My Credit History
No, I’m not about to list my official credit history from a credit report or anything…this is my history with credit, or rather debt. See, I am in reminiscence mode right now, looking back at what I have done to get to where I am and what I could have done better if I had actually known better! So here we go…
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….as I went off to college as a naive 18 year old back in 1991…Citibank had a booth at my college to apply for a college student credit card. I was engaged to get married, and my then-fiancee had a recent bankruptcy on his record, so he urged me to fill out the application. Since I hadn’t learned a better way, I took my personal finance advice from a bankrupt 23 year old known as said fiancee. I was approved, and never even felt the leg cuff being slapped on my ankle at the time. We used it and paid the minimum payments on it.
We got married, and then (I) applied for another credit card at the local bank. Then another one at Sears. And another one at JC Penney’s. And just for fun we (I) got one for the Beall’s store at the mall. And we kept paying minimum payments on all of them. And the balances kept hovering near the maximum credit limit at all times during that marriage. Some of y’all are already seeing the train wreck that I was headed for!
Fast forward to 1997, when I left the marriage due to some hellacious money fights and control issues, and filed for divorce. Guess who’s name was on all those credit card accounts? Guess who got stuck with all the credit card bills once the ex-husband decided he would ignore the divorce settlement and refuse to pay even a thin dime towards those balances? That’s right, it was me! Figure up at least six really bad black marks on my credit report, which stayed there until I cleaned up and settled with what I could from 1999 to 2001, when I bought my current house. One account had been sold so many times it was lost in the database shuffle.
With all the problems I had left over from my first marriage and the irresponsible use of credit and credit cards, one would think this should be the end of my little credit history. Well…getting burned with credit cards doesn’t keep a person from going into debt! In 2001 I got a mortage, then in 2002 I financed my car (finally paid off this past January!). Then last year, I either forgot about all the stress and trauma of credit cards and the barrage of collection calls I had endured, or I just got stupid again with all the debt myths about building your credit…and urged current hubby to get a credit card. Bring out the wet noodles! I deserve it. We (he) got an American Express and a Chase MasterCard not just to “build his credit history” but because we still weren’t living on a budget. BAD me! I was on track to do to hubby what my ex-husband had done to me…until I found Dave Ramsey that is! I am eternally grateful for that too, because I don’t think I could live with myself if I became the person I have railed against for the past ten years.
