Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.
Welcome to 31 Debt Free Missions! A new feature this year on Queen of Free, during each day in January, I will provide 31 concrete missions or challenges for you to take on to #SlayDebt and take charge of your finances this year. Each mission will take you less than an hour (some will only require 15 minutes). Whereas, 31 Days to Kick Debt in the Teeth (which I’m reworking this year and reposting in January, too) focused on some of the philosophical changes you need to make in order to be successful with money, 31 Debt Free Missions are action steps to put into place after you have your thinking straight. Even better, during the month of January, I’m revisiting each of these challenges in order to sharpen my money saving and debt slaying skills.
Are you ready? Your mission is as follows:
Day 8: Make 3 Phone Calls
True confession: I really don’t like talking on the phone. I love me some e-mail. I even like to text message. I’m cool (and maybe addicted) to social media. But when it comes to talking on the phone, I’m a big ‘ole cry baby. I may have even been known to force the King of Free to make some calls for me in the past. Maybe because I’ve grown into a more introverted state of being, maybe because it’s I’m lazy or fearful or feel just a little like calling someone is an annoyance to them (my problem, I know). However, today’s Debt Free Mission requires people like me to put on big kid pants and deal with their phone aversion. In less than an hour, make three phone calls to help both save money and give you the breathing space you need to put more energy toward Slaying the Debt Dragon. In no particular order, here are the three calls you need to make.
Your Credit Card Company (or Companies)
So even if you’ve closed the account already, you need to call your credit card company (or companies if you have more than one card). If you haven’t closed them you can do this at the same time. 😉 You need to see if you can get your interest rate reduced at all. You may or may not be able to achieve this, but it never hurts to ask. The King of Free is found of saying, “If it ain’t in writing, it didn’t happen.” So be sure that if you do get your rate reduced, then be sure to ask for the company to send you a written confirmation (paper and e-mail if at all possible) that your rate has been altered. Some credit card companies will write off your debt if you can offer a large lump sum of cash. Have all of the cash in hand and a set firm number in mind if this is a route you want to take. We paid off all of ours instead of settling, but if your company is willing to work out an agreement this could be a path for you to take. Whatever you feel most comfortable with in the long run is important.
Student Loan Lender
Whatever her name – around here she was the now deceased Sallie Mae (RIP just kidding, die you ugly, menacing beast) – you need to call you student loan lender and ask a couple of questions. 1) Are there anyways to decrease your interest rate? 2) Is there an advantage to setting the loan to autopay? The King of Free is the expert when it comes to other questions that you can ask about student loans as well as best practices for kicking them in the teeth. Also he is hilarious while he explains in whoopin and whompin student loans.
Medical Billing Companies
If you have a large load of medical debt, you might be able to renegotiate it. Every service provider and billing department is different but you might be able to pay only a portion of the debt if you have a large lump sum of cash to offer. If you don’t have cash, then you might be able to set up a no interest payment plan in order to break up the sum and not pay it all at once.
What other calls would you suggest to make to reduce your interest rates or discover special offers to give you the momentum you need to pay off debt?
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!
Cherie, this is an awesome blog. Keep up the great work!
Thanks so much Mike. Looking forward to meeting up sometime.