilet will be an alert on CNN.
small steps cont'd Also, got one of two liens removed from EQ. There was no record of these two liens anywhere, so I sent them a note and told them to document where they were verified. How did ONE get deleted and the other remain? Stay tuned, I'm sure there will be a written note. Maybe the other will be deleted soon... online daily pulls, very addictive.
small steps cont'd Seems I have to actually go down to the courthouse to get a copy of the lien. Lunch time excursion.. fun. Okay, more small steps. Got EXP to verify release dates on my state tax liens. I know, not as good as deleted, but if anyone eyballs the "public records" they'll see a Ch7 and five liens, all w/release dates. TU has just two liens and they will soon have release dates. EQ has four, three w/release dates. Also, EQ is starting to show updated (lower) balances. My $#@$ Nextcard is paid off to zero and raised my fako by 12 points. Finally, got a bogus 120+ late TL from Citi deleted on EXP and EQ.
small steps cont'd I didn't intend this to be my personal small steps journal, was hoping others would join in.. Okay, called DMB and got another decrease from 15.5% to 13.75%. Another decrease or two and I'll be back where I was in June of last year, 11.75% They still charge an additional 5% for BT, so I'm not using that for a while. Got an old Citi dropped from EXP and EQ, but still on TU. It doesn't even read late, but it's treated as late. Just says "unknown"... Have paid off significant balances and finally starting to see it show up on my TU - 29% utilization, yeah! Goal is 14% by year end. Going to try to use CHOD to knock BK off.
small steps cont'd Paid down to 14% average today. Balance of 1,885 on my 10K CL DMB card and 480 on my 5,250 CL Aspire. Cap1 is zero, CL is 1200. New goal for year's end - 9%.
DMB lowered again Called DMB and got my APR down to 12.24 - just a half point from the original 11.75 I had before they jacked me. So far, I've gone from 19% to 18.5, then 15.5, then 13.75 and now 12.24. These are calls worth making.
DMB lowered again Got DMB down to 10.99 APR and a six month promotional APR of 3.99%. Doesn't do much for me, I probably won't use it but it's starting to get easier to get the APR lowered. And I've reached my goal of getting my APR lowered to what it was when I first got the card. I've gone from 11% up to 19% down to 18.5, then 15.5, then 13.75 then 12.24 and now 10.99 Also got Cap1 to give me a $700 increase to a $1900 CL. Had my choice of lowering the APR from 14.99 to 12.5% or the CL - took the CL, since I don't usually keep a balance to pay interest.
