In 2023, I sat in my car in a courthouse parking lot and looked at my credit score on my phone. 530.
That number doesn’t tell you about the joint credit cards that got run up during a marriage that was falling apart. It doesn’t tell you about the missed payments that piled up while we were figuring out who owed what. It doesn’t explain the collections accounts I didn’t even know existed until I pulled my credit report. But 530 — that was the summary of my financial life after divorce.
I’m writing this because when I searched “how to rebuild credit after divorce” back then, everything I found was written by people who had clearly never been through it. Generic advice like “make a budget” and “pay your bills on time.” Thanks. Really helpful when you’re splitting debt with someone you can barely talk to and trying to figure out how to keep the lights on for your kid.
Here’s what I actually did, what actually worked, and how long it really took.
First: I Had to See How Bad It Really Was
Before I could fix anything, I needed to know exactly what I was dealing with. I pulled my credit reports from all three bureaus through AnnualCreditReport.com (the only actually free one — not the sites that make you sign up for a “free trial”).
What I found was ugly:
- Joint accounts with late payments — We had credit cards in both our names. During the separation, payments slipped through the cracks. Neither of us was really keeping track of who was paying what, and the accounts paid the price. Three late payments across two cards, all hitting my report.
- Collections I didn’t know about — Credit card debt that I thought was being handled and a medical bill I never saw — both had gone to collections without me ever getting a notice. When you’re moving during a divorce, mail gets lost. These were sitting on my report dragging my score down, and I had no idea.
- High utilization on remaining cards — The cards that were mine alone were nearly maxed. When you’re suddenly paying for everything on one income, that happens fast.
- The debt split wasn’t clean — Divorce decrees say who’s “responsible” for what debt. Creditors don’t care. If your name is on it, it’s yours in their eyes. I learned that the hard way.
I made a spreadsheet. Every account, every balance, every missed payment, every collections notice. It was the hardest spreadsheet I’ve ever made because every line was a reminder of something that went wrong. But I needed it.
Step 1: I Disputed the Errors
Not everything on my reports was accurate. One of the late payments was reported for a month where the payment had actually gone through — it was just credited to the wrong billing cycle. The medical collections account had the wrong balance, showing more than what was actually owed. Small errors, but when your score is already in the 500s, every point matters.
I filed disputes directly through each bureau’s website:
This is free. You don’t need to pay anyone to do this for you. I wrote simple explanations of what was wrong and uploaded whatever documentation I had — bank statements showing the payment went through, the original bill showing the correct amount. It took about 30 days to hear back. The late payment got corrected on two of the three bureaus, and the collections balance was updated. My score bumped up maybe 15-20 points just from that. Not life-changing, but a start.
Step 2: I Got a Secured Credit Card
With a 530 score, nobody’s giving you a regular credit card. A secured card is where you put down a deposit — say $200 — and that becomes your credit limit. You use it like a normal card, and it reports to the credit bureaus like a normal card.
I put down $200, got my card, and made a rule for myself: this card is for gas only. Nothing else. I filled up my tank, and when the statement came, I paid the full balance. Not the minimum. The full balance. Every single month.
This was the single most important thing I did. Consistent on-time payments on a new account started building positive history immediately. After about six months, the card issuer increased my limit without asking for more deposit — that was the first sign things were actually working.
If you’re in this situation: Don’t apply for five cards hoping one will approve you. Every application is a hard inquiry that drops your score a few more points. One secured card is enough to start. Use it for one small recurring expense, pay it off monthly, and let time do the work.
Step 3: I Tackled the Debt
Between the credit cards and the collections accounts, I was looking at about $40,000 in debt that was solely my responsibility after the split. Forty thousand dollars. On a single income while raising a kid, that number felt less like a mountain and more like a wall with no door.
I looked into debt consolidation loans — combining everything into one monthly payment at a lower interest rate. I’ll be honest, with my credit score at the time, the rates I was offered weren’t great. But they were still lower than the 24% APR on the credit cards, so the math worked out.
I consolidated the credit card balances into one loan with one payment. Instead of juggling minimum payments across multiple cards and watching the interest eat me alive, I had one fixed payment each month. I knew exactly when it would be paid off. That predictability alone was worth it — when everything in your life feels chaotic, knowing “this debt will be gone by [date]” is powerful.
For the collections accounts, I called the collection agencies directly. The medical bill, I negotiated down and paid it off — they agreed to a lower amount and it updated to “paid” on my report. The credit card collection was harder. I worked out a payment arrangement and got it resolved, but it took months. Neither one disappeared from my report overnight, but “paid” looks a lot better than “open” when a lender is reviewing your file.
If you’re dealing with collections: always get agreements in writing before you pay. I learned that from Reddit, not from any financial advisor.
Step 4: I Built Better Habits (The Hard Part)
I’ll be honest — the bad credit wasn’t 100% the divorce. I had bad spending habits before. The divorce just made everything worse and forced me to finally deal with it.
During the marriage, I spent without thinking. We both did. Eating out when we could’ve cooked. Buying things we didn’t need because it felt good in the moment. Never looking at statements because ignorance felt easier than dealing with the numbers. The divorce didn’t create bad habits — it just ripped away the safety net that was hiding them.
Here’s what I changed:
- I stopped using credit cards for anything I couldn’t pay off that month. If I didn’t have the cash, I didn’t buy it. Simple rule, brutal to follow at first.
- I set up autopay for every single bill. Not because I’m organized — because I knew myself well enough to know I’d forget something and end up with another late payment.
- I audited my subscriptions and found seven streaming services. Seven. Plus apps, plus other monthly charges I’d forgotten about. I was spending over $450 a month on subscriptions alone. I cancelled everything except one streaming service and added things back only if I actually missed them. Most of them, I didn’t.
- I stopped eating out. This one was the gut punch — I was spending around $600 a month between drive-thrus, coffee shops, and fast food runs. Six hundred dollars. That’s a car payment. I started making coffee at home and packing food instead of hitting the drive-thru every day. It wasn’t glamorous, but that single change freed up more money than anything else I did.
The emotional spending was the hardest thing to get under control. When you’re going through a divorce, buying something feels like one of the few things you can control. Your marriage is falling apart, your living situation is changing, your kid is confused and hurting — but you can buy a new pair of shoes and feel something positive for 20 minutes. I get it. I did it. And it cost me.
What finally broke the cycle was looking at my bank statement and realizing that the money I spent trying to make myself feel better was money that should’ve been going toward my kid’s future. That hit different.
What My Timeline Actually Looked Like
Here’s roughly how it went. Your timeline will be different, but this gives you a realistic picture — not the “raise your score 100 points in 30 days!” nonsense you see everywhere.
| When | What Happened | Approximate Score |
|---|---|---|
| Early 2023 | Divorce finalized, pulled credit reports, saw the damage | 530 |
| Month 1-2 | Filed disputes, applied for secured card, made the spreadsheet | ~545 |
| Month 3-4 | Disputes resolved, first few on-time payments on secured card | ~570 |
| Month 5-6 | Consolidated debt, started aggressive payoff, settled one collection | ~600 |
| Month 7-9 | Consistent payments, utilization dropping, second collection paid | ~630 |
| Month 10-12 | Credit limit increase on secured card, debt balance shrinking steadily | ~650 |
A year isn’t fast. But 530 to 650 in twelve months is real progress. I wasn’t getting approved for a mortgage, but I was no longer in the “we can’t help you” category. I was back to being a person with options.
The people telling you this will happen in 90 days are selling something.
Why I Couldn’t Afford to Stay at 530
Here’s what a lot of credit repair advice misses: for some of us, fixing our credit isn’t about qualifying for a rewards card or getting a better rate on a vacation. It’s about survival.
I have a special needs child. Financial planning when you have a kid who may need lifelong support is a completely different game. A bad credit score means higher interest rates on everything, which means less money going toward their future. It means potentially not qualifying for housing. It means higher deposits on utilities and rentals. It means the safety net — the one your kid absolutely depends on — has holes in it.
Every dollar I was wasting on high interest rates was a dollar that could’ve gone into an ABLE account or toward planning for their long-term care. That’s what got me to actually do the work. Not some financial guru’s YouTube video. The knowledge that my kid needed me to get this right.
What I’d Tell You If You’re Where I Was
- Pull your credit reports today. Not tomorrow. Today. You need to know what you’re dealing with. It’s free at AnnualCreditReport.com. Don’t look away from the number — it’s just a starting point.
- Your divorce decree doesn’t protect your credit. If your name is on an account, you’re responsible in the eyes of creditors — regardless of what a judge said. Get your name off joint accounts as fast as possible. Close them, refinance them, do whatever you have to do.
- Get one secured card and use it responsibly. This is the fastest way to start building positive history. Pick one small expense, charge it every month, pay it off every month. Don’t overthink it.
- Dispute anything that’s wrong. Don’t pay someone to do this — you can do it yourself for free. I did. The bureaus have online dispute forms. Use them.
- Pick a debt payoff strategy and stick with it. Snowball, avalanche, consolidation — they all work if you actually follow through. The “best” strategy is the one you’ll actually do.
- Give it time. This is the hardest one. Credit repair is slow and boring. There’s no hack, no secret trick, no shortcut. There’s just making payments and waiting. Consistency is the whole game.
- Don’t let shame stop you. A 530 credit score after a divorce doesn’t mean you’re bad with money. It means you went through something hard. The score is a snapshot, not a verdict. It can change. Mine did.
What’s Next
I’m still working on this. My credit isn’t perfect, and I’m still learning — about credit, about money, about doing this whole single-parent thing without a manual. That’s actually why I started this site. I couldn’t find honest, first-person credit advice from someone who’d actually been in the mud. Everything was written by financial journalists who’ve never missed a payment in their lives.
If you’re rebuilding after a divorce, after bad habits, after whatever knocked you down — you’re in the right place. I’ll be sharing more about how credit repair actually works, the cards that actually help rebuild credit when yours is trashed, and something most finance sites never touch — financial planning when you have a special needs child.
Start with your credit report. The rest follows from there.
— Thomas