Taking control of my finances: Lowering APR
I’ve been obsessed with taking control of my finances this month. It wasn’t a “resolution” or anything like that. It feels as if I just “woke up” and decided that there needed to be some changes. I’ve been suscribing via RSS to various investment and financial advise blogs, CNN Money, you name it.
I already religiously keep track of my accounts and credit cards with Microsoft Money. It’s an absolutely fantastic program that is easy to ue, lets you know when you’ve spent an obscene amount of money in any one category, and even prepares reports and pie charts for you automatically. Charts on income vs spending, where most of your money was spent this month, etc. (If any of my friends would like a copy of this program, I’d happily oblige making you one, it’s an older 2001 copy, but it works).
In addition to Microsoft Money, there are a few websites that allow you to start keeping track of your finances as well. (clearcheckbook.com and wesabe.com for example. And wesabe even has a video tour.) I’m usually wary of online systems that store pertinent information like this, myself, but it seems well enough for some folks.
So my first step has already been taken since January of 2005, keeping a literal idea of my finances.
Last night I decided to take my Senior Druid’s advice and call up my credit cards to ask for a lower APR. I’ve had them both for about two years now, and I keep small balances on the both of them just for credit sake. Calling USAA I was able to reduce my 18.15% APR to 14.5%, just from a phonecall. Capital One reduced my 28.8% APR down a whopping 16.9% APR. That’s a big difference.
And I’ll probably call them both up again in 6-9 months to request another reduction. So long as my payments are on time and I have no major debts, I see no reason why they wouldn’t oblige again.
So that was an easy step two. Several of the finance blogs I’ve been reading give excellent instructions and tips on saving money and being smart with your finances. I’ll most likely keep track of the steps here.
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One Response to “Taking control of my finances: Lowering APR”
April 9th, 2007 at 7:30 am
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