Debt Dumpers - 2015

[Dentam]

Dang - I wish I had an insurance policy to cash in!

I'm still trying to get over the amount I have to pay the realtors when my house sells!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I so feel you on this! I just updated the budget last night, and looks like my extra check this month (or at least most of it) will be needed to get us caught up.

I did talk to DW last night about her old insurance policy, and she's on board with cashing it in to pay off debt. She couldn't get onto the website last night to check the value but if what she remembered is correct it should be enough to almost completely pay off our CC debt, maybe just $2000 short. But even having $2000 left in CC debt would be a huge improvement over where we are currently!

Wow! That's awesome!

Wish we could find a big chunk of forgotten money.

 

[tikitorie]

Air conditioning went in my car to the tune of $325 ( why does that never happen in sept when you could manage for a short while without), but still on track to pay off a credit card next week. 6 weeks later than planned but better late than never. The good news is we just signed the papers for refinancing our house. Payment is the same but we are taking years off our loan since we are going from a 5.3% to a 3.4%, YEAH! plus we skip a payment so we can put that money on the next card. Time to get that snowball rolling!

 

[yupikgal]

Air conditioning went in my car to the tune of $325 ( why does that never happen in sept when you could manage for a short while without), but still on track to pay off a credit card next week. 6 weeks later than planned but better late than never. The good news is we just signed the papers for refinancing our house. Payment is the same but we are taking years off our loan since we are going from a 5.3% to a 3.4%, YEAH! plus we skip a payment so we can put that money on the next card. Time to get that snowball rolling!

Hi there! Thanks for sharing your experience with refinancing, may I ask which lender you chose to go through? Our mortgage just got purchased by another company, and I don't necessarily like the new company so much, so I'm thinking of finding another lender. That's a good interest rate you got too! Congrats!

 

[tikitorie]

Hi there! Thanks for sharing your experience with refinancing, may I ask which lender you chose to go through? Our mortgage just got purchased by another company, and I don't necessarily like the new company so much, so I'm thinking of finding another lender. That's a good interest rate you got too! Congrats!

We went through Wells Fargo, which is the same company that we were with already. Locked in that rate about 4 weeks ago

 

[dayvewc]

Hi there! Thanks for sharing your experience with refinancing, may I ask which lender you chose to go through? Our mortgage just got purchased by another company, and I don't necessarily like the new company so much, so I'm thinking of finding another lender. That's a good interest rate you got too! Congrats!

I'm gonna jump in on this, even though you didn't ask me.

I refinanced my house about 2 years ago with Quicken Loans. There is/was a bit of back-story to the whole thing, but in a nutshell it was a really good experience (or as good as something like that can be). It took just shy of 6 months start to finish - I first contacted them on January 2, and it was all finalized around the end of May BUT I don't think that is a normal time-frame. It was almost a comedy of errors there for a while. The assessor came out to examine the house, and the termite inspector did the same, but then the pest inspection company filed the wrong paperwork with QL. By the time they got that corrected, it was past the "valid" time for the assessment, but he was out with the flu, so by the time the assessment was redone the pest inspection had expired. So, they refiled that, but filed the wrong form AGAIN, which took another month to fix and the assessment had expired AGAIN. It really is kind of amusing in retrospect, but at the time it was just frustrating.

ANYWAY ... having gone through all of that, I managed to get a 3.5% rate (down from 6.something) and I have to say that the people at Quicken were actually great to work with. I was on the phone with them almost weekly after about the first part of March and remember one conversation with the lead person on the team toward the end of April. He said "I can't believe we are still working on this. I'm going to get this finished." And it was done in less than a month after that. I have to say that every time I called and talked to them, they were very patient in walking me through and answering all the questions I had; were very understanding at my feelings of frustration at the filing and refiling of all the paperwork; and were an absolute pleasure to work with overall. I actually kind of miss talking to my assigned coordinator, by the time it was over I felt like we were old friends.

Since it closed, I just went on to the Quicken Loan website, set up my payment as an automatic draft, and haven't worried about it since (mostly). The only thing that has occurred that I did not like was last summer I received a letter that due to a rise in my house insurance, the escrow account was short and I had the option of either paying the extra in a lump-sum, or having it added to my regular payment. Since the insurance was paid in October and I didn't receive the letter until the first of June, I was a bit put-out as I did not have enough to pay it as a lump sum, and the added amount pretty much wiped out all of the extra principal I had been paying. I managed to keep my payment the same, just instead of paying an additional $125 a month towards principal, I only pay an extra $12 and some change each month. When I called and asked about it, I was told that by regulation they can only change the payment amount once per year, so it is done on the anniversary date if it needs to be done. I would have appreciated a letter 6 months earlier so I could have started paying more into escrow at that time at my discretion rather than waiting until the payment was almost due again.

In full disclosure, my loan was a VA loan which has slightly different requirements than a standard loan, and which caused all the delays because the VA would only accept documentation that was within the previous 45 (or 60, I forget now) days.

Good luck with whatever/whoever you decide to go with!

 

[Ava]

Well, DW got on the phone with Prudential this morning and was able to access her account information. Bad news is, the value of the policy is not nearly what she thought it was. The cash out value is only a little over $3500. Not going to lie, I'm pretty disappointed. We will probably still cash it in, as it's enough to pay off the smaller of our two CCs, which is also the one that the 0% promotion expires in Oct of this year. The other one is 0% until March 2016, so we have a bit more time on that one.

 

[Angeejoe]

Well, DW got on the phone with Prudential this morning and was able to access her account information. Bad news is, the value of the policy is not nearly what she thought it was. The cash out value is only a little over $3500. Not going to lie, I'm pretty disappointed. We will probably still cash it in, as it's enough to pay off the smaller of our two CCs, which is also the one that the 0% promotion expires in Oct of this year. The other one is 0% until March 2016, so we have a bit more time on that one.

The only thing you have to worry with cashing in some types of life insurance policies is taxes, you may want to talk with your tax accountant 1st.

 

[Dentam]

Got my paperwork in to the attorney today for my house closing. He will be getting me an estimate of closing expenses in the next day or two and then I should have a better idea of how much I'll come away with from the proceeds of the sale. Man, I can't wait until this process is over!!

 

[k_reile]

Well my credit is definitely going up. I was approved for a Southwest Card with way too much credit limit lol. Planning on using this for my expenses the next couple of months and paying them off (currently was using the discover for this) to get my 50K miles in order to get my free flights to Disney this September. Going to change my reservation to renting points for a studio at the Polynesian villas instead of Pop Century. Disney fuzzy math lol

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Well my credit is definitely going up. I was approved for a Southwest Card with way too much credit limit lol. Planning on using this for my expenses the next couple of months and paying them off (currently was using the discover for this) to get my 50K miles in order to get my free flights to Disney this September. Going to change my reservation to renting points for a studio at the Polynesian villas instead of Pop Century. Disney fuzzy math lol

I've had the SWA cc for years and manage to pay it off every month so we keep getting free flights. I have found them to be great to work with. You could always log in online and send a secure message to request that they lower your limit if you like.
Our Discover cards offer our FICO score for free every month and since I've paid off my Disney Visa, it went up to 820! WOW! Finally mine is higher than dh's! lol

The only thing you have to worry with cashing in some types of life insurance policies is taxes, you may want to talk with your tax accountant 1st.

I agree. I do know term life insurance isn't taxed but not sure about whole life ins that is cashed out. Even just owing 25% on that ($875) next April could really mess up your plans.

Got my paperwork in to the attorney today for my house closing. He will be getting me an estimate of closing expenses in the next day or two and then I should have a better idea of how much I'll come away with from the proceeds of the sale. Man, I can't wait until this process is over!!

That's nice. We do love our single home but it is a lot of work. You either have to be very handy or have plenty of money to pay others to do all the work. We used to live in a condo and though there were many things we griped about at the time, landscaping & exterior maintenance were not one of them. Now we always say we'd move back to a condo once our kids are grown. It was easy living.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm gonna jump in on this, even though you didn't ask me.

I refinanced my house about 2 years ago with Quicken Loans. There is/was a bit of back-story to the whole thing, but in a nutshell it was a really good experience (or as good as something like that can be). It took just shy of 6 months start to finish - I first contacted them on January 2, and it was all finalized around the end of May BUT I don't think that is a normal time-frame. It was almost a comedy of errors there for a while. The assessor came out to examine the house, and the termite inspector did the same, but then the pest inspection company filed the wrong paperwork with QL. By the time they got that corrected, it was past the "valid" time for the assessment, but he was out with the flu, so by the time the assessment was redone the pest inspection had expired. So, they refiled that, but filed the wrong form AGAIN, which took another month to fix and the assessment had expired AGAIN. It really is kind of amusing in retrospect, but at the time it was just frustrating.

ANYWAY ... having gone through all of that, I managed to get a 3.5% rate (down from 6.something) and I have to say that the people at Quicken were actually great to work with. I was on the phone with them almost weekly after about the first part of March and remember one conversation with the lead person on the team toward the end of April. He said "I can't believe we are still working on this. I'm going to get this finished." And it was done in less than a month after that. I have to say that every time I called and talked to them, they were very patient in walking me through and answering all the questions I had; were very understanding at my feelings of frustration at the filing and refiling of all the paperwork; and were an absolute pleasure to work with overall. I actually kind of miss talking to my assigned coordinator, by the time it was over I felt like we were old friends.

Since it closed, I just went on to the Quicken Loan website, set up my payment as an automatic draft, and haven't worried about it since (mostly). The only thing that has occurred that I did not like was last summer I received a letter that due to a rise in my house insurance, the escrow account was short and I had the option of either paying the extra in a lump-sum, or having it added to my regular payment. Since the insurance was paid in October and I didn't receive the letter until the first of June, I was a bit put-out as I did not have enough to pay it as a lump sum, and the added amount pretty much wiped out all of the extra principal I had been paying. I managed to keep my payment the same, just instead of paying an additional $125 a month towards principal, I only pay an extra $12 and some change each month. When I called and asked about it, I was told that by regulation they can only change the payment amount once per year, so it is done on the anniversary date if it needs to be done. I would have appreciated a letter 6 months earlier so I could have started paying more into escrow at that time at my discretion rather than waiting until the payment was almost due again.

In full disclosure, my loan was a VA loan which has slightly different requirements than a standard loan, and which caused all the delays because the VA would only accept documentation that was within the previous 45 (or 60, I forget now) days.

Good luck with whatever/whoever you decide to go with!

Oh my! This sounds like an awful refi experience. We've been with Chase Mortgage for years so it was easy to refi with them. So easy we refi'd twice with them. All we needed to pay OOP was the appraisal, then send in pay stubs & bank statements and it was done and over with in around 6 weeks. It's conventional vs. VA so maybe that the difference. Sadly, any time the government gets involved in anything, it's more complicated than it has to be.
If it makes you feel any better, our property taxes increase a few hundred $ per year so every July when our escrow analysis is complete we have the option to pay the difference by a short-notice due date or have our monthly payment go up. We usually just let our monthly payment go up and though it bugs me that they earn interest off our $ they hold plus a $1000 cushion, I will be so happy when that is paid off too!

 

[gracie1]

Oh my! This sounds like an awful refi experience. We've been with Chase Mortgage for years so it was easy to refi with them. So easy we refi'd twice with them. All we needed to pay OOP was the appraisal, then send in pay stubs & bank statements and it was done and over with in around 6 weeks. It's conventional vs. VA so maybe that the difference. Sadly, any time the government gets involved in anything, it's more complicated than it has to be.
If it makes you feel any better, our property taxes increase a few hundred $ per year so every July when our escrow analysis is complete we have the option to pay the difference by a short-notice due date or have our monthly payment go up. We usually just let our monthly payment go up and though it bugs me that they earn interest off our $ they hold plus a $1000 cushion, I will be so happy when that is paid off too!

Is that jpmorgan chase? I just received notice today that my mortgage will be going with them. This is like the 5th company I've had now. It's crazy.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Is that jpmorgan chase? I just received notice today that my mortgage will be going with them. This is like the 5th company I've had now. It's crazy.

Yes. We got bumped around a lot over the 20 years here but we've been with Chase for around 8-10 years now and I like them. Well you know, as much as one could like their mortgage company. They haven't done anything screwy or deceptive to make me angry at them. No point in getting angry at them because our taxes go up. They have tripled since we bought here so of course our escrow can't remain what it was in 1996.
I guess it's easy that we have 1 log in for our SWA visa, Disney visa, mortgage and dh's truck payment. My gosh, Chase gets a good chunk of our income.

For a very short time I used their auto pay but they wouldn't take the payment from my bank account until around the 11th or 12th, even though it was due on the 1st of the month. When I called to inquire they told me not to worry, there's a 15 day grace period. Say what!? Why would I want them to credit my account so late when I'm holding onto the $ and can't spend it on anything else? All that does is allow them to collect more interest.
We put aside half our mortgage on the next to last Thurs of each month (payday) then the other half of the mortgage on the last Thurs of each month. So for example, the last Thurs this month is the 28th so I schedule the payment for the 27th. It would drive me batty to leave that $ sitting for another 2 weeks. So I dropped it. I still schedule way in advance but at least it's on the day that I choose. I think I'm scheduled through to December. lol.

 

[gracie1]

Yes. We got bumped around a lot over the 20 years here but we've been with Chase for around 8-10 years now and I like them. Well you know, as much as one could like their mortgage company. They haven't done anything screwy or deceptive to make me angry at them. No point in getting angry at them because our taxes go up. They have tripled since we bought here so of course our escrow can't remain what it was in 1996.
I guess it's easy that we have 1 log in for our SWA visa, Disney visa, mortgage and dh's truck payment. My gosh, Chase gets a good chunk of our income.

For a very short time I used their auto pay but they wouldn't take the payment from my bank account until around the 11th or 12th, even though it was due on the 1st of the month. When I called to inquire they told me not to worry, there's a 15 day grace period. Say what!? Why would I want them to credit my account so late when I'm holding onto the $ and can't spend it on anything else? All that does is allow them to collect more interest.
We put aside half our mortgage on the next to last Thurs of each month (payday) then the other half of the mortgage on the last Thurs of each month. So for example, the last Thurs this month is the 28th so I schedule the payment for the 27th. It would drive me batty to leave that $ sitting for another 2 weeks. So I dropped it. I still schedule way in advance but at least it's on the day that I choose. I think I'm scheduled through to December. lol.

Thanks! I know their such a huge company - the past companies I've had I've never even heard of. And then you hear horror stories of when the mortgages get transferred around and the $ amounts are wrong on escrow accounts and all. Luckily - I just have the mortgage part. I cancelled my escrow account after the first year and pay that myself.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I didn't know you could drop them paying on the taxes and insurance. Hmmmmm

 

[arthur06]

The only thing you have to worry with cashing in some types of life insurance policies is taxes, you may want to talk with your tax accountant 1st.

You will only have to pay taxes on the gains. If you paid in more then $3500 for the policy there will be no taxes. If you paid in less than $3500 there will be taxes on the amount of the gains. Most likely you will have no taxes to pay, and if you do it will be very minimal.

 

[bcwife76]

Dentam that is so fantastic!!!!

 

[dayvewc]

I still schedule way in advance but at least it's on the day that I choose. I think I'm scheduled through to December. lol.

That sounds like me. During Christmas break, I sit down and schedule as much as I can for the next year. I think there are only about 2 accounts that I can't schedule months in advance, and one of those I pay with my banks bill-pay (which I can schedule months in advance). I think all but 1 of my bills is prescheduled to pay through December, and then I have 1 transfer to savings I have to update every week (it's my "53 week savings goal" - 21 weeks in and successful so far, but I think I'm going to modify it next year to take advantage of the prescheduling capabilities at my bank.)

 

[k_reile]

As of Friday, my third credit card will be paid off and I will have my largest one left (about $4200 left) but I can snowball what I was paying for the other ones, so it will go down quickly (I hope)
I was just approved for my soithwest cc but i am only planning on putting my utilities on it and paying it off each month for the miles. I will get the 50k miles and DS and I can fly to Disney for free in September and have about 21k mikes left for a family trip somewhere in 2016.

Plus side is my FICO raised 31 points since January. Other credit bureaus about 40-50 points. I'm nearly back to where I was credit score wise before debt.