Back Story:
When I got the statement for my car loan for December, it said that the total due was $428.60 (which was the remainder of the loan). However it had a ‘Regular Scheduled Payment’ of $249.21. I’ve been sending in $250 every month … a little more than what was due. Since the ‘total due’ wasn’t normal, I called Wells Fargo. The lady I talked to assured me that I could pay the ‘Regular Scheduled Payment’ and NOT be assessed any late fees. And I asked her directly. So, I paid $250 online on December 17th (due date is the 20th).

Fast Forward:
I checked the status of my account online yesterday to see if it had any late fees (I was suspicious of what I was told ) and to see what the payoff amount was (or at least an estimate of it). I saw that I was assessed a late fee of $10. Well … this pissed me off since I was told I WOULDN’T be. So, today at lunch I called Wells Fargo. I was prepared for the runaround, but didn’t get it. The guy who I talked to was VERY helpful. I told him the back story … that I had called, and when I had called, and all that jazz. He put me on hold to check on things. He came back as apologetic as can be that he had put me on hold for so long (it had been a while, but not too long) and said that I was a very good customer. He told me that he was going to put in a claim or something to have the late fee removed from my account. He put me on hold again and again apologized when he came back. Here I was all ready to yell and be pissy, and the guy didn’t even give me a chance … LOL. He said to call back next week Tuesday or Wednesday to check the status … to confirm that the late fee was removed. Yeah … it was only $10 … but it would go on my account as being late … when I WASN’T!!

I guess it pays to pay your bills on time. Yeah … I have a few more than I should (like credit cards), but I’ve always paid everything on time. I knew I had good credit when I got my car back in 2001. The loan officer actually came out and shook my hand … LOL. And this past summer, I got copies of my credit report … thanks to the Annual Credit Report website. Everything was in good standing. That makes a person feel good. The only problem is that my debt to income ratio leans a little too far towards debt … or at least it did a few years ago when I tried to get a loan to pay off my credit cards. I don’t know … maybe it would be better now. I mean, I only have 1 car payment left (and that will be paid on Jan 17th). And the balance on my credit cards have come down. I only use them when I REALLY need to … and only for food or gas. I hit a bump in that road when I was unemployed for a month back in September. But I’m back on track now, and since I’ll have an extra $250/month after my car is paid off … maybe I can get ahead. It sure would be nice to get ahead.

Mood: hungry   30 Minute Meals

I decided to come home for lunch today. I’m glad I did. My unemployment check was in the mail. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it since I turned down that one job offer. But JSND determined that the work offered “was not entirely suitable”. Now I can make my car insurance payment. Thank goodness.

Does anyone out there who has sold stuff on eBay have any tips for sucessfully selling an item? I bought stuff off of eBay a few years ago, but I’ve never sold anything. I have a couple of cameras … one digital and one film … that have been laying around collecting dust that I want to get rid of. And I could REALLY use the extra money right now.

The digital camera is a Kodak EasyShare cx7300. It’s basically brand new. I got it as a prize/gift at a work Christmas party a couple years ago. I only took 2 pics with it … just to see how they turned out. I already had a digital camera, so I didn’t need that one.

The film camera is a Canon Sure Shot 60 Zoom. It’s used, but still in very good condition. I haven’t used it since I got my first digital camera.

If anyone is interested in either, let me know. I haven’t listed them on eBay yet, but I’m going to try to get them up before the end of the week. But if anyone lets me know they’re interested, I’ll give them a crack at it before I list it.

Mood: okay

For some reason when I got home from work tonite, I decided to calculate how long it would take me to pay off some of my debt. I make my last car payment in December (great … that means my car is gonna blow up in January … ). That’ll give me an extra $250 a month starting the first of the year.

I’ve decided that I’m gonna split that $250 up between my 2 credit cards to try to pay the damn things off so I can cut ‘em up and a savings account. I had a good chunk of change in savings a few years ago. But that was when I was unemployed … and that disappeared fast since it took me so long to find my current job. So my savings is completely gone now. I NEED to build that back up so I don’t have to use credit cards when I need the money … like this Friday (more than likely) at the eye doctor. HOPEFULLY I can get some contacts and glasses (I really hope my eyes have gotten better. I think they have. The computer screen isn’t so fuzzy anymore.).

I’m planning on adding an extra $100 to one credit card and $50 to the other and then $100 in savings. If I do that, the first credit card *should* be paid off in October 2007 (barring any emergencies). After that one is paid off, then I’ll take about $125 of what was going to that card toward the other. Following that schedule, the second credit card should be paid off by July 2008.

That would mean that my credit cards would be paid off in 2 years! That would be SO nice. But I know I’ll never be able to follow that schedule … no matter how hard I try. Something always comes up just when I think I’m starting to get ahead. Aren’t I the eternal pessimist … LOL.

And hopefully come tax time, I’ll actually get a refund this time. They’re taking more out of my paycheck, so I sure hope to hell that I do. I could put part of that towards the first credit card and get it paid off even sooner. And then put a chunk in savings. That would be so nice. But since my car is paid off in December, I’m sure it’ll blow up just in time for me to have to spend that tax refund on it.

Mood: stressed

This link is more for future reference for me than anything else. But it might be able to help some other people too.

The Paycheck Calculator

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Mood: stressed