A suggestion for maintaining good credit ratings: treat your credit card like a chequing (“checking”, for the Americans on board) account. Never buy anything on the card that you don’t have a plan to pay off. A large purchase may require special plans, like a line of credit from your bank, or cashing in something like a savings bond. But if you can’t come up with the payment, don’t make the purchase!
I have “auto pay” set up for my most-used credit cards - the payment is automatically withdrawn from my bank account on the due date, and the card is always paid off in full. This is especially handy if I go away on vacation and can’t pick up my credit card bills. You can make arrangements with your bank to ensure there is money in the account to pay the bills, and the interest you will pay for a line of credit or overdraft protection should be well below what the credit card will charge.
Ya know, it would’ve been cheaper for me to just plunk down $2000 up front and get a decent used car. Of course, when my last car finally fell apart, I didn’t -have- 2000 dollars to plunk down on anything. And if you’d ever attempted to utilize Phoenix’s Metro Bus systems, you’d realize what complete peril I was in at the time. I don’t regret my car one bit. It’s reliable, it’s covered. I don’t worry about it. It doesnt make a funny noise, if it made a funny noise, it wouldnt matter if I had 2 dollars to my name on that particular day, I could bring it to the dealer and have it fixed by the next day. I don’t have mechanics throwing big words with bigger figures at me because I seem to be unable to grasp even rudimentary auto mechanics. The peace of mind is truly something to behold. I can even hop in my car for the weekend and visit my father (About 400 miles away) if I want to. I would pay ALOT more than 250/mo for that kind of simplicity.
It is a blessing that I have more coming in than going out right now and part of me would LOVE to save the excess money for a home loan. But I’ve made poor spending decisions in the past (and they really were poor. Things like charging $150 dinner for myself and my best girlfriends to celebrate my new credit card, buying a car stereo that I couldnt afford, blah blah etc) and right now my excess money must go to righting my wrongs.
Thank you, Cicero for giving me something to look forward to. I really do want to be a grown up, I swear. It’s just taking awhile to get there.
But with all respect, trudi, I am impressed with your ability to get through life and come out on top with lousy credit. You have true strength of character and have made wise financial decisions that work for you. Good on ya, I say.
Philster, although I woulda avoided personal attacks, I think the intentions behind your posts are right on. You rock.
I reviewed some of the exhanges, and it’s obvious that I spewed venom on Trudi because there was an implication that she didn’t care to pay a bill that was being collected on. And she just doesn’t need credit, and she can tell ya all 'bout it. She doesn’t need it because she doesn’t HAVE THE OPTION OF USING IT.
People ALWAYS figure these revelations out AFTER they went sour and didn’t pay past creditors.
And I live in world where people think they never use credit and never need it, and they get up-itty about it and pontificate. Checks are credit, utilities are credit, cell phones are credit. Heck, even some toll roads are credit. Imagine being a travelling businessman and not having a credit card.
To have a score that sinks like stone to 400, and to admit you dissed collectors tells me you have unpaid bad debt somewhere. I mean, if you fall on hard times, or demonstrated fiscal irresponsibility, show some humility, because the rest of us pay for your bad debts.
I really do want to be a grown up, I swear. It’s just taking awhile to get there.