Whoo hooo credit card free....

Which is not quite the same as debt free but a substantial degree of interest less.

Let me start from the beginning. I received a letter from my major credit card company telling me that they were raising my interest rate to 30%. It was 25-28% already but obviously, it's unreasonable and, even paying almost twice the minimum, I'm not getting anywhere in paying it off. I really want to be in a position to buy a house in a couple of years but with this sort of interest it's not going to happen.

I have tried for consolidation loans but my "unsecured debt load is too high." Duh! That's why I wanted the loan. However, the interest increase was the last straw. So I calculated my entire debt load, swallowed my pride, and begged Mom and Dad for a loan. That was Sunday at lunch time. The money was in my account by 7:00pm. I wrote out all the checks last night and when they clear I will be officially credit card free. I still have the four digit loan to pay off with a small amount of interest (~2%) but I can write one check and actually see the balance decreasing. (Of course we aren't mentioning the school loans which my mother is already making the payments on.)

Yes, I know how lucky I am. I know that I have great (calculated) timing (Mom and Dad just refinanced the house so they had the money to loan). I am so relieved that Mom and Dad could do this for me. It makes the process of paying off that amount so much more feasible.