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Help me pay my bills

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christinam77
Established Member

Help me pay my bills

After getting rid of debts to bring our scores up... Only to apply for credit cards & start this viscious cycle all over again. I sure could use some guidance from you good people.

 

Here's what I have. I've been mindful to keep all cards at less than 9%. This is for both my husband & myself.  If I'm learning anything from this site I think it's I need to pay the balances off before the billing cycles close? Yes?

 

Victoria Secret

Bal 35.35

CL 250.00

 

CU Mastercard

Bal 33.57

CL - 1000

 

WM

Bal 50.83

CL – 500

 

Capital One

Bal 17.31

CL – 300

 

Fingerhut - myself

Bal 66.75

CL 700

 

Fingerhut – husband

Bal 34.13

CL - 500

 

Since Fingerhut doesn't report to all 3 credit bureaus is it suggested that we go ahead and pay them off in full? I don't think we close them ... right?

 

Help !!

My Scores:
Equ: 575 (11.2011) 631 (09.2012) 646 (12.2012) 652 (01.2013)
Exp: 524 (11.2011) 573 (09.2012) 633 (12.2012) 629 (01.2013)
TU: 520 (11.2011) 601 (09.2012) 636 (12.2012) 641 (01.2013)
My Husband:
Equ: 530 (11.2011) 584 (09.2012) 600(12.2012) 599 (01.2013)
Exp: 529 (11.2011) 590 (09.2012) 621 (12.2012) 616 (01.2013)
TU: 550 (11.2011) 608 (09.2012) 629(12.2012) 626 (01.2013)
Message 1 of 23
22 REPLIES 22
henchita
Established Member

Re: Help me pay my bills

If you can pay them off in full do.  They shouldnt closed them unless you have lates and past dues on them.  unfortunately the hardest part is being responsible with them, try not to use them unless they are absolutely necessary, and then try to pay them off ASAP.  I only buy things that I need, if there is a want then I try to save up for it, use the card and then pay it off with the money I saved up.  Obviously this is something I started doing about a year ago, not always fun, but at least Im not stressed.  Good Luck.


Starting Score: 590
Current Score: 704 TU, 660EQ
Goal Score: 720 ALL


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Message 2 of 23
kroberts67
Established Contributor

Re: Help me pay my bills

Awesome people will chime in awesome stuff but from what I've read is to have all cards report at zero except one, report that between 1-9%.

FICO: EQ 814 | TU 847 | EX ? (Started in the low 500's... you can do it!)

Amex BCE $25000, Amex AP $20000, SFFCU Visa $15000 + LOC $5000, USAA Amex $6000, USAA MC $7000, Cap1 $9500, Freedom $12000, Slate $500, Barclays "RIP" SM $11500, USBank Cash+ $12500, Citi Diamond $11200, Citi Double Cash $12000, Care Credit $13500k.
My Credit Repair Journey
Message 3 of 23
christinam77
Established Member

Re: Help me pay my bills

Does it hurt your score if you report one with a zero balance and the others with a higher than 9% utilization? 

 

I ask because I need DH to see his spending habits. They are seriously out of control he finds it so easy to just swipe his debit card.

 

I don't want to show him the bank account statement sincce our household needs (food, gas, utilities) are all rolled in there too. It's the trips to the convenience store for a 6 pack, or tobacco, going out to eat at lunch.

 

or will this just bite me in the buttocks?

My Scores:
Equ: 575 (11.2011) 631 (09.2012) 646 (12.2012) 652 (01.2013)
Exp: 524 (11.2011) 573 (09.2012) 633 (12.2012) 629 (01.2013)
TU: 520 (11.2011) 601 (09.2012) 636 (12.2012) 641 (01.2013)
My Husband:
Equ: 530 (11.2011) 584 (09.2012) 600(12.2012) 599 (01.2013)
Exp: 529 (11.2011) 590 (09.2012) 621 (12.2012) 616 (01.2013)
TU: 550 (11.2011) 608 (09.2012) 629(12.2012) 626 (01.2013)
Message 4 of 23
tcbofade
Super Contributor

Re: Help me pay my bills


@christinam77 wrote:

Does it hurt your score if you report one with a zero balance and the others with a higher than 9% utilization? 

 

I ask because I need DH to see his spending habits. They are seriously out of control he finds it so easy to just swipe his debit card.

 

I don't want to show him the bank account statement sincce our household needs (food, gas, utilities) are all rolled in there too. It's the trips to the convenience store for a 6 pack, or tobacco, going out to eat at lunch.

 

or will this just bite me in the buttocks?


First, there is no "correct" answer.  The best way for you and DH to solve this problem in your house is something that you both will have to figure out.

 

In MY house, DW DOES carry a debit card, but never uses it without talking to me first.  (I pay the bills)  She has a credit card for gasoline, a credit card for "spending" money, a credit card for groceries, etc...etc.. and this method has worked GREAT for us.

 

If she overspends on one particular card, we can sit and look at the statement together and discuss it WITHOUT the transactions throwing a monkey wrench into our monthly budget.

 

 

YMMV, but good luck!

02/01/24 Fico 8: EX 757, EQ 803, TU 783.
Fico 9: EX 760 12/16/23, EQ 790 02/04/24, TU No idea.

Zero percent financing is where the devil lives...
Message 5 of 23
christinam77
Established Member

Re: Help me pay my bills

Thank you!

 

Our roles seem to be reversed as I'm the one that takes care of the bills & "trying" to budget. When I tell my husband where we're sitting at with our bank account - he's in disbelief that "he just got paid" well yeah.. but bills get paid and trips to the corner store add up!!  

 

We've been working on our credit since 2011 so we can apply for a home loan. Since we'll be using the VA I've raised our scores where they need to be.

 

Well my husbands anyway. My scores were up there however inquiries dropped them and i'm patiently waiting for them to go back up.

 

Which was my the reason for my post. Since we're so close to applying for a mortgage the last thing I wanted was my scheme for my hubby to use his CC strickly for his purchases to come back and bite me.

 

Thanks again for your thoughts.

My Scores:
Equ: 575 (11.2011) 631 (09.2012) 646 (12.2012) 652 (01.2013)
Exp: 524 (11.2011) 573 (09.2012) 633 (12.2012) 629 (01.2013)
TU: 520 (11.2011) 601 (09.2012) 636 (12.2012) 641 (01.2013)
My Husband:
Equ: 530 (11.2011) 584 (09.2012) 600(12.2012) 599 (01.2013)
Exp: 529 (11.2011) 590 (09.2012) 621 (12.2012) 616 (01.2013)
TU: 550 (11.2011) 608 (09.2012) 629(12.2012) 626 (01.2013)
Message 6 of 23
Haroon
New Contributor

Re: Help me pay my bills

It appears you have identified the problem, he just doesn't realize how it adds up because he is just swiping a card. I think it would be beneficial if he used cash for a while it be more clear to him how much he is spending as every time he looks in his wallet to buy something he can see there is less money.
Message 7 of 23
john398
Senior Contributor

Re: Help me pay my bills


@christinam77 wrote:

Thank you!

 

Our roles seem to be reversed as I'm the one that takes care of the bills & "trying" to budget. When I tell my husband where we're sitting at with our bank account - he's in disbelief that "he just got paid" well yeah.. but bills get paid and trips to the corner store add up!!  

 

We've been working on our credit since 2011 so we can apply for a home loan. Since we'll be using the VA I've raised our scores where they need to be.

 

Well my husbands anyway. My scores were up there however inquiries dropped them and i'm patiently waiting for them to go back up.

 

Which was my the reason for my post. Since we're so close to applying for a mortgage the last thing I wanted was my scheme for my hubby to use his CC strickly for his purchases to come back and bite me.

 

Thanks again for your thoughts.


I think its common for women to handle the money these days....

Message 8 of 23
twall06
Frequent Contributor

Re: Help me pay my bills

+1 let him use cash for awhile and once its gone its gone . It always makes me think first if I'm pulling out a 20 more so if its a $100 bill I hate changing them.
Message 9 of 23
BungalowMo
Senior Contributor

Re: Help me pay my bills

Yeah....your hubby needs a wake up call on what it takes to run the household.  I also agree with the cash only idea for a while.

 

Showing him a list of the bills & the checkbook ledger as things are deducted will make him see what goes where.

 

As far as the balances on your cards...they all are very low, but the fact that they ALL have some sort of balance isn't good.  Are these cards in both of your names?  Do they have good histories?

 

 

BK 7 discharge 06.24.2020 No Fico score at all. Smiley Sad
Message 10 of 23
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