August 25, 2004

• Going Broke More Slowly

  Delia is opposed to debt.

  Ever since she first met me, I have been in debt. There were brief intervals when I emerged from my debt, but it has never stayed away. The best I can do is to try to control it.

  A number of years ago, Delia took control of my most powerful debt control tool, the mortgage. She wouldn't let me use it until it became an emergency. It became an emergency again this year.

  I had moved some of my credit card debt from accounts having an interest rate of 15% or higher to a new card that offered a 5% rate. They even gave me a super high credit limit to encourage the process.

  You can probably guess what they did to me: they raised the rate to 28%. I'm pretty sure I didn't have any late payments or other problems but had just become ensnared in their trap.

  California's skyrocketing real estate market has worked in my favor. Banks want to loan money on homes and other property at ever-decreasing interest rates. I was able to knock more than one percent off of the fixed rate I had been paying while increasing the monthly payments only slightly.

  Despite the slight increase in my mortgage payments, my total monthly payments should drop more than $1,500.

  That even pays for the car I bought myself, which Delia has appropriated for her own use and complains about every time she uses it.

  If I start to have money left at the end of the month, perhaps I'll retire instead of continuing to try to find a job. The last likely job opportunity escaped me about three weeks ago.

  • 01:08
  • 1 Comment