No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
Hello everyone. I am new to the forum and have just been reading everyone's credit hours during. Today I just wanted to share my credit journey. A few years back in 2015, I dated someone that I would do anything for. I literally spent over $1000+ each month on both of my Bank of America credit cards on him just to please them. Whether it was hotels or dining or food or gifts or what not. Yes it was the stupidest thing now that I look back but it was done unfortunately I maxed out my credit limits on both cards. And then I just started paying only the minimum amount due each month. The interest charges were out of this world....Now that I look back at it, I would have changed everything if I could. My Bank of America Travel Rewards card limit was $22,000. It got cut in half to $11,100 due to minimum payments and sometimes I paid late-not 30 days past but late by a week or so. My BofA Cash Rewards card was at $7,800 and I maxed that out as well. It's been like that for the last few years as I focused on my mortgage and everything else and was just in depression from my breakup. At the beginning of this year, I said to myself that this was it. I would buckle down and get rid of this debt. Starting in March of this year, I worked overtime at the hospital, actually an abundance of overtime because we had a death in our family at work due to Covid and we were very short staffed. I worked at least 100+ hours each two weeks. Anyhow, I have been extremely dedicated since then and have been chipping away at my debt. Paying both cards at a time and all of my overtime went to both cards. I am OK with my mortgage and everything else and nothing has been ignored financially. I've cut out eating out, and everything else and just dedicated myself to paying down these two cards. Anyhow, I just wanted to say that my Rewards card that was maxed out at $7,800 since the beginning of this year is now down to a $0 balance!!! I made my last payment of $1,300 last week!!! The only balance left is on my Travels reward card and is at
$2,700 out if $11,100!! I plan on paying that off in the next couple months. I just wanted to say if you ever feel like you can't handle all the debt, stay calm positive, try to make a plan and be focused - and if possible, put your money towards your debt without compromising all of your other finances of course. I'm severely proud of myself. I've come a LONG way and the determination has gotten me this far. I never thought I would see these cards at a zero balance and one is already there and now I'm just waiting for the other!!! The reason why I decided to post for the first time and share my story is I've read so many stories on people that are drowning in debt and discouraged. It breaks my heart to read that because I was once there-in fact, this year. I hope sharing my story will help others if possible. I know every situation is different but I hope at least I can help one person ♥️
thank you so much!!!
Congrats. And if I read your post correctly, one positive is that you made it through this situation without damaging your credit at all. You might have dinged your BoA internal scoring a little (I don't know how that works, not a BoA customer), but nothing that would show up on credit reports. I'm sure it'll be a weight off your mind when the second card is paid off. Welcome!
Thank you so much for the warm welcome a and the message! Thankfully Bank Of America has been super great to me. I've heard a lot we're people said Bank of America is a terrible bank but I've been with them for almost 20 years and my credit was not damaged from this and they never reported me. They cut my credit limit in half but that was the severity of what they did. And I can live with that. But they've been the best to me so far.
@jazmynju wrote:Hello everyone. I am new to the forum and have just been reading everyone's credit hours during. Today I just wanted to share my credit journey...
Welcome to the forums! And thank you for sharing your very inspiring story. I know from personal experience that when you're drowning in debt, it's easy to feel like, "light at the end of the tunnel? WHAT TUNNEL?!!!" You've done an outstanding job of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and getting back on track.
I'm sorry your relationship left you financially AND emotionally damaged, but you've come through with flying colors. And we learn from experience, right? The next time someone wants to use you as their personal ATM, you'll be able to spot them a mile away!
@SoCalGardener You are absolutely 100% correct. I didn't think I would see light at the end of the tunnel but I did. I definitely learned a big lesson from this whole mess. I'm not one to usually do this but unfortunately I was just in a bad place at that time. Never again. Thank you so much for your kind words!!!!
And thank you to everyone who has supported this post. I'm still learning how to respond back! Everything is still new to me
@jazmynju wrote:And thank you to everyone who has supported this post. I'm still learning how to respond back! Everything is still new to me
Ha ha, you're welcome! We were all newbies once, whether on this forum or others, we all had to start somewhere. Just stick around and you'll get the hang of it. Also, feel free to ask questions--there's a board for that.
For now, here's a hint: when you're reading a post you want to reply to, hit the 'reply' button and then hit the 'quote' button. That will bring in, along with the user's name, everything the post said--you can delete unnecessary parts if you want.
Thank you for sharing your story!! @SoCalGardener --You are correct, we all have been newbies with credit!!