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Simple questions. We've all made mistakes. What's the thing you wish you had known when you started building or rebuilding your credit? What would you have done differently if you could go back?
Well first off I wish I didn't try to stay afloat for 2 years trying to rob peter to pay paul and just declared BK, but I tried so hard to keep paying.
And because of that I didn't apply for ANYTHING for years, so I wish I tried to start rebuilding earlier than I did, but I just felt after what had happened and having to declare BK, that cash was it for us and thats what I did for many years.
I wish I had started building credit earlier with a store card or something. At 30 I have no loans(can't drive, went to school free) and I've spent my entire life using cash/debit. Finally getting somewhere though
I wouldn't have changed anything with respect to my rebuild.
What I would have changed prior to my rebuild was educating myself regarding credit basics. Doing so may have prevented me from getting into a tough spot originally and a rebuild may have never been necessary. Things like utilization. Many people like myself don't understand that high utilization is a bad thing for your profile. They think so long as you're making payments, you're fine. Not true. Also most people don't understand that a late payment can damage your credit file for 7 years. Heck, many don't even realize that late payments impact your credit report at all; many simply think they get a late fee from the creditor and move on with life. Just basic things like that I wish I had been more in the know about before I hit my low point.
@Jnbmom wrote:Well first off I wish I didn't try to stay afloat for 2 years trying to rob peter to pay paul and just declared BK, but I tried so hard to keep paying.
And because of that I didn't apply for ANYTHING for years, so I wish I tried to start rebuilding earlier than I did, but I just felt after what had happened and having to declare BK, that cash was it for us and thats what I did for many years.
I totally get this. I spent so much time trying to recover when I was really already BK. If I had not done everything to hold on for the 3 years then it would have been off my CRAs by now. I also did not apply for anything after the BK discharged when I probably should have gotten at least 1 secured card while in my re-payment plan as I would be in much better shape now.
The main thing is I wished it had occurred to me to do some research on credit and found this site before I did. A little knowledge is very useful and I've learned more about credit here in a few weeks than I knew in 30 years of paying bills. Well, they say hindsight is always 20/20 and all we can do is to move on from where we are at the moment.
@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:Simple questions. We've all made mistakes. What's the thing you wish you had known when you started building or rebuilding your credit? What would you have done differently if you could go back?
If I could do my 20s again, I would have not married a spender and instead moved into a tiny apartment so I could have maxed out my retirement savings every single year. It's credit-related because that relationship was a money pit that led to a BK and lots of debt that took over a decade to pay off.