Credit

Credit is such a tricky thing. You get credit and you get it taken away, both in life and in education. Since becoming an adult I have discovered that your credit report, can both be your friend, and your enemy.

When you are on top of the world and everything is going grand, you have jobs, you have a house, everyone is healthy, and everything is going good, you can be on the top of the credit heap.

But what happens when you have a major medical issue, or you have to move due to one spouse's job, and the second spouse doesn't find a new job right away? Or heaven forbid you hit both of these within a year of each other like we did? Your credit report suddenly drops like a lead balloon, which you know and you have been checking by looking for your "free credit score" results.

No one out there wants to hear that the Air Force moved you away from your home, and that the spouse couldn't get a new job right away.

No one out there wants to hear that one of you had a major medical problem that caused days out of work on end.

There are days when I wonder who invented this entire credit situation to be set up the way it is now. I mean I know bartering was a form of credit but this is just crazy.

Should one borrow beyond their means? Of course we shouldn't.

Does it happen? All the time!

Does your life situation change even when you haven't borrowed beyond your means to make it suddenly be beyond your means? All the time.

People have dug themselves out of this hole millions of times and will continue to dig themselves out of the hole a million more times. It isn't easy and it is made even harder by some shady companies who buy your "debt" from the original company, who has just let it go and then tries to get you to pay them more than they should.
There are plenty of free credit score places out there to help the consumer stay on top of any misuse of their credit. This doesn't necessarily make it easy to fix mistakes though, for example you pay off a debt, but the company doesn't report to the credit agency that you made good on the debt, you have to turn the ball game around on them and harass them into doing the right thing.



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