The Credit Catch All
The Credit Catch All
Trying to go to school while starting a family is not truly the ideal path, however, it is where I find myself these days. The demands of having two small children and having to be in classes all day long, does not leave me much time for anything else. I get student loans and that helps, plus I do a work study during my free time at school and my husband works in the evenings. Still as hard as I try these days, I really can't make ends meet. I know everyone keeps talking about how the economy and how bad things are getting, well personally I can really feel it. About a year ago, in desperation I applied for a few credit cards and got approved. I was thrilled as we really needed a little bit of cushion and we had blown all of our savings moving for my schooling.
I made my payments, but just the minimum and apparently I came too close to my credit limit. Well, I really had no idea that if the interest and charges reached my credit limit that they were going to start charging me over the limit fees. I have always had good credit; however, I never came close to my credit limit before. I guess I probably should have done a little more to compare credit cards before I began charging on them. I had always used my American Express card for my purchases, which fortunately didn't have a credit limit and needed to be paid every month. I never realized a balance could get out of control so quickly. Fortunately, I was able to transfer the balance from that card to another card quickly and without getting too far into this scam. I have checked my credit score and all still seems to be fine, although a friend of mine told me to check back again in a few months because sometimes things don't show on your credit report right away.
If there is one lesson I have learned from all this is don't borrow money if you need it. I know that sounds pretty silly, but I really do think that it is only safe to borrow money if you can afford to pay it back, and if you can't then you really can't risk ruining your good credit. It seems like a catch all I know, but your credit rating is a very important part of your wealth and you must hang onto it at all costs.
