I Try To Get Out...And They Keep Pulling Me Back In

Today's debt: Holding at $23,210.24.

I'm managing my debt pretty well, if you overlook that one pesky fact of owing a sum greater than my annual pay. If I was paying bad credit card interest rates in the 17%-21% range, I would be truly screwed, the interest rising faster than I could afford to pay each month, the debt steadily creeping upward even without any new purchases. Average interest rates in the 13%-16% range wouldn't be much better, pretty much treading water with my monthly payments with little hope of paying down the principle. The best interest rates commonly offered on credit cards today, in the 9% to 12% range, at least offer me a fighting chance of paying the sucker down, with at least half of my monthly payments going towards the principle.

In fact, most of my credit cards are in that 9%-12% range offered to good customers, an indication of the deep love my credit card companies have for me. But in truth, they do not merely love me. They know me. Oh, they know me so well. They get inside my brain and they can just feel that tension between thrift and spendthrift that exists in my psyche, they know that even at 10% interest I would be very hesitant to run up such a debt. They know that a devilish cautious streak lurks in my heart, a caution that could very easily have turned these past decisions to accept their sweet offers of money into a resolve to spurn them. And so they offer me even better.

Oh yes, I've played the balance transfer game. I have been so fickle. All it takes is some cute envelope slipped into my mailbox, dressed up in a skimpy little interest rate, and I throw my money at them. Huge chunks of my debt have gone months with only 3% and 2% interest, sometimes even no interest at all.

But even here my credit card companies know me too well. They know that I was growing weary of all the running around, never staying with any one card for more than a handful of months. They also knew that I was afraid of being caught in my fickle unfaithfulness, that I knew that too many balance transfers can damage your credit rating. So they offered me a nice, comfy relationship, interest rates of 5.9% and 6.9%, good not just for a few months, but for the life of the debt. They even offer to waive the transfer fees.

So that's where I am, with the entire debt cuddled among three cards for a lifetime 5.9% and 6.9%. Oh, once in a while I still cheat on them, bite off a thousand dollar chunk of debt to have a six month fling with a card offering me 2% with no fee, but for the most part, I'm faithful and relatively happy.

And so yes, they know me. They know how to keep me tied to them. At these rates, the interest on my debt currently is still a ghastly $120 per month...and yet, with that amount, over three quarters my monthly payment still goes toward the principle. I can watch the debt go down each month. According to the debt plan in my Microsoft Money software, I can be out of debt within four years.

They know how much that pleases me. But they also know that as I see the debt go down, the temptation to spend and borrow rises, and they've always got one more sweet low interest offer to seduce me with. I try to get out, but they keep pulling me back in....

By the way, this week one of my cards informed me they were raising my credit limit another $4000! Mwah! I love you guys!