Confusion-No logic-Numbers don't add up

[ccsjoe]

Exactly. We'd barely scrape by floating on our cards, so that when we finally got an increase we immediately went on a shopping spree to buy stuff we'd been putting off (and a few too many goodies). It was even worse when we were in school because then we'd use loan money (maxed out every semester) to pay them down a little so it never seemed that bad. Of course, then we stopped getting credit increases and the loans went into repayment status... and here we are.

This is all too familiar, I must admit. Combination of job insecurity/changes with varying income and some bad choices along the way as well.

[oregonpilot]

SAME HERE. When i filed (or should i say...when attorney said, stop trying to pay CC's). Payments had grown to around $1300-1500.
Can't remember exactly, think it was just a bad dream. Those payments being made on income anywhere from $35. to $1500. a month.

I had a limit on Chase of 22k with a balance of $900.
Thought OK i can keep my head above water for another yr or so. Work WILL get better, more jobs will come along.
I also thought it was my emergency fund. After being late on citi ( 1 hr late) it took 1 month for my "emergency" fund to go POOF, and it was then less than $100.

[ccsjoe]

SAME HERE. When i filed (or should i say...when attorney said, stop trying to pay CC's). Payments had grown to around $1300-1500.
Can't remember exactly, think it was just a bad dream. Those payments being made on income anywhere from $35. to $1500. a month.

I had a limit on Chase of 22k with a balance of $900.
Thought OK i can keep my head above water for another yr or so. Work WILL get better, more jobs will come along.
I also thought it was my emergency fund. After being late on citi ( 1 hr late) it took 1 month for my "emergency" fund to go POOF, and it was then less than $100.

I know what you mean. Available credit became emergency fund then became available cash via some hallucination of floating our lifestyle, then got cut, etc etc....never again. We are still tight now because we substituted cc payments with catch up IRS witholdings plus health insurance. Come January, catch up IRS witholding will drop to normal, so we will have some breathing room again.

[tod183]

I thought I was just bad at my budgeting. I couldn't figure out where that extra money was going either! I ended up giving up a car ($380 a month) in order to file. I've got one more payment to the attorney left. It will be nice to be able to keep that money!

[ccsjoe]

It is tod, it is quite nice to finally treat yourself a little bit.