Debt Breakdown Part III : Personal Loan

When I got my first full time job out of college, I was so determined to get my debt paid off. At the time, I probably had about $10k in credit card debts - other than Visa, Master Card and Amex. I also had Best Buy, Nordstroms and a gas card from Shell. I wasn't reading any PF blogs at the time but mostly CNN money or MSN Money where they give little tid-bits on what to do with CC debt etc. I thought it would be a great idea to consolidate into a personal loan since my bank was offering me a great APR. I thought this will give me an actual time frame to pay off debt. I borrowed against my car about the time I paid it off.

That obviously did not happen to plan - what happened was the now "paid off" credit cards were used to keep up with the Joneses. I felt like I had so much more room to spend money on - It started with a full on new work wardrobe, Traveling since I get two weeks off from my full time jobs, eating at these schmacy restaurants etc.- all courtesy of American Express, Visa and MasterCard. Thanks guys! I felt like I was on top of the world because now I can 'afford' everything and at this time, I was getting paid more.

The whole vicious cycle happened again and now I am back to square 'two' lol. My second consolidation happened exactly last year to get these credit cards paid off - obviously there were some leaks again because as you can see I have credit card payments within my totals. I am waiting for the day to pay off this current personal loan.

Lesson Learned 
I promised myself that this was going to be the last time I will take out a personal loan to consolidate credit cards. I am determined to pay this off now before paying off CC#1 just to get it off my back.







Have you ever used a personal loan to consolidate credit cards?