Determining What You Owe
As the head of the household, it is your responsibility to ensure that your entire family’s needs are met. To do so, you must be very careful when it comes to the basics of money management. This is not something that will happen by accident. Rather, you must plan for it and work towards achieving it.
The first step is to set up your “office.” Gather all your bills, a calculator, a pencil, and your checkbook.
I also recommend that you take an old file to use for tracking your financial data and a shoe box to store paid bills.
Now you are ready to begin: Review all your bills and pay anything due within the next week. If you have upcoming bills you cannot pay, inform the company and request them to set up a payment plan with you. Print a copy of the “Debt Repayment Chart” or create your own. In the chart, list all your debts, including any auto loans, student loans, and credit card debts. Additionally, record the total remaining balance to pay all these debts, and the interest rate you are paying. For now, leave the fourth column of the chart blank and store it in your “Financial Data” file.
Eliminating Joint Debt
Before we set up a plan to repay your debts, it is important to consider some specific circumstances that may apply to you as a single father or mother. I will ask LaToya Irby, a credit and debt management expert, to share her expertise on handling joint debts:
Wolf: Let’s say the single mother still shares a credit card with her ex-husband. What should she do?
Irby: In fact, it’s best for her ex-husband to transfer his share of any joint balance to his own credit card. That way, everyone pays their own debts.
Wolf: What about keeping both names on the account and agreeing to pay part of the amount due? Is this advisable at any time?
Irby: No. If you agree with your ex-spouse to split debt payments on accounts that bear your name, and your ex fails to pay, it will affect your credit rating. If the ex completely defaults, creditors and collectors will come after you. Even the decision to divorce can’t change the terms of a shared credit card agreement. In the eyes of the credit card issuer, you are equally responsible for the accounts after the divorce as you were before it.
Wolf: What about other accounts, like utilities and mobile phones?
Irby: The safest thing you can do, if you have service in your ex’s name, is to cancel the account and re-establish service in your own name.
Finding Money to Pay Off Debt
Another thing we need to do before setting up a plan to pay off current debts is to find money in your budget each month. To help with the
Source: https://www.thebalancemoney.com/money-management-101-for-single-parents-2997424
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