SWEEET!! Congrats Christine!!

Good point on medical debt!

I totally understand! Medical bills can be a huge weight for families. I usually recommend putting medical bills at the low end of your debt payment priorities, paying mortgage and car payments first. Also, don’t pay medical bills with credit cards! Most medical providers don’t charge you interest and they’re usually very willing to work out payment plans with you.

“look at the 6 months of savings in my savings account, the worth of my investments and the fact that I have no debt,” YES! I wish that stuff was reflected more! In theory you could be a multi-millionaire who used cash for everything, and then the one time you want to borrow money you look undesirable because of your lacking credit score haha… Not that I know any millionaires that don’t have credit, but still – it’s possible! :)

Your story is still one of my favorites we’ve run in the series so far :) Out of all of them it seemed like at least you had the most fun despite all the spending, haha…

Yes, but you’ll still snap pics of you in them for Facebook, right? ;)

I get emails all the time from people in their 60s and 70s who are just now realizing they need to start saving – so heart breaking :(

Ack really? NEVER??? Man, that’s harsh… I always thought *all* mistakes go away at some point, damn.

I totally agree that guarding your financial reputation is important but I always have a real problem with employers who pull a credit check before offering a job as it is typically not often a good indication of general responsibility. I almost didn’t get my current job due to a bad credit report. Luckily the HR lady asked me for details and I was able to explain that complications during my pregnancy and son’s delivery left me with unexpected medical debt which snowballed from there into not being able to pay my car payments or utilities on time. It just snowballed from there. Just one event can create a financial downfall that impacts one’s credit for the better part of a decade. Sometimes those with pristine credit scores but tons of open lines of credit and debt can actually be less financially responsible than those with medical bills in collections.

It has taken me a long time to rebuild my credit so that I look “desirable” to an outside party when in reality if one were to look at the 6 months of savings in my savings account, the worth of my investments and the fact that I have no debt, they would see more financial responsibility than looking at my credit report.