the school system fails to teach students about proper money management. i know in high school we took econ, but the circuculm never emphasized about personal money management. but then what happens when high schoolers graduate? they start working shitty part-time jobs, rely their financial support from parents, and credit card companies are preying like vultures so they can charge them up the ass with high interest.
i say screw that noise. so i decided to do humanity a favor and discuss about your credit score.
basically, the government wants to know if you're good with money. can you save? can you earn, can you invest, can you pay people back if you borrow it? and this all based off one thing, your credit score!!!!!!!!!!!! repeat after me, CREDIT SCORE!!!!!! let me stress the importance of a credit score. it can save hundred of thousands in potential savings and is the determiner for approving loans and getting that house. so here are the rules to building up you credit score up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tom Tom's "Credit" Rules
1) don't have more than 3 credit cards. it looks bad to have too many. if you already have too many, don't close it, it even looks worse if you close it. keep each credit card active by making purchases from it once every 3 months.
2) don't open any retail cards, just don't do it! even though you can get 10%, off on that first purchase, the credit card is a ripp off because it doesn't have the same rights and regualulation as other legit credit card companies (visa, matercard, etc), and it it lowers your score. WTF! and they often charge a 20% APR, and is on your record for 7 years.
3) always pay your bills on time. even if you pay the minimum. it won't lower you credit. but it does when you pay the bill late. and if you do pay the bill late, you can always negotiate to waive the fee. i've done negotiated many time, and always had it waived.
4) try to get the best credit card fit for you. ones with low apr, with rewards, like airline miles. you can go to bankrate.com (one of my favorite sites). if you like to fly/travel, i suggest you open a united airline credit card. united.com or anything like that.
5) also, this is what your credit score is based on:
***Credit scores are on a scale from around 300 to 850, with 850 being the highest credit score possible. To give you a feel for the extremes, while the national average credit score is 692, only 13% of the nation's population has scores above 800. At the other extreme, roughly 15% of the population has a credit score lower than 550. In general, a good credit score is anything above 700. money-zine.com***
credit cards can be your friend or your worst enemy...
