How to Destroy Your Credit
Nobody wants bad credit, obviously. Since I managed to obtain very bad credit with hardly any effort, I thought it would be insightful to post an article about how I destroyed my credit. I had no bankruptcies, collections, failed ventures, nor credit defaults, and yet I destroyed my credit. How? Simply by not paying my bills punctually and not corresponding with my student lenders.
Credit History
To give you a hint of the financial knowledge I needed to gather, my parents had a loan with an interest rate of 18% on the home I grew up on for twenty years starting from the mid 70s. I’m not bashing my parents, but I’m just explaining how I became so naïve about how my behavior affected my credit and how much it cost me later. If one person could change his or her behavior on reading this article and do a bit of credit repair, I’ll feel rewarded.
Credit Card Hell
I acquired my first credit card while in college – a First Financial card. Those people are notorious for trying to extort students. I even had a bad experience just two years ago when my sister ran into credit problems. They were definitely unscrupulous elements, make no mistake about that, and I avoided them as far as possible. Well, I used this credit card to the limit and most often I didn’t even pay the minimum balance. I received one late fee after another and shortly my late charge topped $35. I should have been more responsible; this I realized when I read my credit reports and discovered the consequences. I continued to be irregular with my credit card payments and paid the price.
Student Loans
I changed schools in the middle of college, which created a big headache for me in repaying my loan. Both the schools were private institutions, and they didn’t bother to communicate with each other. I needed to acquire proofs of enrollment each semester from my new school to give to my old school so that they could extend my forbearance. It was a big headache, really, as I constantly had difficulties getting financial aid and convincing USD that I was still a college student. Consequently, they promptly began trying to collect on my student loan. I went through this hassle every semester and the whole thing damaged my credit. In trying to do some credit repair later, the only marks I could not remove were those by USD. USD even confirmed that all the marks were valid, when they were not. USD were the only creditor that reported back to the credit agencies. Strange, because I didn’t try to clean up my credit until much after their loan was paid off. But obviously I should never have run into such a situation.
Starting My Own Business
After graduating from college, when I had a better and steadier income, I didn’t pay my bills as regularly as I should have. I began a venture and reasoned that the money that went towards my business was not to be used to grow my business. The authorities banned our two popular products—ephedrine and andro—and soon enough we were out of business. My credit score read a dismal 480.
It should have been obvious to me that I was destroying my credit score and reducing my chances of getting a vehicle loan or house loan, but for some reason it was not. I should have paid off my debts at least for the sake of owning up to my responsibilities. Whatever the reason for my behavior—willful ignorance or plain stupidity—the outcome was indisputable – bad credit.
Steps I Took to Improve My Credit
I could have prevented this situation by taking adequate steps to track my bills and making sure I paid them duly and punctually. In hindsight, I should have learned online bill pay much earlier, as soon as the bank provided this option. In case I didn’t have that option, I could have put all the required things—checkbook, envelopes, stamps, pens, etc. — in a shoebox that was readily available. Rudimentary, but I’m sure I wouldn’t have been the only one.
Mercifully, I learned my mistakes well before I wanted to purchase my own property. I started my credit repair and fixed it before I applied for a loan. In conclusion, I would say that all it took for me to destroy my credit was a habit of irresponsibility, and all that it took for my credit repair was a habit of responsibility. I hope somebody out there learns from my mistakes and avoids big impending problems.
Credit History
To give you a hint of the financial knowledge I needed to gather, my parents had a loan with an interest rate of 18% on the home I grew up on for twenty years starting from the mid 70s. I’m not bashing my parents, but I’m just explaining how I became so naïve about how my behavior affected my credit and how much it cost me later. If one person could change his or her behavior on reading this article and do a bit of credit repair, I’ll feel rewarded.
Credit Card Hell
I acquired my first credit card while in college – a First Financial card. Those people are notorious for trying to extort students. I even had a bad experience just two years ago when my sister ran into credit problems. They were definitely unscrupulous elements, make no mistake about that, and I avoided them as far as possible. Well, I used this credit card to the limit and most often I didn’t even pay the minimum balance. I received one late fee after another and shortly my late charge topped $35. I should have been more responsible; this I realized when I read my credit reports and discovered the consequences. I continued to be irregular with my credit card payments and paid the price.
Student Loans
I changed schools in the middle of college, which created a big headache for me in repaying my loan. Both the schools were private institutions, and they didn’t bother to communicate with each other. I needed to acquire proofs of enrollment each semester from my new school to give to my old school so that they could extend my forbearance. It was a big headache, really, as I constantly had difficulties getting financial aid and convincing USD that I was still a college student. Consequently, they promptly began trying to collect on my student loan. I went through this hassle every semester and the whole thing damaged my credit. In trying to do some credit repair later, the only marks I could not remove were those by USD. USD even confirmed that all the marks were valid, when they were not. USD were the only creditor that reported back to the credit agencies. Strange, because I didn’t try to clean up my credit until much after their loan was paid off. But obviously I should never have run into such a situation.
Starting My Own Business
After graduating from college, when I had a better and steadier income, I didn’t pay my bills as regularly as I should have. I began a venture and reasoned that the money that went towards my business was not to be used to grow my business. The authorities banned our two popular products—ephedrine and andro—and soon enough we were out of business. My credit score read a dismal 480.
It should have been obvious to me that I was destroying my credit score and reducing my chances of getting a vehicle loan or house loan, but for some reason it was not. I should have paid off my debts at least for the sake of owning up to my responsibilities. Whatever the reason for my behavior—willful ignorance or plain stupidity—the outcome was indisputable – bad credit.
Steps I Took to Improve My Credit
I could have prevented this situation by taking adequate steps to track my bills and making sure I paid them duly and punctually. In hindsight, I should have learned online bill pay much earlier, as soon as the bank provided this option. In case I didn’t have that option, I could have put all the required things—checkbook, envelopes, stamps, pens, etc. — in a shoebox that was readily available. Rudimentary, but I’m sure I wouldn’t have been the only one.
Mercifully, I learned my mistakes well before I wanted to purchase my own property. I started my credit repair and fixed it before I applied for a loan. In conclusion, I would say that all it took for me to destroy my credit was a habit of irresponsibility, and all that it took for my credit repair was a habit of responsibility. I hope somebody out there learns from my mistakes and avoids big impending problems.
