I wouldn't even think of trying to "control" my wife's spending. She doesn't work anymore, takes care of our 4 year old full time, so she has lost a lot of independence. I see a TON of resentment with her friends who have husbands that monitor every little bit of spending. I just ask her to give me fair warning about any big purchases. I guess I'm fortunate to make a pretty good living so we don't have to sweat the small stuff at this time. We did for a few years and it really sucks. She knows our financial situation, and she is an adult, so she can make her own decisions. My limited experience shows that women who feel like their husbands are controlling them tend to get just a little frustrated over time. In the end, they will either shoot you or just fantasize about it every day.
What Pat and LizardKing wrote made me think of something. My husband and I started putting our $ together from when we were dating - I was 17, he was 21. Since we got married 13 years ago, we've never deviated from that - our money is our money - we discuss large purchases, and I'd never dream of purchasing something big without telling him (big to me is over $100 in non-essential stuff - fancy clothes that I don't have to have, diamond earrings -but if I'm going out and buying shoes and jeans - it's no big deal, not like I do that every day.). I can honestly say that in 13 years of marriage we have NEVER had a money fight about who spent what. The other day, my husband wanted to bid on something on Ebay that was $600 - he asked if I minded and I said 'nope, long as it makes you happy'. So he got it. He knows our finances and what's doable and what's not and where the $ for extra stuff like that comes from. We have several friends who keep their money separate - many of them had previous marriages and that may be a contributing factor, but to hear them talk about money, it's his and hers - not theirs. We were both brought up with both parents sharing money, so maybe that's why it works for us, but I just could never see my husband or me keeping an eye on the other's spending. To me, that would be like him saying he didn't trust me. I can understand if a spouse was a big spender - something would have to be done so to avoid financial ruin, but I can't help but think that if my husband ever told me how to pay bills or how to spend money, I'd be resentful. And my resentment would manifest in one way or another that would not be beneficial to our marriage. Maybe I've got issues that aren't of the norm, but I'd never allow anyone to tell me how much to pay on a bill or not to buy something. We're in this marriage together - bills and all - and everything is joint - and I couldn't imagine it any other way. But I guess it boils down to what works for individual couples.... But, I've got to admit, that when we fell behind on our bills several years ago, with what I know now, I only wish that everything wasn't joint - then both of our credits wouldn't have been screwed up so bad. So I guess there's positive and negatives to both methods. Hope I didn't offend anyone - was just offering my perspective. Ozzy.
60,000 salary 4,000 left on auto 1,100 left on student loan 2,500 left on child support 500 left on cc (down to one for emergencies - who needs more than one?) Anything extra I get goes to paying child support off first so I can get that off my credit report... I already pay over 1000.00 in child support per month, but who can really begrudge that? I wish I could give more. But I am getting ready to buy them a house too, which is what this is all gearing up for. (hopefully a lower interest rate)
$103K salaries & bonuses $5900 - my student loan $2400 - owed on my 3 CCs with total CL of $19700 $1100 - on husband's CapOne with $15,000 CL $3900 - BNY personal for when I was in school Only $325 minimum due on above, but paying about $2K-$3K per month so we'll be done in less than 6 months. No mortgage until Spring/Summer 2003. My car & his truck are paid off. Not counting the $3K tax bill we just got bc we'll pay it from regular savings.
Debt Auto Loan, $2500 Credit Card, $500 I'm paying the auto loan down at $200 a month, and will pay off all credit card debt off by the end of April.
Um.... maybe ya shoulda said spouse in place of woman..... <G>... makes it sound like all us women are dopey financially... or can't control our spending. Men can be that way too from what I understand. =-) Ozzy
my hh income is $85,000. My dh is the one who doesn't have a clue about money and has driven me to credit repair. He is currently laid off work and I am working and keeping our finances under control our debt 2000 cc 25,000 student loans 5000 car 30,000 balance on mortage we will be buying a new car soon and all cc balance except the 1000 he owes cap one will be paid off (because i will not pay it when he does not listen to my advice). just a view from the other side, so you all don't get twisted on the gender roles in money management!
Kirby, Try and make the Child support into a positive tradeline by saying paid as agreed. I have one CRA delete the entry (it will show back up because its on a 90 day tape), one CRA (EX) change it to a positive tradeline and one CRA I'm waiting on the results. Charlie
I love to hear other peoples stories! My debt in a nutshell: 24 years old 13K student loans 16K on car loan (damn how much is the payment on a 40K SUV?) 2K credit card Closing on a home in three weeks, will have 90K home loan. FH (we're getting married in September) 25 years old 25K student loans 16K on car loan 10K credit card Combined income of $85000
I am 28 years old and here are my current debts: Credit Cards $800.00 out of $85,000 available Mortgage $119,000 out of $128,000 orig loan amt. Lines of Credit $5000 (hinding in my Amex LOC) Having just bought my house in October 2001, it's hard keeping my credit cards @ $0 while still making my add'l principle payments on my mortgage. I am keeping all of my non-mortgage debt in my Amex LOC so it doesn't report to my credit reports. I just called Amex concerning my $6k bal. on my Blue still showing from Nov 01 even though the bal. is actually $85. I own my 99 Honda Accord and a 90 Dodge Caravan outright.
Hey Pat, This has probably already been discussed before, but nice TU score!!! Was it a one time fluke or are you still in that range? Would you mind if I asked some details of your file that allowed you to get that score and the reason codes you got. My other scores are in the range of yours but your TU blows mine away. Again, congrats! Pat's Scores: EQ - 734 FICO 699 CXPRT EX - 745 TU - 873
I've been gone awhile because of grad school, but I'll throw my two cents in here: I'm 24 and earn $27K/year. My debts include: Credit cards: about $12K (out of almost $50K CLs) Car loan: $7600, recently refinanced from 60 mos. at 11.49% to 48 mos. at 6.25% I really need to ask for that raise, LOL! Dear Fiance is 27 and earns $32.5K/year. Credit card: $900? He has crappy credit and thus only one Cap One secured card--good for damage control! Student loans: $19K, just brought out of default In our case, he's the one who's somewhat clueless about money management, but I'm getting through little by little, with help from all you Creditnetters, of course! When we get married, we will pool most of our money, but keep some "mad money" separate for each of us. DF still is paying minimums on his debts, despite my insistence that it's doing more harm than good. As for me, I try to pay at least 2-3 times the minimum on each card. My situation is helped by the fact that I have almost all my debt at 0-2% till June/July, plus $3K is "hidden" off my reports in an AMEX LOC at 7.74%. I just keep playing the BT game with my existing cards--for what I save in interest, the fees are more than worth it to me! This is a great thread, BTW!
Jason, No problem. This of course is the TU consumer score. It's current as of last cr, I think 2 days ago. It was actually higher by 13 points. Then I had an $1800 balance that reported on my Target Visa and they knocked my score down about 86 points. Number 1 reason: Too high of a balance on a retail card. But it's not a retail card!!! After the payment posted I went back up to the 873 and has been there for last 4 or 5 weeks. I have 0 derogs on TU, old closed and open tradelines, a mortgage (only shows on TU) and minimum balances on cc's. About 70k available credit. I don't have my report handy, I'll give you the reason codes and general makeup of tradelines when I get home.
I don't owe any debt... My car is paid All credit cards are charged off, I guess if I pay I owe about 2000 in CCs. My student loan is defferred about 13000 in it. No house note as of yet, my credit want allow it. But hopefully I will have one soon. Nothing more, I have been saving hundreds a month, because I don't owe any one. I guess this is good, but its also bad when you can't get a damn house, or a good interest rate on shit.... I make over 60k, I could pay off the CC's, but trying to beat the game. We will see, if I can't get these other accounts off ASAP, I am going to Negotiate something.
Laray, The mortgage payment is about $5700 per month with taxes. 800k at 6.99%. I live in Los Angeles, so don't get the idea that it's a real big house. It's only about 2700 square feet. Anywhere else in the world it would only be worth about 200k. The SUV comes in at about $750 per month. The $5700 a month is a big nut to crack, but my income is pretty high and it comes in REAL handy on April 15th each year. It's nice to start your taxes with a 70k mortgage and RE tax deduction. I'm only 34 and not sure how long this will last. But if I'm broke someday soon, at least I'll have some nice memories.
Hey Pat, Thanks. I figured it was the consumer score. It's interesting that they are counting the Target Visa as a store card. When you look at your report, see if it says Credit Card or Charge Card for that acct. I have a Target Visa as well and will look at my report. Was yours one that was converted from a store card or a new line? As far as your report makeup, it sounds simular to mine. A few high limit credit cards (16k-26k) with less than $100 balances reporting, a mortgage, one new tradeline recently (11/01 Sears), no lates, and a couple of recent inquires. I think my Sears was still showing $675bal/$3850cl the last time I pulled my score (it is now paid off). I'm pretty sure that triggered two "retail card" reason codes. I will pull my TU today if you would like to do a line by line comparison. I think it would be of value to start a thread that shows your high 800s TU and my high 700s TU (mine is currently 784 if I remember correctly) so that we and others can see what can cause a 100 point swing in two perfect credit reports. Are you game? One thing I didn't cover is my #1 reason code, length of time..... My oldest tradeline is somewhere just under 9 years old. Is your considerably older? I was thinking something like this. Card Type Opened C.Limit Balance Store Card 1 11/01 3850 675 Credit Card 1 3/98 26500 150 LineOfCredit 1 3/97 1000 0 Hard INQ 1 1/02 Hard INQ 2 11/01 Etc........ Let me know what you think. Talk to you later,
