#9! We paid off my husband’s Capital One Card. Unlike the other cards, though, I did not cut up this one. It’s good to maintain one credit card and use it responsibly. For example, I could purchase some gas on the card monthly and make sure it’s paid off before the due date every month.
Yes, you heard me right. It’s my husband’s credit card, but it’s in my possession and I alone would be making the purchases. My husband knows this and seems okay with it… he shrugged his shoulders when I told him what I would be doing with it.
My husband’s credit score has now improved a great deal. When I met him, it was crap. Since then, I have been very proactive in taking over the responsibility of “house bookkeeper”. I have kept a binder of every bill that arrives in chronological order according to due date. I mark when those bills are due on my desk calendar. I make every payment on time.
Tonight he told me that, if it were not for my taking over the finances and being this proactive, he’d still be in bad financial shape.
At least now he’s listening to me and not fighting me on these things so much now.
I sound like I’m tooting my horn a lot, and I suppose I am. So to counterbalance that, I will admit that I am the one who is still saddled with the heavy balances. I owe about $8000 on my credit card, and about $5500 on my line of credit. I also have about $10,000 left in student debt. Why is this?
The student debt is self-explanatory, especially to those who have shared that same experience. The $5500 balance on my line of credit is due to all the financial bailouts I’ve given to our business when it was newer and struggling to get off the ground. The $8000 balance was due to a combination of factors… a fender bender that insurance didn’t completely cover, possibly another business bailout, and some unwise purchases my husband encouraged me to make so I could “live a little”.
A lot of times, we used my credit for things because I was the one who always had the “excellent” credit and the higher credit limits.
Now one of my husband’s credit scores (probably the Transunion one) has now crossed over the “excellent” cusp, while both of mine are hovering just under that. At least I still have “good” credit… but I find myself fighting a little envy and bitterness.
Like the elder brother in the story of The Prodigal Son, I sometimes feel self-righteous and bitter. I’d been working hard to do the right thing all along, and I tend to feel like my husband doesn’t deserve to have the higher credit score, or to have all his credit cards paid off, while mine are still bloated with oppressively high balances.
Yes, I am bitter, arrogant, and self-righteous. That’s on me, and I have to humble myself and go to God with that.
But my husband’s attitudes about money have are changing. He’s not fighting against me as I have taken over the finances. He has been willing, for the most part, to get on board with me in paying our debt off. He was not proud of his financial situation before, but now we can all breathe a bit easier, for if one of us has a lesser financial burden, both of us benefit in the long run. Also, now that my husband’s accounts have been taken care of, that means it is now time to turn my attention to my own financial health! I’ve taken care of others for a while, and now it’s time to take care of myself!