The hosts of the podcast debunk popular credit score myths and explain how to maintain a healthy credit score. They also discuss the importance of having a good credit score and how it impacts various aspects of life. In addition, they talk about DIY pest control, raising your credit score without assistance, and the impact of closing a credit card on your credit score. The podcast also includes beer tasting and a discussion about a favorite brewery.
Maintaining a good credit score is crucial for borrowing money, renting a home, and accessing various services.
Avoid credit repair scams and focus on managing credit responsibly to improve your credit score.
Closing unused credit cards can have a negative impact on your credit score, so it's better to keep them open.
Deep dives
Your Credit Score Matters More Than You Think
Your credit score has a significant impact on various aspects of your life, including your ability to borrow money, rent a home, and even get certain jobs. Lenders may charge you higher interest rates or refuse to lend to you if your credit score is low. Landlords often run credit checks and a bad score could affect your ability to secure a rental. Additionally, a poor credit score can impact your access to home internet, cable, and even auto insurance. It's important to prioritize maintaining a good credit score to enjoy financial benefits and opportunities.
Beware of Credit Repair Scams
Avoid falling for credit repair scams that promise to fix your credit for a fee. Many of these services cannot deliver on their promises and may even charge you upfront fees. They often claim to be able to remove negative information from your credit report, even if it's accurate, which is not true. Instead of paying for credit repair, focus on managing your credit responsibly by paying bills on time, reducing debt, and reviewing your credit report for errors.
Closing Unused Credit Cards Can Harm Your Credit Score
It's a common misconception that closing unused credit cards will improve your credit score. However, this can actually have a negative impact. The age of your credit accounts contributes to your credit score, so closing an older card may lower the average age of your accounts. Additionally, cancelling a credit card can increase your credit utilization ratio, as your total available credit decreases. It's generally better to keep unused credit cards open, especially if they have no annual fee, as it can help maintain a healthy credit history and utilization ratio.
Checking your credit score does not hurt your credit score
Contrary to a long-standing myth, checking your credit score does not harm your credit score. In fact, access to credit scores is now widely available, and checking your own score through platforms like credit card companies or websites like Credit Karma does not have any impact on your score.
Having debt can actually improve your credit score
Another common misunderstanding is that having debt will hurt your credit score. However, as long as you handle your debts responsibly and make timely payments, having a variety of loans and credit cards can actually boost your credit score. It is important to have a mix of revolving debt, like credit cards, and installment debt, like mortgages, to demonstrate your creditworthiness.
You know you can’t believe everything that you read on the web, right?! There are all sorts of myths, half truths, and straight up lies that can not only make us look foolish were we to believe them, but they can also separate us from our hard earned money and cause us financial harm. And it turns out there are a number of myths that pervade how many think about their credit scores. Some of this confusion has to do with the fact that different lenders reference different scoring models, so it’s tough to know exactly what is going on underneath the hood. But in addition to that there is flat out wrong information floating around that has an impact on how we view these mysterious three digit numbers- our credit scores. Listen as we tackle some popular credit score myths head on, and explain what you actually need to do in order to maintain a healthy credit score.
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During this episode we enjoyed a Hello World! by Spyglass Brewing - a big thanks to Gary for sending this one our way! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!