One Card Down

Courtesy Pixabay

Yesterday we had our income tax return deposited into our bank account and it allowed us to pay off one of the credit cards. That was a very gratifying moment. It was a long time coming but it marks an important step in overcoming our not so long ago financial disaster and subsequent bankruptcy.

Declaring bankruptcy is no fun and is best avoided. Unfortunately most people who do haven't been given any workable alternatives. We were determined that it not be the end of the world. Credit can be rebuilt and through working for Capital One I learned a great deal about how to go about it. I learned through additional self study online. It is my intention to write a series of short articles or blog posts to tell what we did and why, because I think it can be helpful for a lot of other people.

The card we paid off was the Capital One card I applied for specifically for rebuilding credit. Now that we've paid it off, it has reached the end of its usefulness to me. It is helpful to have two credit products in play but we picked up a third one last year when we bought the family minivan. My credit score at this point in time is excellent (well above 800 possibly close to 900). It is not possible to build it higher anymore. The only ways for me to have better credit worthiness is to make more money and have the bankruptcy drop off my report (which can only happen with time). There is no remaining reason to keep holding the card. There are several good reasons to get rid of it. I'll deal with that in the course of those articles.

This isn't to say that we aren't struggling with more debt than we're comfortable with. I'd really like to clear it all off. There are other things I'd like to be working toward. Becoming a credit guru isn't anything I aspire to. Still I've learned a lot traveling this bumpy road. Hopefully our experience can be a blessing for someone else.