Ever wonder why you need a fresh start on your credit?
Perhaps you have no real credit history and you’re wondering why you need to build your credit? Or maybe your credit is really, really bad… bad enough that it seems like you’ll never get your credit back on track, and so you wonder why you should even try?
It wasn’t that many years ago that my credit took a severe hit. I had changed jobs (taking a huge pay cut), moved cross country, and it was nearly impossible to make ends meet. As a result, my credit suffered horribly… I had creditors calling my house at all hours of the day and night, was served with two small claims lawsuits, and owed my check to the payday loan place every week.
As for my credit? I was too busy trying to keep the rent paid, the lights on, and food in the cabinets to worry about that.
Fast forward a couple of years… I had been promoted at work, was making a good salary, had settled the lawsuits and was making payments, and I had used my income tax money to pay off the payday loan. And then, the car died.
So, I did what everyone does when that happens… I went to the local car dealership to buy a new car… and that’s when I first realized how much my bad credit cost. Instead of the 0% interest deal that they advertised on the radio, the only way that I was able to get a car was at a 14% interest rate. And it wasn’t even a new car – that’s right, my poor credit cost me that ability to even buy a brand new car. Instead I had to settle for a used car that was a little worse for the wear AND I had to pay a fortune for it.
That was the day that I decided it was time to improve my credit. Up until then, I had never even looked at my credit score, much less studied my credit report, or even tried to understand what it all meant.
What about you? Have you ever looked at your credit score? Have you studied your report? Do you know what those numbers mean? Even more importantly, do you know the effect that having bad credit has on YOUR LIFE?
(Has it helped? Well…last year, I bought my first house and the interest rate on my house is about a fourth of that 14% rate.)