So Far Behind - How Do I End This Cycle?!

[snafu]

The crux seems to be getting DH onboard with resolving debt before really bad things happen. I'm guessing that DH eats lunch out rather than taking lunch from home which is the double whammy of costly and not very healthy since restaurants now use so much convenience foods full of unpronounceable chemicals. When you add up money spent on bills minus income how much is unaccountable cash spent?

Please understand I've no wish to hurt feeling, just outlining facts and acknowledge I'm not good at sugar coating bad news. 1st do you know your credit score? These are available for free once a year from each of the major credit reporters. It's simple to get one report each quarter like September/December/March/June on-line. How much are you paying in interest charges every month? Does DH remember what he charged on that 8 y/o CC?

We understand DH's thinking but he needs to get past his self indulgent attitude and realistically look at 2014 and the mess he's made with 8 y/o CC debt, an expensive truck, a SUV you can't afford and his 'toy' Mustang. He's let you down, handed you the responsibility of two small children without the income required to balance the expenses he's incurred. I see no evidence that he knows whether he is reimbursed the full sum he pays in work related transportation costs. Using his vehicle is more than gas, it's regular maintenance like oil changes, depreciation, repairs and extra loss for high mileage. He could be driving the lowest cost, appropriate equipped vehicle that carries out the tasks needed.

You've been offered terrific suggestions to turn your situation around but will DH thwart every attempt?

[disneysteve]

1st do you know your credit score? These are available for free once a year from each of the major credit reporters.

Just to be clear, you can get your credit REPORT for free, not your credit SCORE.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Just to be clear, you can get your credit REPORT for free, not your credit SCORE.

Go to creditkarma.com and sign up and they will give an estimated credit score alongside your credit report. It's run by Transunion I think. It's not 100% your credit score but it's good enough. Credit scores are overrated anyway.

It's basically just a tool to make sure you don't have anything out there that shouldn't be out there, as well as improving your score should that be a goal of yours.

[Eagle]

Go to creditkarma.com and sign up and they will give an estimated credit score alongside your credit report. It's run by Transunion I think. It's not 100% your credit score but it's good enough. Credit scores are overrated anyway.

It's basically just a tool to make sure you don't have anything out there that shouldn't be out there, as well as improving your score should that be a goal of yours.

I agree there are a few sites where you can get your TransUnion credit report on-demand, as often as you like, by establishing an account at sites like Credit Karma: www.creditkarma.com

See the "Full Credit Report" menu item under the "My Finances" tab on your Credit Karma account home page. Note that the "credit score" that is available for free at Credit Karma is a Vantage score, not a FICO score, so don't rely on it.

Other sites like www.bankrate.com and www.credit.com also offer similar services for a free credit report.

Note that you if want your actual credit score different from a report, then you have to pay for it. The defacto credit score in the U.S. that 90% of companies use is a FICO score, which you can obtain here:

https://www.myfico.com

This is not free. You have to pay for this. It's normally $20, but they often have 20% and 25% sales, so if you need to pull your actual FICO score, just wait for a sale. I think it’s probably a good investment to get your actual FICO score once a year. At least it is to me anyway.

The two credit cards from whom you can get your free TransUnion FICO score now are Discover Card and BarclayCard.

[Eagle]

Just to be clear, you can get your credit REPORT for free, not your credit SCORE.

I agree. Credit reports are free, but credit scores are not.

Many people are unaware that they are legally entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each of the three credit bureaus once per year. Notice you are entitled to your credit report and not your credit score. I recommend getting your free credit reports here and only here:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com

I do NOT recommend going to sites like freecreditreport.com as I believe the site to be a scam.

Since you're allowed to get a free report once per year from each of the 3 bureaus, I recommend that you stagger the reports at 4-month intervals. So for example, get your Equifax report in January or February, your TransUnion report in May or June, and your Experian report in September or October. One way to remember this is to create a calendar entry on your smart phone or computer calendar app. Or if you are more old school write it down in your yearly calendar.

This month we pulled my Equifax report credit report. We also pulled my wife’s TransUnion. It took less than ten minutes to do so. All we had to do was fill out some information and answer questions to confirm our identity.

Of interest Sallie Mae and auto dealer Hyundai also now give students and customers free access to their credit scores on their monthly statements for student and car loans.

I probably should just start a new thread in order not to derail this one further. See this thread:

Credit Reports, Credit Scores, and Getting them FREE

[Randomsaver]

All these could be overwhelming.

I'd suggest baby steps like :

1) Replace the pick-up with another to where you are only paying half of current bill.

and

2) Remove the home phone and cable. Stick to just internet and cell phones.

See if the above are doable before the year ends.