I just cancelled my Bank of America credit card today – I actually had two with BOA, but they cancelled one due to inactivity towards the end of last year. I must have missed notification – if they even need to send it. So, I cancelled the remaining card.

I hadn’t carried a balance on the cards for probably over a year now, but didn’t want to cancel them in case the reduction in available credit would impact my overall credit score and therefore my rates on existing balances.

But with the new credit card rules coming into effect and the current state of lending – I feel that now is as good a time as ever to cancel my zero balances. I’m making good progress in paying down debt and if there are any repercussions to canceling cards – I’m betting that it will help in the long run if I just start making adjustments now.

One thing I do know so far is that I’m thrilled to no longer have any ties to Bank of America.

The Daily Show took a turn trying to explain the effect that the new credit card rules will have. Funny and frightening at the same time…

Now that I’m closer to having a zero net worth, I’m really itching to pay down my debt as fast as possible. Recently, I’ve taken a look at placing some rarely used items up for grabs on ebay.

I’ve already made some good progress on my items – not a large sum, but still a few hundred to toss towards my debt.

I’m not a frequent user of ebay, but I have used the site enough – both as a buyer and seller – to understand a few of the components that can make for a positive experience:

This past weekend I watched the documentary “Maxed Out”  (trailer here)based off the book of the same name by James Scurlock. I definitely recommend this movie to those, like me, trying to get out of credit card debt and also to parents of kids heading off to college (where it seems to all begin).

Again, I love tax season. This year I received a large chunk of money back from Uncle Sam and immediately threw that on top of my existing payments for this month. The result was a (near) 25% reduction in my credit card debt and a 54% increase in my overall net worth. If it weren’t for the big hit to my investment accounts – especially my 401(k) – I would be close to a zero net worth, which at this point sounds really, really good.

I very much doubt that “TGITS” will stick – but, at this point in my life, I love this time of the year. As I’ve written before, I claim zero on my W2 form and therefore I overpay on taxes each pay period. I understand the argument against this, however I strongly believe that this is the best approach for me. This year is a great example.

I kept track of my accounts in December, but didn’t get around to posting an update due to holiday travel and just plain laziness.  Obviously, I took a step backwards in credit card payments – which really were based on finance charges.  But as always, I’m really looking forward to the next few months since I tend to get a pretty nice tax refund which I apply directly to my debt.  I’m hoping to knock off one of my cards and increase my snowball payment amount.