A rant and your 2014 goals?

[ksgirl38]

In response to the OP, I guess I don't see that. I was discharged in October 2012 and I got a new cc 2 weeks after discharge. I consider my BK a minor blip on my life and I wasn't going to let it discourage me from moving on. I have 1 major cc and 2 store credit cards and yes I use them. CCs are the single easiest way to rebuild your credit. I realize a lot of people after BK don't want to go anywhere near a cc, but I consider that a mistake. Things happen in life. What happens when you are left on the side of the road and forced to call a tow truck without enough cash on hand, or what happens when your car is totaled and you go to get a new car loan and can't get a good interest rate because you haven't rebuilt your credit, or what happens when you lose your job and can't buy groceries while you wait 3 weeks for unemployment to kick in. Imagine if all of this happened to you right after you were discharged and you hadn't built up your emergency fund yet. Things like this happen and I'd rather be prepared rather than stuck with the stress of trying to determine what to do next. Others may disagree, but I know I feel safer having a cc in the even that I need one. If you are afraid you will rack up cc debt again then you probably have a lot bigger problems.

[AngelinaCat]

7

In response to the OP, I guess I don't see that. I was discharged in October 2012 and I got a new cc 2 weeks after discharge. I consider my BK a minor blip on my life and I wasn't going to let it discourage me from moving on. I have 1 major cc and 2 store credit cards and yes I use them. CCs are the single easiest way to rebuild your credit. I realize a lot of people after BK don't want to go anywhere near a cc, but I consider that a mistake. Things happen in life. What happens when you are left on the side of the road and forced to call a tow truck without enough cash on hand, or what happens when your car is totaled and you go to get a new car loan and can't get a good interest rate because you haven't rebuilt your credit, or what happens when you lose your job and can't buy groceries while you wait 3 weeks for unemployment to kick in. Imagine if all of this happened to you right after you were discharged and you hadn't built up your emergency fund yet. Things like this happen and I'd rather be prepared rather than stuck with the stress of trying to determine what to do next. Others may disagree, but I know I feel safer having a cc in the even that I need one. If you are afraid you will rack up cc debt again then you probably have a lot bigger problems.

ksgirl38:

Do you not know how to make paragraphs, so as to make long posts easier to read for your fellow posters?

We keep trying to suggest proper paragraphing and line spacing between paragraphs. This is to make it easier for those of us who are NOT part of the 'two-thumb' generation that knows only texting.

Thank you for your consideration.

[Drazil65]

As someone that has bought, sold and built many homes over the years (2 marriages worth and job transfer to another state) just remember a house is just a building, its the people inside that make it a home. Never "love" a thing as that thing can be taken away as quickly as it was given. Unless you are paying cash and will own the house outright, then you are basically just paying rent to the bank for 20 or 30 years until its paid for.

Yeah, we had lots of equity in our last home (custom new only a few years old) until the real estate bust and the home prices actually went to a more realistic (what they should have been all along) number, poof, equity gone.... don't be fooled into believing the hype put out there by the banks...just sayin

[PhillyGuy]

Ksgirl38,

I am not saying to stay away for CC's. All I am saying is why do some people think they need 8 to 15 cards. I saw a post and they listed all the cards they had with limits, I believe it was over 20. Their reason was to build credit, all I see is them building more debt.

I am almost a year out and have raised my score on two of the three (one over 700) by just making my payments, which I have been doing for years anyway, even through the bk process. I have no credit cards yet, and in my eyes done a good job rebuilding my credit so far.

[mynameainttracy]

If you ever checkout the forums about credit cards over at the MyFico website you will truly see credit card and credit limit obsession.

[LadyInTheRed]

As someone that has bought, sold and built many homes over the years (2 marriages worth and job transfer to another state) just remember a house is just a building, its the people inside that make it a home.

Absolutely.

Never "love" a thing as that thing can be taken away as quickly as it was given.

Nobody gave me my home and it cannot be taken away very quickly nor arbitrarily. I love my home, but not like I love my friends, family and pets. But, I can love the home and still be rational when it comes to making decisions related to it, including whether to stay or walk away. If I ever decided I should walk away from my home, I would make my next home a home I could love.

Unless you are paying cash and will own the house outright, then you are basically just paying rent to the bank for 20 or 30 years until its paid for.

I strongly disagree with that. When you rent for 20 or 30 years, you have nothing to show for it at the end of that time period. My house is underwater, but not nearly as far as it was 4 years ago. It may not in my lifetime be worth what I paid for it, but I get closer to having equity with every payment and I can't rent anything equivalent for less than the cost of ownership. After the end of my 30 year mortgage, which will be about retirement age, I will have a fully paid off house. If I rented it, I would only have more rent payments to look forward to. Nobody can evict me from my house unless I stop paying the mortgage. While renting may be a preferable option for many, paying on a mortgage is not the same as paying rent to the bank.

[Drazil65]

LITR: you sound very rational and in the know when it comes to perspective, you are lucky. The point is for some people they are not rational and are clueless what it takes to "own" a house and create a situation of being "house poor" and end up right back from where they just came from, in bankruptcy. A lot of it starts with "rebuilding credit" and using credit cards again, they feel justified in their minds but should not even be thinking about getting into that mindset again.

All I was saying was do not get hung up on your credit score and hell bent on revolving your life around "buying a house", did not say don't buy one but don't depend on the false hopes of having equity (if you have great but for those of us that had a lot of it then it was gone it is a wake up call) for whatever reason in the end. Many do not realize that they cannot just pick up the phone and call the landlord when the furnace goes out in the middle of winter (if you cannot afford to pay the $3000 to $6000 without putting it on a CC then should you really be buying a house???).

It is not the all American dream that the banks would have everyone falling all over themselves to have. The bank owns that house and will own it until it is paid for free and clear period. But if the home owner loses that wonderful job or has a catastrophic event in their life all that house stuff can go down the drain very quickly. Many were devastated because that house became their identity in some respects and they could not be rational so they emptied their retirement accts or their savings etc. That is where the difference is, can you separate yourself from the object and make that rational decision in the long run.

People should go into these things with their eyes wide open and that rarely happens now a days so it does not hurt to take a step back for some people. I also believe some people use the "I want to buy a house" thing as an excuse for getting more credit cards. If you want to use credit cards then use them whatever the rationale is.

[Blossoms]

Absolutely.

Nobody gave me my home and it cannot be taken away very quickly nor arbitrarily. I love my home, but not like I love my friends, family and pets. But, I can love the home and still be rational when it comes to making decisions related to it, including whether to stay or walk away. If I ever decided I should walk away from my home, I would make my next home a home I could love.

I strongly disagree with that. When you rent for 20 or 30 years, you have nothing to show for it at the end of that time period. My house is underwater, but not nearly as far as it was 4 years ago. It may not in my lifetime be worth what I paid for it, but I get closer to having equity with every payment and I can't rent anything equivalent for less than the cost of ownership. After the end of my 30 year mortgage, which will be about retirement age, I will have a fully paid off house. If I rented it, I would only have more rent payments to look forward to. Nobody can evict me from my house unless I stop paying the mortgage. While renting may be a preferable option for many, paying on a mortgage is not the same as paying rent to the bank.

"Nobody can evict me from my house unless I stop paying the mortgage". Exactly!!

My husband and I rented a house before our current one, for nearly 8 years. Made all of our rent payments on time. Landlord got in over his head with buying around 20 rental properties, and fell into foreclosure on all of them, including the house we were living in. We decided to move out before finding out the house was in foreclosure. He never told us. I found out when he said he was putting the house up for sale, and I Googled it to see how much he was selling it for. I found it listed as a "pre foreclosure sale", and searched county records to find out it was in foreclosure. Got served by a process server from the sheriff's office a week later, as a renter of the house, notifying me of the foreclosure.

I also came find out that our landlord had had the house up for sale 6 months before we informed him we were moving out. I had no clue. He never said a peep to my husband or I about putting the house up for sale that time. He took it off the market when it didn't sell, then put it back up for sale when we we gave him our move out notice. If someone had bought it prior to us deciding to move, we could have found ourselves put out of a house we lived in for nearly 8 years, with only a month's notice, no money saved for a security deposit, and no place lined up to move to. I was out of work at the time, not getting any unemployment pay, so no way could we have found a new home to rent.

Same thing if we were still living in the house when it goes up for sheriff's sale. We could have found ourselves evicted then too. Yes, there's that new protecting renters in foreclosure act, but in my opinion, it offers little protection to renters. In comparison, look at all the programs that exist to help homeowners stay in houses that are in foreclosure. And how a homeowner can quit paying their mortgage, for any reason they feel like, and still stay in their home for 1-3 years. If I quit paying my rent, my landlord would file for an eviction within a week, and I'd be out on the streets in 30 days or less.

Nearly 8 years that we paid $500 a month in rent over what our landlord's actual monthly payment (mortgage, taxes and insurance) was. Nearly 8 years that we paid all of the utilities on the house,including water, sewer, and trash pickup, took care of the yard, and my husband did all of the maintenance and repairs on the house, because our landlord would do little to nothing. And what do we have to show for it? Absolutely nothing.

As Lady in Red said, I want a place where I can live in as long as I can afford it. Not be put out by some landlord's mistakes or arbitrary decisions. A place where I can see the financial benefit of any repairs. Can paint my kids' bedrooms. Can have a dog or a second cat if I want. Not have to answer to a landlord for anything.

I don't think people who have been homeowners pretty much their entire adult lives can truly understand how it feels to rent from a landlord for decades.

[Logan]

I agree. Cash is the way to go. I will only get one card and use it for small purchases I can pay in full or for an emergency's.

I use credit cards for everything I can and get about $100 cashback every month. So cash is the way to go if you aren't disciplined enough to spend within your means and pay off your credit cards every month.

[PhillyGuy]

I use credit cards for everything I can and get about $100 cashback every month. So cash is the way to go if you aren't disciplined enough to spend within your means and pay off your credit cards every month.

I am very disciplined, I have NEVER had a late payment (credit cards, mortgage, car payments, etc.) in over 20+ years of credit history. Even through the BK process, I made all my payments. Using credit cards to pay everything then paying it off in full each month is the same as using cash, I have no problem with that at all.

It is the user that thinks they need a zillion cards to raise their credit scores, uses them all and eventually is back into the same position.


In regards to home ownership, I view my house as a business. It keeps me sheltered, I don't own a very large house, so costs are low, so far repairs have been minimal. I have added a few little comfort items, but nothing crazy. Until it is paid off, I will be steady and not upgrade anything unless it is necessary.

As for renters, the eviction process is different in all states, I ass/u/me. In my case, the process is not cut and dry and it takes many months to get a renter out of a property. I owned a bunch of rentals in different states and been through the process many times.

[Blossoms]

I am very disciplined, I have NEVER had a late payment (credit cards, mortgage, car payments, etc.) in over 20+ years of credit history. Even through the BK process, I made all my payments. Using credit cards to pay everything then paying it off in full each month is the same as using cash, I have no problem with that at all.

It is the user that thinks they need a zillion cards to raise their credit scores, uses them all and eventually is back into the same position.

In regards to home ownership, I view my house as a business. It keeps me sheltered, I don't own a very large house, so costs are low, so far repairs have been minimal. I have added a few little comfort items, but nothing crazy. Until it is paid off, I will be steady and not upgrade anything unless it is necessary.

As for renters, the eviction process is different in all states, I ass/u/me. In my case, the process is not cut and dry and it takes many months to get a renter out of a property. I owned a bunch of rentals in different states and been through the process many times.

If you don't mind me asking, what caused you to file for bankruptcy, if you were never behind or late on any bills? Not trying to be rude, I just always wonder that, when I hear about people with good credit filing for bankruptcy.

[ksgirl38]

Lol

7

ksgirl38:

Do you not know how to make paragraphs, so as to make long posts easier to read for your fellow posters?

We keep trying to suggest proper paragraphing and line spacing between paragraphs. This is to make it easier for those of us who are not part of the 'two-thumb' generation that knows only texting.

Thank you for your consideration.

[ksgirl38]

I actually haven't seen anyone on here mention having 8-15 cc's after discharge, but maybe I've missed those posts. Guess it depends on if there are balances on those cards. I've seen several people think that just having the card will raise their credit if they aren't using it.

Ksgirl38,

I am not saying to stay away for CC's. All I am saying is why do some people think they need 8 to 15 cards. I saw a post and they listed all the cards they had with limits, I believe it was over 20. Their reason was to build credit, all I see is them building more debt.

I am almost a year out and have raised my score on two of the three (one over 700) by just making my payments, which I have been doing for years anyway, even through the bk process. I have no credit cards yet, and in my eyes done a good job rebuilding my credit so far.

[ksgirl38]

I use credit cards for everything I can and get about $100 cashback every month. So cash is the way to go if you aren't disciplined enough to spend within your means and pay off your credit cards every month.

I actually know a guy that uses his cc to pay all his bills - cell phone, electric, security, etc, then he pays it off every month and racks up the credit card points. I guess if you are disciplined enough and know how to work it you can actually make money.

[Logan]

I actually know a guy that uses his cc to pay all his bills - cell phone, electric, security, etc, then he pays it off every month and racks up the credit card points. I guess if you are disciplined enough and know how to work it you can actually make money.

Yep, that is me. I get 2% back on my AMEX, 1% on my Mastercard with 5% on certain purchases, 3% on gas with my costco amex, 5% off the purchase at target and lowes with their respective cards. I get $14 oil change and tire rotation with my tire choice cc and discounts on other auto maintenance.
I probably save/get back over 2 a year.
Logan