If you ever want to hear a good story, talk to a financial counselor. I know an individual who happens to be one and he told me the story of a woman named Beatrice. Beatrice’s father told her from a very young age that it was very important to protect her credit score. She had called my friend the financial counselor and told him that she had not eaten in two days; however she made all of the minimum payments on her credit cards. Those are some seriously screwed up priorities. Americans have been indoctrinated to worship at the altar of the FICO score, and it’s time for that to stop.
I have a credit score of zero, and I love it. A few weeks ago, I tried to pull my FICO score from Fair Isaac, and they told me that my score was so low that they could not even calculate it because I have not had any credit activity in over a year. The error message even went as far suggested the reasoning for this is that I might very well be deceased! There are a ton of ways to check credit report, but you don’t need to if you don’t have a score!
How did I attain this very low score? I do not borrow money, period. I have accepted that ‘no’ is an acceptable answer to my wants and that if I do not have the cash to buy for something I simply cannot afford it.
At this point many will be asking, “Don’t you need a high credit score to get a home loan, automobile loan, get a credit card or rent an apartment?” In some cases yes, but I don’t borrow money; I don’t mind explaining to the apartment manager that because I’m not deeply in debt I actually have money to make my rent checks. The only thing that a high credit score enables you to do is get deeper into debt. No one wants to be thousands of dollars in debt and in a very deep financial hole, but so many people do it because they have fallen for the myth that you need to have debt as part of your financial life. Many will try to get into debt by getting credit cards for people with bad credit otherwise, but is it really worth it?
The only way to have a high credit score is to be in debt for great amounts of money over long periods of time. This isn’t exactly a winning financial plan. The FICO score is based on your debt payment history, your amount of debt, the length of your credit history, the types of debt that you have and any new credit that you attain! As the famous financial counselor Dave Ramsey puts it, a “credit score is an I love debt score”.
Does my FICO score of zero indicate that I couldn’t repay a loan, or that I am somehow not good with money? Of course not, it indicates that I don’t owe anyone in the world and have not for a long period of time and that I actually have some money. You can keep your FICO score!
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Well I have a good FICO score and not because I’m in tons of debt but because I use my credit card for nearly every purchase and then I pay it off before the grace period is up. Since it’s a cash rewards credit card I make money doing this! Think about it.