LEARN from my ch 7 bankruptcy mistakes!

[Anonymous]

 Hello all, this is my very first post. I filed for ch 7 bk in Jan of 2018, discharged in Apr 2018. I only had one credit card from Capital One with a small limit of $300. My experice with cc was very limited. I was overwheled my medical bills and chose to file bk. Afer my dischage I began to get cards from anyone who would give me credit, thinking it would help my score. Which it did, however I found myself with 10 cards. You know the usual bad cards from First Premier, Indigo and Credit One. I did get a secured card with Discover for $800, 7 or so months later I received my deposit back my limit was bumped to 2k. I also have 2 cap 1 cards unsecured and a Wells Fargo card secured. I've only missed one payment in the last two years. I've been making triple the minimum payents and the balances are under 20% percent on all cards. I plan to close the bad cards and keep the Discover and Cap 1.  I wish I would have known about this fourm a long time ago and started with a few cards pay off the balance in full every month. Hopefully one day I will be able to get better cards from Chase and Amex. Any advice is welcomed. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Welcome! I stumbled across this forum many months ago when the 'check engine light' on my financial dashboard started blinking. Even though I was still months away from filing bankruptcy I knew something would have to give sooner or later - and it finally did culimate in my CH7 filing end of last month - but the info/advice provided on this forum was priceless to me and it ensured I didn't make any big mistakes in the weeks/months leading up to my actual filing. This likely made my attorney's job a whole lot easier. 

This is a judgement-free zone. And so many people on here are true experts because they've 'been there' themselves and had to rebuild from the ground up.

Everybody has a story and a reason for why they ended up the way they did. The biggest takeaway has to be how do I learn/grow from this and be better than I was before. I think that's what it comes down to.

When I left my really crappy marriage 3 years ago, I didn't know a lot about managing money. My ex-wife did all of that which I grew to resent throughout our marriage. Money is power... anyway when I left I had a few thousand dollars to my name and the clothes on my back. And a 813 credit score. I needed money to hire a divorce attorney. I needed dishes and furniture and every other basic thing. I figured out people would lend me anything. And they did. I moved 3 times to try to find stability. Moving is expensive. Then my car died and I bought a new one. Then I ended up in the hospital a few times. I just kept borrowing money because I could. The offers kept coming but my score was nowhere near 800 anymore and so the offers started getting crappy and predatory. Long story short I got in over my head and just as with an avalanche the end came quickly.

For me it's a learning experience. I don't condemn myself for my CH7 any more than I condemn myself for my divorce. I acknowledge my part in it and learn what I can and endeavor to be better for it. For me it starts with saving again, and I have started that, and not relying on credit to solve life's unexpected events. 

We live in an age where most everybody is borrowing and utilizing credit to the point of being over-leveraged, and this includes governments, businesses, and individuals. When my discharge hopefully comes later in the Summer, I plan to introduce credit back into my life but this time I will control and manage it and not the other way around. So many people on this forum have proven it can certainly be done too!