11 or so years ago, as the Great Recession was kicking off, I was laid off my job. At the time I had about $10K in CC debt. I burned through the 2 or 3 thousand I had saved up pretty quickly, and ended up living off credit cards for 7 months while I looked for a job. In the end I did get a job, but I had accumulated so much debt (~$20K) that I had no choice but to declare bankruptcy.
As a result of that experience I swore off credit cards for a decade. It seemed like the responsible thing to do since I apparently couldn't control my spending. In the intervening years I did manage to secure an auto loan at 15% interest. Initially I had some trouble keeping up with payments, but a big raise (40%!) a couple of years ago vastly improved my financial situation. I have since been able to refi at a more reasonable 8.5%.
Which brings me to my first credit card approval in a decade. I initially tried to get an Amazon Visa card since I spend a good bit of money there, but got denied. Since I had been getting several preapproved offers from Cap 1, I took them up on it and was approved for huge $500 credit line, lol. But it's a first step.
I remain a bit nervous about making sure I don't spend my CC dollars irresponsibly. 10 years has given a lot of life experience, and hopefully a bit of maturity. Still, does anyone have any tips for not getting out of control?
@8bitmachinegun wrote:11 or so years ago, as the Great Recession was kicking off, I was laid off my job. At the time I had about $10K in CC debt. I burned through the 2 or 3 thousand I had saved up pretty quickly, and ended up living off credit cards for 7 months while I looked for a job. In the end I did get a job, but I had accumulated so much debt (~$20K) that I had no choice but to declare bankruptcy.
As a result of that experience I swore off credit cards for a decade. It seemed like the responsible thing to do since I apparently couldn't control my spending. In the intervening years I did manage to secure an auto loan at 15% interest. Initially I had some trouble keeping up with payments, but a big raise (40%!) a couple of years ago vastly improved my financial situation. I have since been able to refi at a more reasonable 8.5%.
Which brings me to my first credit card approval in a decade. I initially tried to get an Amazon Visa card since I spend a good bit of money there, but got denied. Since I had been getting several preapproved offers from Cap 1, I took them up on it and was approved for huge $500 credit line, lol. But it's a first step.
I remain a bit nervous about making sure I don't spend my CC dollars irresponsibly. 10 years has given a lot of life experience, and hopefully a bit of maturity. Still, does anyone have any tips for not getting out of control?
Congrats on the new card and making it through the bankruptcy. Been there, done that and then some.
Tips? Sure, ease back into using your credit card. Keep the amount you charge on it low (Like $50 a month) and PAY IN FULL every month.
Good luck and welcome to the boards.
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Welcome new member and congratulations on your approval!!! 😊
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@cf2701 Thanks for the suggestion. I'm very bad at budgeting. Fortunately my present income is good enough that budgeting is not mandatory.
I've tried using YNAB, but I just couldn't wrap my head around their budgeting method (paradigm?) The approach is totally alien to everything I know about budgeting and I just couldn't adapt to it. My worst problem at present is overspending on eating out. I utterly loathe cooking, my stove is broken and my kitchen is a disaster. So I don't really like eating in...