@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:As a rule of thumb, I think people are good candidates for a BK 7 when they owe in the neighborhood of one year's gross salary in unsecured debt. This is how I eyeball it when people ask. That is just my own personal metric.
.. and that is why I am comfortable with my current overall unsecured CLs being right at my yearly gross.
I've never understood the need for someone who makes $50k to have $200k in CC's... a quick route to BK7 if you aren't responsible.
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
@TRC_WA wrote:
@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:As a rule of thumb, I think people are good candidates for a BK 7 when they owe in the neighborhood of one year's gross salary in unsecured debt. This is how I eyeball it when people ask. That is just my own personal metric.
.. and that is why I am comfortable with my current overall unsecured CLs being right at my yearly gross.
I've never understood the need for someone who makes $50k to have $200k in CC's... a quick route to BK7 if you aren't responsible.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately and I think I agree with you. I think one year's gross salary in unsecured credit limits is a good number to shoot for.
With that, you can routinely have one month's gross salary showing up on your reported balances and you would be under 10% utilization (1/12 = 8.3%). So you could put a month's worth of expenses on your cards, or go on vacation, or buy a big item without having to micromanage payments during the month.
I also think that people should shoot for one year's gross salary in totally useable cards -- Visa, MC, AMEX, Discover, JCB. I would much rather have one year in fully available credit than two years of salary that has things like a 10K limit on J. Crew, etc.
I only have Walmart and Lowes for store cards. I don't plan to get more. I don't shop at either of those stores, but I like the Walmart FICO and I do hope to get a 25K limit on Lowes. But no more store cards for me.
Assuming a 100K annual income, I would like to have five cards with a 20K limit on each. Maybe over time those limits would grow to 30K each and I would have 150K in limits on 100K income. These cards would be split between a couple of good rewards cards (cash and miles) and good lines of credit from CU's and Barclay Ring with low rates in case I actually need money to smooth out cash flow.
Its funny how much I keep learning on here and how much my opinions are changing as i go along. No doubt they will continue to change and refine.
That's exactly why I only have 2 store cards... Nordstrom $2500 and Best Buy $3500. Both can be converted to VISA/MC down the road... Nordstrom quite easily I hear. I have no plans to app for any more store cards either... I am fine with a wallet full of major CC's. 
Just a quick update, I really don't have anyone else I'd tell anyways.. 
But..
I spent the morning contacting the CC companies and every one of them was more open about this then I thought they would be. Each one emphasized my perfect payment history and relationship with them.. Two of them volunteered to skip a payment, one offered to waive any late fees I may receive if I miss a payment/late for a payment for the next two months.
A lot more service and understanding than I expected.. Anyways, I appreciate everyones responses and I'll keep updating if there's anything that happens whether it's avoiding the BK/deliquent situation or if something catastrophic happens.
Great forum, great people here.. Thanks again.