What’s your number? The Credit Report from HELL
I’m going to get my credit reports this week. I’m going to hunker down and face the awful truth. I’m going to apply all my newfound SuperWoman strength to repairing them.
And I’m never giving another human being control over my money or my finances again. Never. Again. NO debt.
I used to work. All our money went into a single account, and he paid the bills. God even knows if he paid the bills from our son’s birth. I’ll find out in a day or two when I find the courage to face the numbers. When the King of Everything was born, I couldn’t afford to work, didn’t want to leave the care and feeding of Boychild to someone else, and became a stay at home mom. The (ex)husband paid the bills.
Only, I don’t think he did.
Before you declare divorce, get to know your husband’s finances. Be sure you know all the accounts. Does he have any assets, bank accounts, etc. that you don’t know about? I’ve read some horror stories. Have a firm handle on your family finances before you drop the bomb. More on that later.
An article in the Washington Post (Climbing Out of Debt: Recovery Can Be as Tough as Addiction, October 15, 2006) has some great links for getting out of debt, and a few words of wisdom, too:
“The first thing you’ve got to do is face up to the problem. You have to ask, ‘why did I do that?’ ” said June Walbert, a certified financial planner with USAA, a Fortune 500 financial services company that caters to military personnel and their families. “But there are people who are not ready to face the music. They think if they ignore it that it will go away. That’s not the case. It only gets worse.
There are several useful links, which I will list here, for anyone in the same boat who wants to get back on track and build a good credit rating (think: buying your own house! Getting a good job!)
May we all be the Mistresses and Masters of our Destinies!
From the accompanying article One Step at a Time:
- We are all entitled to a copy of our credit reports, free, every year: www.annualcreditreport.com
- The Federal Government has some advice on how to select a credit counselor: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/fiscal.htm
- The NFCC (the National Foundation for Credit Counseling) sets the industry standard and has some advice for the debtor in all of us: http://www.debtadvice.org/
- For the Government’s approved list of debt consolidators: http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/ccde/cc_approved.htm
1 opinion for What’s your number? The Credit Report from HELL
Solo Mother » Hey, single mom! Where do you go for help?
Dec 26, 2006 at 6:38 pm
[…] Another general piece of advice I have is, fix your credit. There are several great programs out there for first time home owners to purchase and fix up their homes. But you can’t get anywhere if you don’t get your gold star, first. You are entitled to one free credit report per year, and I recommend you take advantage of it. […]
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