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If you could start over what would you do different?

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lil_bo_peep
Valued Member

Re: If you could start over what would you do different?

First off..I would have never ever gotten Married, bought a house, had a baby and got a divorce  in a 2 year span.  Furthermore I would have never opened the 16 CC that I thought I needed for my ex husband and myself.   I would have paid all of my bills on time every single time and put off the extravagance of all things humanly possible b/c I would know this does not make oneself happy!! 

 

Live and learn they say??   Well, I'm surely livin' and learnin' everyday!! 

 

Thanks for all the support, ya'll are always here when I need ya! Smiley Happy

 

Lil_bo

Just a little reminder.....sometimes these boards get a little confusing but we are all here to help each other not make things more difficult, you can only Do what's right for YOU, not what everyone else thinks is right for you! Love you guys!!! Smiley Wink
Message 31 of 40
esme
Regular Contributor

Re: If you could start over what would you do different?

Personal finance and credit building should seriously be a required class in high schools all around the country. If you don't know how to manage money or respect the importance of maintaining good credit before you get offered that first credit card at 18 years old, I don't care what you end up doing as a profession or how much money you make, bad credit doesn't discriminate! All it takes is one missed payment.

 

I wish I had the sense and knowledge back then that I have now. I'm still trying to figure out a way to teach my kids these things while they're still young.


Starting Scores: EQ 582 TU 584 EX 615 (FICO - Lender Pulled) 1/4/2012
Current Scores:EQ 632 TU 698 EX 669 (Lender Pulled) 3/17/2012
Goal Scores:700 club here we come!

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Message 32 of 40
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: If you could start over what would you do different?


@esme wrote:

Personal finance and credit building should seriously be a required class in high schools all around the country. If you don't know how to manage money or respect the importance of maintaining good credit before you get offered that first credit card at 18 years old, I don't care what you end up doing as a profession or how much money you make, bad credit doesn't discriminate! All it takes is one missed payment.

 

I wish I had the sense and knowledge back then that I have now. I'm still trying to figure out a way to teach my kids these things while they're still young.


Great point.  I really think this needs to be a class for every Junior, and perhaps even a second class for Seniors.  Why do we teach economics (useless to most students) but not personal finances?

 

I will be sure to teach my children what I was not taught.  The best way to start is to lead by example.  I also think as your children get older, you need to show them how you take care of bills, how you use and manage credit, etc.  Also, giving them an AU card (if you think they are responsible enough) and letting them be a part of paying the bill, etc could be helpful.  These are just some ideas I'm kicking around for my future kids that aren't even conceived yet, ha.

Message 33 of 40
namvet
Established Contributor

Re: If you could start over what would you do different?


@Anonymous wrote:

@esme wrote:

Personal finance and credit building should seriously be a required class in high schools all around the country. If you don't know how to manage money or respect the importance of maintaining good credit before you get offered that first credit card at 18 years old, I don't care what you end up doing as a profession or how much money you make, bad credit doesn't discriminate! All it takes is one missed payment.

 

I wish I had the sense and knowledge back then that I have now. I'm still trying to figure out a way to teach my kids these things while they're still young.


Great point.  I really think this needs to be a class for every Junior, and perhaps even a second class for Seniors.  Why do we teach economics (useless to most students) but not personal finances?

 

I will be sure to teach my children what I was not taught.  The best way to start is to lead by example.  I also think as your children get older, you need to show them how you take care of bills, how you use and manage credit, etc.  Also, giving them an AU card (if you think they are responsible enough) and letting them be a part of paying the bill, etc could be helpful.  These are just some ideas I'm kicking around for my future kids that aren't even conceived yet, ha.


Amen!

Message 34 of 40
annielorie
Valued Contributor

Re: If you could start over what would you do different?

Not to makefun but if they aren't even conceived yet shouldn't you be daydrmng about ...................Smiley LOL


Starting Score: 0
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Message 35 of 40
JenniferinFL
Frequent Contributor

Re: If you could start over what would you do different?

I would have never purchased a house in a state that required me to use an attorney. Attorney was friends with seller and I got a really bad deal. By bad deal, I mean that the house had no access to water and there was no way to get clean drinking water. Attorney, relative of seller on health department, and so on all helped with cover up. Lived there for 3 years using a gallon of bottled water to sponge bathe with. Finally lost my job and saw the light, filed for bankruptcy to get out of no win situation.

 

Husband is buying a house now and I am checking everything myself. I should have waited to buy until I was in a state that didn't require 2 middlemen, a realtor and an attorney.

Current Cards: Cap 1 Journey $3000, Cap 1 Playstation $2250, WFNNB Store Cards $2450 combined, Target $700, CareCredit $1700, Barclay Rewards Plat. Mastercard $1800, Old Navy $300, DCU Platinum Rewards Visa $2000, Swagbucks Rewards Visa $1000

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Message 36 of 40
sooner63
Established Member

Re: If you could start over what would you do different?

I wouldn't have co-signed on a car for a relative over the phone, without any knowledge of what was even going on. And, I would have said no to a girl who asked me out...which ended up getting me so far in debt that now I troll myFICO forums for solutions.
Message 37 of 40
js0319
Established Contributor

Re: If you could start over what would you do different?

I would have made sure that I honored all of my obligations and done whatever it took to keep my accounts from defaulting. I had ok credit before (650 or so) and t was getting better every month, and it only took about 9 months to go from that into the 400's. My family got into a pinch and we felt helpless, so we decided to say "oh well" to our obligations. We are still paying the price for what happened, and we lived w/o credit (except for our house) for 4 years, but now we are realizing that the world really does revolve around the many types of credit.

AMEX PRG - NPSL I AMEX Everyday Preferred - $34.8k I Capital One Venture - $20k I Chase Sapphire Preferred - $25.5k I Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier - $20.7k I Barclay Arrival + - $10k I Capital One Quicksilver - $10k I NFCU Flagship Rewards Visa Signature - $15k I NASA FCU - $10k I Texell FCU Visa - $5k I Chase Freedom - $9.9k I Citi Double Cash - $7.8k I Discover IT - $5k I NFCU CLOC - $15k I Total Unsecured Credit - $188,700

EQ FICO - 714 (5/24/16) I TU FICO - 772 (5/24/16) I EX FICO - 770 (5/24/16)
Message 38 of 40
jamesdwi
Valued Contributor

Re: If you could start over what would you do different?

Open a American express card in 1986 or so... keep open for 3 months,  close the account in good standing, do it again in1995,  again in 2004 and today i would two or more AMEX cards back dated to 1986... oldest cards would be 26 Years old, and AAoA would be helped by 52+ years of back dated amex cards...  Smiley LOL

Cards: Chase Southwest 20k & CSR 17k & CSP 10k & FNBO 30k Oregon Duck 5k, & AMEX BCP 32.5k & Amex Magnet 15k&amg; Hilton Surpass 7.5k & Delta Gold 12k & Zync NPSL, Fidelity AMEX 17k Commerce5.9k & Cash Forward 7.5k & Sams Club MC 20k, Paypal Extras MC 10k, Paypal Credit 7.25k CapOne Venture 15k, QS 2.5k, QS 750, Amazon 10k, Walmart 10k, Citi Simplicity 18k, Discover IT 23k and a nice stack of store cards.
Landmarkcu Personal Loan 10k
Message 39 of 40
mAndrew1980
Established Contributor

Re: If you could start over what would you do different?

My two biggest makes where decisions I made as a 24-year old back in 2004 and 2005. One, I defaulted on my Gas bill. This lead to a gigantic debt ($2,200.00) and THREE negative trade-lines on my CR's. First, the OC (peoples gas), second the first CA (harris & harris), and third the second CA (IC System). It took me multiple years to pay the debt and a lot of action to have the tradelines removed.

 

And the other big mistake I made was my Orchard Bank charge-off from 2005. It has haunted me for many many years and in many ways prevented me from living a high quality of life.

Transunion: 713 FICO (5/13/2014) MyFico
Experian: 789 FICO (4/10/12) Lender Pull
Equifax: 695 FICO (1/10/14) MyFico

My cards: Chase United Mileage Plus 7000CL (3/12), CITI Simplicity 1800CL (9/12), Cap1 Platinum 1000CL (2/10), Cap1 Cash back 1500CL (11/11), Apple Barclay's 2500CL (11/11), Discover IT 6000CL (5/13)

My Primary Financial Goal is to put down my utl%.



Message 40 of 40
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