Refi Fever

They announced the mortgage limits for our county the other day. For King, Pierce & Snohomish County, the new limits for conventional & FHA mortages is $567,500. Looks like our housing market will get a nice shot in the arm. While it hasn't fallen like many other areas across the country, it certainly has slowed. So I'm gearing up to get the paperwork done.

I was chatting with a mortgage broker the other day and she indicated that lenders might tighten their credit requirements along with the limit increases, which isn't entirely unexpected.

Luckily, I signed up the other day for a monitoring service called True Credit . It costs 14.95 per month to view your credit report and scores from the three bureaus. I don't plan to keep it long, I just wanted to monitor my progress as I prepare to refinance prior to Dec 31st when the loan limits are supposed to expire. So I have had a look at my credit scores. Suffice to say, I'm not doing bad at all. I've cracked 700 series for two of the bureaus and 695 in the other. My plan to pay down the debt should bring the scores up to the desired range.

Based on what the broker mentioned, she expected lenders to require a score in the 700-teens and above range. I've achieved that already for 2 bureaus, I just need to raise the other one, which I definitely think is doable without more effort than writing checks.

All of these efforts will have significant impact on my budget and lower my monthly outgo by approximately $550-650. Talk about having some cushion each payday...I've already squeezed many of of my expenses until they screamed, so I was able to create a pretty nice cushion each month, which is currently earmarked for debt payment. This additional amount will make the checkwriting easier and faster! I can't wait until the debt payments are done...Finally, the money will be able to work a little more productively for me.

Burning temptation....

This weekend, I went shopping for ceramic tile for a home improvement job we are planning for our bathroom. Just picture a 1959 ranch style home with all the original fixtures, right down to the pink toilet, tub and sink. You get the idea...remodeling emergency. Anyway, we are on a budget and this is a strictly DIY job. So we were looking for some cheap, but good looking tile... We found some suitable choices and brought the samples home to view in the naturally dim lighting. On the way, however, I got side-tracked. 

My boyfriend and I have had several conversations about Audi cars and why I should consider purchasing one. But I have no knowledge of them and have never driven one before. As we were driving home, we drove past a dealership that had a couple used ones on the lot. I should mention that I have a weakness for cars...especially expensive ones. 

Anyway, my mistake was stopping at the dealership and test-driving not one, but two Audis. Did I mention that I fell in love? I was able to tear myself away from the dealership, but I did spend a considerable amount of time this weekend trying to figure out how to buy one even though it would directly conflict with my other financial goals.

So what happened? Well, I finally came to my senses today and decided to not even consider the purchase any more. Why not? It would completely take me off track from my goals and even though I am in love with the car. I know I would love being debt free even more. It was tough convincing myself that this temptation was not a good idea in the long-term, but it was definitely the right decision. 

Expense Shakedown

So I'm on a mission to lower my expenses so that I can free more cash up to pay off my credit cards and other assorted debt. Ever since I got my credit card company to lower my rate, I've been calling up companies that I do business with and threatening to leave unless they cut me a deal.

Unfortunately this won't work on every company unless there is adequate competition in the industry. So for example, my electric and water companies would laugh in my face if I threatened to leave because they have their industries "on lockdown" a.k.a. monopolistic grip. My only defense is to lower my consumption in order to lower my expense. So it looks like I need to put a sweater on and get some low flow toilets...

The latest target in this shakedown? My cable company, Comcast. I called today to see if they could lower that crazy bill otherwise I would be forced to put them on the bench for awhile.
I didn't even have to argue. One bargaining chip that I used was my local phone service. I currently use Vonage because it is cheaper than the local phone company service. Anyway, Comcast, like other companies are chomping at the bit to grab customers from other providers and therefore were more likely to give me a deal to earn my business.

So how did I do? After the deal, I was able to shave $65.00 per month off my bills for phone, internet & cable. It only cost me 15 minutes of hold time...

Looking for some "couch cushion" money...

So I'm looking for some "between the couch cushion" money to help augment my debt payments.... I think I'm going to tap the change jar(s) and craiglist/ebay my crap in the basements and closets in my house.

Simulate my bank balance

The NYT reported that Bush and Congress are considering a economic stimulus package to calm the natives and perhaps head off a recession. All I can say is I know these things always come at a cost because nothing in life is free. But I won't argue with the government if they want to stimulate my bank accounts with some unexpected "paper". It will go quite nicely with the debt snowball plan that I have been toying with lately. I haven't implemented it yet because I am a bit torn about which method to use... balance order or highest interest.

Given the constraints that I am dealing with (interest rate expiration), I may have to pay off starting with the debts whose interest offers expire first.