With some old high school buddies coming to the age where they start purchasing homes, the topic of credit scores recently came up.
You know you’re getting older when you start talking about mortgage rates and credit scores!
It was actually a pretty fun conversation for me. I didn’t input anything (I got 200K+ in credit from age 21-23…I think I know a little about credit scores!), but just listening was amazing.
Hardly anyone my age has any clue what their credit score does, how it’s calculated, or what it affects. I was amazed. My friends are all college graduates, some with master degrees. Yet, very few even know, let alone understand their credit score.
Now, I won’t even get into Business credit scores, because that’s a whole other ball game (that most small businesses don’t know about either). But personal credit scores….come on guys. Let’s play a game….the friend with the lowest score wins…
I win!
Seriously though. Should I even bother caring about my score at this point? The last time I checked it, it was 471. And that’s before I had filed for bankruptcy. I wonder how much more it can drop…
For the normal post-college grad my age, it’s 3 digits that really matter. For me right now…I think it’s one of the last things I need to worry about. Someday, maybe someday I’ll want to look at my score again, but for now I think I’m OK being a credit score expert…with a terribly low score.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I feel you. At this point I have another three years to go on debt repayment and about $20,000. I don’t think I’ll even look at my credit score again until then. I own a house, I have a 2005 car and no spending till the debt is gone! What I don’t know won’t kill me in this instance and may in fact let me hang in there just a little longer…
I doubt you are alone when it comes to how much people know about personal finance. My parents suggested I get a credit card when I was in high school to start building some credit history. Before college, getting any sort of credit or loan is nearly impossible for a student. When you get to college though, these companies cannot wait to give you lines of credit and student loans even with no income at all. I think a lot of us take for granted the impact of these choices when we “grow up” and actually look at our financial situation. Granted my thinking in college was that I could “pay it off” when I got a job. I’ve been working for awhile now and can’t wait for my net worth to go up to ZERO.
When it comes to credit score, mine is usually in the upper end, but it has more to do with how much debt, credit, and variety of the two you have on your name. That three digit number has been given the illusion of so much control over our finances. Then there are people who don’t rely on their credit and just use money they have to pay for stuff. They probably don’t worry about their credit score so much, it doesn’t hold them back either. I was never exposed to that way of thinking growing up as I am now. Don’t worry so much about your credit score, paying off your debt is guaranteed to improve your financial situation much more than the score you have will.
the numbers can change so fast; if somebody gets sick and can’t hold, they go broke and their credit score goes into the toilet; if somebody gets a good job and pays off debt, their credit score starts going up.
my three numbers went up 100 points after I borrowed money from myself at my credit union for just two weeks! so you can see how silly credit scores are.
i don’t care what my credit score is. I care that I keep all agreements. But that’s it.