Hello everyone...long story ahead!

[Clockworkz]

I'm curious, I've seen a lot of pople on this forum say that divorce has given them bad credit, how does that affect your credit? Kind of makes me nervous to get married one day haha (joking).

[Anonymous]

Well, for starters we purchased our home together. When we started the process of divorce, he stopped contributing to the mortgage. So that was problem #1. He had some serious debt in the past, and unfortunately I got caught up in predatory lending with Countrywide about 5 years into my loan. I had him sign a quit claim, basically paying him off in lieu of him having the ability to collect again on the sale in the future because of home much debt he was in (basically he was paid our original purchase price). I cashed in my HELOC to pay him off and refinanced. I ended up in an ARM with ridicuolous rates. I ended up having to apply for a modification to adjust that rate , only for them to put me in another ARM which I requested a fixed rate. Then I was injured at work and had to apply for another crappy modification. My mortgage almost doubled! Things were rocky at that point. He still continued to live with me, and was contributing towards the home expenses. Then he lost his job, and didn't pay child support for 2.5 years. So, naturally, I had to circumvent my expenses to spread things around, plus the full expense of raising a small child and their needs (needing new clothes, activites, food, entertainment, etc). So basically, when you determine your finances and you split them equally, you have some spare cash. Once that doesn't happen anymore, you spread yourself thin. If you can't pay or you fall behind on things, it gets reported. It happens to everyone when you suddenly lose a second source of income.  Then, you have to cut your losses and start over again. So that's divorce 101 in a nutshell....LOL

[calyx]

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@Clockworkz wrote:

I'm curious, I've seen a lot of pople on this forum say that divorce has given them bad credit, how does that affect your credit? Kind of makes me nervous to get married one day haha (joking).

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It really depends.
For me, it was because 1.  I lived in a community property state (which means even his debt was mine) and 2.  He was financially irresponsible so I had to cover our bills as best I could, which made meeting my own financial obligations difficult.

I was also fairly hands off with the finances because I didn't realize how bad he was with money (and what he was doing with it).  I was working full time and going to grad school.  So not only was I carrying the bills for our life, but I didn't have time to check on things as I should have.   He wasted money, did things I won't put here on the board, opened lots of credit that he ran up and tanked, and he intercepted all of the mail (and I didn't have a cell phone at the time), so I didn't know what happened.

Honestly, I wouldn't hesitate to get married again because I am on top of my finances (and will never let them go again).   I'm not living in a community property state, but my current partner is financially stable, not a moron, and, well, again, I pay attention.   Divorce isn't so much what wrecks you financially, but the people you end up divorcing.

[calyx]

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@Anonymous wrote:
My first time posting here. I figure I'd need to properly introduce myself. I've been reading the forums for about 2 months now.. trying to absorb as much advice as I can get. I'll give you a brief snippet. Pretty much hit rock bottom about 3 years ago after divorcing. Lost everything I worked for after 19 years of great credit (never ever checked my scores after 2004, but I was told they were very good). I've been completely TERRIFIED 😱to see the damage that was done.

[snip...]

Anyways, I look forward to chatting with you all. I hope to celebrate all your achievements with you. I am only going into month 3 of my rebuild, and I hope to be able to share my journey and success with you. I truly love the positivity you guys give to each other! 🙏❤

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Welcome to the board!
Just know you aren't alone - there are plenty of us here who are rebuilding for various reasons.  I'm also rebuilding in part thanks to divorce, so I totally get you.   
I never really got into credit, but I had applied for a cobranded Chase card and got my rejection at ~500.
I pulled my three credit reports and kind of freaked out about the mess.  One of my friends works in finance (mortgage) and said that they would honestly just wait out the 7 years (I was in year 4).
I made enough money that I could cope with the bad credit report (paying additional deposits for apartments or utilities), so I did that.
In retrospect, I wish I had been more proactive, but that's OK, we're all allowed to make mistakes or not make the best moves.

Late last year, In year 7, post-divorce, which is when my wages were garnished for delinquent student loans (this one was not entirely my fault, but it doesnt really matter), I decided to clean up my credit report so that I could purchase a new car in a couple of years.   I found this board trying to figure out how to navigate the CRAs and student loan issues and learned a lot about credit scoring and credit, and everyone here has been an amazing help.

Everything takes time, but you can do this.   It might be irritating, it might feel like it's taking for ever, but I've gone from not being able to even get decent secured cards to getting 5 figure starting limits for big banks.   You can do it, too.

One suggestion I would give is to do your research and be very strategic about cards you open - it's one of the things I'm really glad I did.   I tried to stay from any subprime/predatory banks, and other than my very first secured card, I've been able to go with banks that graduate and product change their secured cards so that I can have nice long tradelines when getting my goal cards.   It might take a little patience, but I think it's beneficial.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely! I have no intentions of just randomly applying for credit when I know the HPs stay on 2 years and my goal for home ownership is 3. I've purposely avoided the sub prime cards. I'd rather pay off my collections the old fashioned way than to be saddled with high APR's and annual fees. I'll keep my CO-QS1 because that can graduate. I'll probably at some point close credit one. $75 fee and 26.99%, no thanks! They even charged me interest on my annual fee! I just need to procure a decent card to replace shutting it down. I realistically can't use it. I don't like their tactics. Once I can scooch over a few scores I'll apply for Discover It (I think I may go secured to start), then by next year try for Amex. Like I said, I don't want to go nuts, and blow my goal out of the water.

[jaxstraw]

I would suggest opening an account for $5 in a Credit Union for a free monthly FICO score.

Langley FCU gives an accurate Equifax FICO every month.

DCU does also but is FICO 5.

There are others you can search the Forums here for.... it's 5 dollars well spent when rebuilding.

Also you probably would be approved for a Fingerhut account. They give a free Experian Fico score.

[jaxstraw]

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/UNOFFICIAL-LIST-of-credit-cards-and-which-sco...