Citi Thank You Card

Have you tried closing a credit card lately? I tried and failed. I called to cancel our Citi Premier Pass card and they would not let me close it. The Premier Pass card is going away and it will be converted to the new Thank You card. The lady was very generous, she gave me extra Thank You points, lower APR and 4 extra reward points for every dollar spent on purchases for the first 3 months. So here is my new Citi Thank You credit card:



The main reason I will keep this account open is for my credit history. I've had the Premier Pass card for over 8 years and this new Thank You card will retain that history. I also have a $23,000 credit line on this card which helps the credit score. Don't worry, the balance is Z E R O and it will stay at $0. I will not use this credit card to make any purchases.

HS

Alcohol Debt and Spring Break

Alcohol killed my wallet over Spring Break! Last Monday, the wife and I decided it would be fun to leave town for a few days but it was probably a bad idea (credit cards). We both drank way too much and each bar we stopped at the average bill was $85. We went to a city with a lot of lights and gambling where the average price of a beer is $7 and mixed drinks $10. We came back Wednesday night and were very happy to be home until our friends called the next day and mentioned something about St. Patrick's day...

We started St. Patrick's with drinks around noon and left for our local Irish pub around 4:30 pm. We were looking for live music but the pipers had already left. The name of the pub was Fox and Hound and our tab there was $135.00. We left there after 9 and went to some other pub, I can't even remember the name. All I remember is it was packed and everyone was wearing green. The tab at this bar was only $82 plus tip. After some drama we made it home safely around 1 AM.

Then comes the weekend...

Friday we decided it would be fun to head down to the beach to finish off Spring Break. We went down to Galveston TX and of course on the way in had to stop at another bar. The tab there was only $55. Then we stopped at the local Walmart and spent more money on alcohol. Can't have Spring Break without Corona, Bud Light, mixers and some food. The bill there was $113.34...

Sunday was supposed to be a non drinking day but we still decided to crack open some champagne and make mimosas. It was a beautiful day and the weather was sunny in the 70's, we did not want to go home.

We got home yesterday around 7 PM. In all, it was a great Spring Break but looking at Citi this morning it looks like we added close to $900 dollars just on alcohol. Of course this is not helping the debt situation. I don't think all this partying was necessary but we had fun, hopefully I can pay this back this month.

HS

Crazy Credit Card Payments

Not sure if crazy is the right word to use for this post but when I pulled up my account history in Citi and looked at our past payments I coudn't think of a better word. Below are the past 8 months of payments we've made back to our Citi Premier Pass card:



As I add this all up this is close to $8,500 dollars! YES we have a spending problem since I can't even remember what the $2,500 is for from last September. I came up with a new name for these payments- band aids! I continue to patch things hoping to heal this wound LOL

Well here is the good news. I hate this credit card and after all payments you see above including one a couple of weeks ago our balance is $0.00!!

I am calling Citi next week and cancelling this card. I'm waiting for the statement to go through and I'm done with this account. I have to cancel the account or something will come up and I will charge. We have an addiction, a problem, I know... I'm working on it :) that's why I used the word CRAZY defition: demented, insane, or having an unusual, unexpected, or random quality, behavior, result, pattern.

And now the final balance:



HS

iPad 2

The iPad 2 just came out and it is simply amazing. This new iPad is thinner, lighter and faster. Check out just how thin and cool this thing is:



I know I need to pay down my debt but I have to have this, I actually 'need' this. I can't think of a good reason at this moment but I must have one. They come out next week and I don't have the cash so if you see my credit card balance go up you know why.

HS

Discover Card Year End Statement

According to our year end statement from Discover card, we charged close to $13,000 dollars in 2010. Below are the categories, as you can see we love to travel and be entertained. I haven't seen the numbers from Citi but I think we spent just as much with those cards. I'm not sure what to make of these numbers. I am probably the only debt blogger out there who still using credit cards, can't learn to budget and spends money frivolously:



On a positive note, we paid back close to $9,000 but that leaves us with close to $4,000 to pay back. I'm hoping this year won't be as expensive. Don't forget all this spending is for 2 people and a dog so things like merchandise are probably necessities.

I'll see if I can pull the Citi numbers, I didn't see a year end statement on their site.

I found last year's year end statement: http://www.ourdebtblog.com/2009/10/discover-12-month-summary.html

HS