Setbacks and Perseverance: Step 3

Sometimes there are set backs to a plan. For instance, my husband and I have been hard at work making sure we pay our bills on time, keep our debt low, etc. to improve our credit scores. However some things are definitely out of our control. One of these is a credit card, held by Chase bank, that was closed for some arguable reasons. Chase’s reasoning was total available credit on bankcards too low, too few open accounts with time greater then 24 months and average length of time since bankcards opening too short. Chase seems to be canceling many peoples cards for similar reasons, if you’re interested, check out the complaints here.

We were livid, to say the least. In the past 9 months we’ve paid this card off and have used it lightly about every 8 weeks to keep it active, then pay it off in full before finance charges accrue. I guess Chase didn’t like our plan since they weren’t making any money off of us. How this will affect my husbands credit score, we’re not sure as of yet.

On a more positive note, the same week Chase closed his card, Wells Fargo raised his credit card limit by almost the same amount that was lost by Chase. Maybe they’ll balance each other out.

On to step 3 of our plan:

• save a bunch of money

So far, we’ve been able to put aside a nice little sum of money, again due to my husband bringing in a new client. However, in today’s mortgage game, banks are tending to favor individuals who have saved the full 20% down-payment. No biggie if our starter home were to cost us $100,000. We’d have our 20% by early next year. Here in suburban Los Angeles County, starter homes begin at $220,000. And require a lot of work. Actually, some of the homes I’ve seen in this price range are cash-only purchases due to the dilapidated state they are in.  Case in point:

Starter Home in Los Angeles, Needs Work!

We might have to settle for an RV in a Walmart parking lot.