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I wish I'd known about FIRE and had been saving like mad the first 10 years of my career that I was still living with family instead of blowing my money on nice cars/concerts/travels/fun.
@Anonymous wrote: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.
I agree 100%. Just why don't they teach these things in school? It must be a ploy by the banking/credit industry to keep consumers stupid so they can be taken advantage of when they graduate. I mean really, no matter what you do in life, you will be paying bills and using credit for most of it.
@iced wrote:
@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.
I can relate. I couldn't make enough money for my first wife's spending habits and I was making a ton of money back then. Poof! It all went into the ether with all the money she was saving on sales at the mall!
I also would have started sooner, we filed BK in 2000, I have a medical condition that took it's toll, lost our house, auto. We hung our heads in shame (you know the type, it was taboo for someone to file BK, and family members let us know). I had a subprime card at $99 yr/ 300 credit line that never increased. We paid cash for cars (never new again). It was embarrasing for us, my daughter who had a decent job, and needed a co-signer, I had to thankfully enlist my sister to co-sign. She paid on time the full term, she got her start. So we had a few personal loans in 2000's all personal finance companies, small amounts, high interest.
I really regret I was in the mindset and fear of denials, that we did not apply for credit again sooner after BK, I could have built up at least 18 years since then.
I agree with others, AU on getting kids started after a lesson on scores, (mine are already adults and have obtained their own), the FIRE mentioned is something that should be taught in school. Kids nowdays need to learn crucial life lessons earlier.
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
I wish I had known to just get 3 cards, one small loan, pay in full , and live the LIE'rs way of life
lol AJC I can always count on you to make my day
Back on topic, I regret just overall being far too conservative and ignorant with credit as exemplified by the following:
1. Stupidly asking for a CLD from 6k to 5k on my first BoA Cash Rewards card because I thought "DTI ratio" was a thing and higher CLs counted towards "debt"
2. Not aggressively chasing CLIs when I had the chance, thinking I had to wait for a HP to completely fall off (ie wait 2 years) *facepalm*
3. Rejecting any and all mailers (I got A TON of those during the first 2 years of my credit journey, mostly from Amex, Disco, and Capone) because of the "waiting to HP to fall off" thing above, and also still believing more available CL = more debt = bad
4. Completely missing out on the golden days of MS when it was actually profitable and worth the trouble (+ all the lucrative SUBs offered back then when banks were far more generous).
#3 has undoubtedly limited my CL growth, and I imagine had I done everything the MF way, I'd have 10K+ CLs with Disco and Amex by now. #4 has me leaving god knows how much money on the table, probably at least thousands, up to 10k and possibly beyond. Plus the giant AAoA buffer that would come with 10+ accounts.
Yeah I dun goofed.
Get a receipt and follow up with all medical interactions with healthcare providors.
Don't assume everything is fine follow up.
I was sent to collection and my score bottomed to 600 for a year or two because of a medical collection for a bill that wasn't mine.
Good times, always monitor at least credit karma, credit sesame, quizzle.
Pay everything on time.
wish I wouldn't have ended up with three liens on my rental home that took 10 years to recover from.
@jamie123 wrote:I agree 100%. Just why don't they teach these things in school? It must be a ploy by the banking/credit industry to keep consumers stupid so they can be taken advantage of when they graduate. I mean really, no matter what you do in life, you will be paying bills and using credit for most of it.
...but we do teach it in school! For close to a decade now... this isn't the 80s/90s anymore.
I've mentioned this at least once before, but at least in NJ, Financial Literacy is a HS graduation requirement, and there are required benchmarks to reach at 4th, 8th, and 12th grades. The curriculum is actually reasonably good, and many adults would also benefit from reading through the materials...