Thoughts on cards with balances in our economy?

[AMISLANDER]

Just some food for thought.

For the many of us who have gone through the bk & are continuing to rebuild credit....

My thoughts, two years post bk:

Are you really comfortable carrying any kind of balance on your cards due to job insecurity?

[OneDay]

ZERO balance is the only balance I will carry from BK day forward.

[DisneyGirl]

We're 5 years post BK and don't carry any balances on CCs. The state of the economy didn't have anything to do with our decision. The BK did.

[Stilltheone]

I'm not COMFORTABLE carrying balances on my cards, but right now, all of my cards are maxed out. Right after our bankruptcy, my husband was doing well at work. Within the last 6 months, he hasn't been. So, we've been depending on credit cards to make it through with food and gas.

I absolutely HATE HATE HATE that our cards are maxed out and feel like I'm back to where I started pre-bk. The only thing I feel good about is that our total debt owed is less than $5K....where as, before BK, we owed 60K.

[NoMoreCards]

I am terrified of carrying any balance on a CC. But I will use one for a 20.00 purchase once a month just to help rebuild, then pay it off at the end of the month.

Carrying credit scares me. I don't want to ever get in the mess I was Pre-BK

[frogger]

After we bk, I intent to keep all cc balances at 0.

[Never_Again]

No credit cards, or loans since bankruptcy a bit over a year ago. Job security has nothing to do with it. It is a lifestyle that I have chosen to lead, and am doing well with.

One has to wonder... if you were in trouble with debt before, and you get rid of it, only to work on "rebuilding your credit" immediately (in some cases, it seems, one day) after, aren't you just playing with fire? Sure, you have the discipline to do it right... why didn't you last time? I know, circumstances sometimes lead us to this path, but many times, no matter what has happened beyond our control, some things that we did have control over could have helped the situation. I am speaking to myself here more than anyone.

For instance, everyone knows how to lose weight. The formula is simple. Then why, isn't everyone a perfect weight? (I am not, just for the record.)

Decisions to take on debt after bankruptcy should not be taken lightly! Attention needs to be paid to the entire financial picture (cash flow, net worth, etc.), and not just the FICO score that really has no bearing on your total financial situation.

[aces67]

We have one CC and one loan. The CC gets paid in full every month and the loan payments are always made on time.