This isn’t really quite that new of a discovery…I’ve had quite a bit of experience with responsibility. I even manage to feed myself every day! But two days ago I received a certified letter that was a rude awakening to how irresponsible I had been lately.

Back in 2011, when I got my Discover Card, it was with the purest intentions. I’ll have it for emergencies! I know it’s a large credit line, probably too large, but I won’t use it all!!! And look at the cashback rewards! 

Now granted, sometimes it was handy to have. Like when I needed to cover an unexpected bill or tuition, but the thing is that when you borrow money…you kinda gotta pay it back. Well, for a while it wasn’t exactly in my budget to pay it back. So…I uh…didn’t. It’s hard for me to face that music, but they made me do it the best way, by sending a letter saying if I don’t call and set something up they’ll sue me to pay the full amount immediately.

So I called yesterday and we worked something out. Yeah it was super embarrassing and I’m pretty upset at myself, but what do. The total amount owed was $4262.35. Yup. Let’s take a minute to think about how ridiculous it is that I was that irresponsible with the card, knowing full well what the repercussions would be (and how my credit probably looks right now). They were really friendly and tried to work with me the best they could, so Cardholder Assistance Person Adam found probably what would be best for both ends.

The deal was that if I paid it off in 6 months, with the first month’s payment being $1500, they would write off $400 and not sue me. So I paid $500 yesterday and will pay another $1000 on 9/30 (when I get my second check of the month)…then $472.47/month until February. After which I will be free of any debts to them.

This was quite a wake-up call. I do have a lot of things to take care of, and sometimes it’s easier to just pretend it’s not happening and bury your head in the sand, but that’s a really terrible, impractical, and ineffective method of dealing with problems. Dropping an unexpected $1500 out of this month’s budget is going to be really uncomfortable and difficult, but just means I’ll be on a much needed spending fast for a while…and the September goals of creating a budget template and debt repayment plan are even more urgent!