Anyone else rebuilt for 10 plus years and now about to go down

[Sbrooks1]

Have  been rebuilding since 2000 and have built a home and acquired, what i consider to be, too many credit cards. I should have stopped at two. I still have an excellent credit score and have a UTI aggregrate of less than 10 (  not the beacon 8.9). However, I feel I am slipping into old ways and old habits that will eventually cause me, yet again, to self destruct. I am for the first time paying minimum this month on credit cards. I am not extravagant , have no clothes other than scrubs for work, yet just this month put 600 on a card. I am being honest and saying to myself.. STOP.   Credit card debt was never my problem in the past, as a matter of fact, I got my first card during my rebuild at 40 yrs old. I am putting myself on a strict budget going forward. Just wanted to share that those of us that made it,,, might fall back into that pit at any moment 

[SOGGIE]

Trim the herd, SD and take a leave from the 'Credit Cards' and 'Approvals' threads. Perhaps even take a break from MF. Keep focused. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

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@Sbrooks1 wrote:

Have  been rebuilding since 2000 and have built a home and acquired, what i consider to be, too many credit cards. I should have stopped at two. I still have an excellent credit score and have a UTI aggregrate of less than 10 (  not the beacon 8.9). However, I feel I am slipping into old ways and old habits that will eventually cause me, yet again, to self destruct. I am for the first time paying minimum this month on credit cards. I am not extravagant , have no clothes other than scrubs for work, yet just this month put 600 on a card. I am being honest and saying to myself.. STOP.   Credit card debt was never my problem in the past, as a matter of fact, I got my first card during my rebuild at 40 yrs old. I am putting myself on a strict budget going forward. Just wanted to share that those of us that made it,,, might fall back into that pit at any moment 

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Easy enought to do, that is "slip into the old ways". It took me ten years to rebuild from 2001 so I follow your thoughts. As has already been mentioned by you and another poster, time to reign in the spending with a good budget diet. Sock draw some cards to force yourself to remember the discipline that brought you back from the dark side. Good that you posted to remind some of us that the past can come back and haunt us again! Thanks

[Anonymous]

Keep it in check, make your minimums and dont miss a payment!

Then pay off what you can and dont use them.

Better realizing the simple mess now, then dealing with the aftermath of 

the downward spiral that tumbled out of control.

Just keep your head up and this will be your next "short" term goal....pay em down!

[RobertEG]

You can choose to close any cards, which then precludes any additional purchases on that account.

Closing does not equal deletion from your credit report.

If you do choose to close some accounts, thought should go into which you should close.

First, you will lose the credit limit in your calculation of % util, so it is usually wise to retain your highest credit limit card.

Second, closing per se will not result in removal of the account from your avg age of accounts calculation, but you always run the risk, after closure, that the credtior may choose to simply their obligations by then deleting the entire account.

Thus, it is usually wise not to close your oldest account.

[Anonymous]

I've been rebuilding since 2005, 2001 is when I lost my job and also went through a large Medical ordeal. I don't feel there's any correct or incorrect number of CC to have. You simply have to have to be mindful about not keeping balances on them all. 

I have 12, and only use 2-3 regularly. Switching them in and out. Then PIF. Thankfully I'm in a better place finacially than I was back then, so it's much easier to maintain now. And that was the lesson I learnt, no balances. lol

However, in the near future I will have to endure a major expense, which I have planned to use 0% APR cards for the term. Also plan to hit them hard during that promo, to bring the balance down quickly over that time. But I do have that underlying fear of it possibly happening again, and I definitely don't want to go through another rebuling phase. 

[sarge12]

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@Sbrooks1 wrote:

Have  been rebuilding since 2000 and have built a home and acquired, what i consider to be, too many credit cards. I should have stopped at two. I still have an excellent credit score and have a UTI aggregrate of less than 10 (  not the beacon 8.9). However, I feel I am slipping into old ways and old habits that will eventually cause me, yet again, to self destruct. I am for the first time paying minimum this month on credit cards. I am not extravagant , have no clothes other than scrubs for work, yet just this month put 600 on a card. I am being honest and saying to myself.. STOP.   Credit card debt was never my problem in the past, as a matter of fact, I got my first card during my rebuild at 40 yrs old. I am putting myself on a strict budget going forward. Just wanted to share that those of us that made it,,, might fall back into that pit at any moment 

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Budget, Budget, Budget....it can't be stressed enough. If you carry a balance at all, you have at some point spent more than you made. Best way to use credit cards is to PIF...every....single...month!!!! Credit cards are just too dangerous to do otherwise, IMHO!!!

[Revelate]

Well I can empathize: found this forum in late 2011, got up north of 800 on virtually every FICO score that I cared about, and wandered off the reservation and a $15 fee from an account I should've closed down triggered a 30D late.  Dropped nearly 100 points, it's like I have my tax liens all over again even if I know the road to recovery isn't going to be as long as none of my lenders blinked: none.

As others have suggested, budget, budget, budget; and in your case if you have truly unneecssary cards just close them... like in my case with my issues, any card that didn't have autopay capabilities, just got kicked to the curb and good riddance.  

[Sbrooks1]

Carry a balance on several and keep doing the BT to 0 but yet keep charging, I am on it now though

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@sarge12 wrote:

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@Sbrooks1 wrote:

Have  been rebuilding since 2000 and have built a home and acquired, what i consider to be, too many credit cards. I should have stopped at two. I still have an excellent credit score and have a UTI aggregrate of less than 10 (  not the beacon 8.9). However, I feel I am slipping into old ways and old habits that will eventually cause me, yet again, to self destruct. I am for the first time paying minimum this month on credit cards. I am not extravagant , have no clothes other than scrubs for work, yet just this month put 600 on a card. I am being honest and saying to myself.. STOP.   Credit card debt was never my problem in the past, as a matter of fact, I got my first card during my rebuild at 40 yrs old. I am putting myself on a strict budget going forward. Just wanted to share that those of us that made it,,, might fall back into that pit at any moment 

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Budget, Budget, Budget....it can't be stressed enough. If you carry a balance at all, you have at some point spent more than you made. Best way to use credit cards is to PIF...every....single...month!!!! Credit cards are just too dangerous to do otherwise, IMHO!!!

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