Credit scores...

[Guru]

 

[Siren]

 

[Guru]

 

[seXieleXie]

actually, i do know! the actual score is computed by a crazy complicated algorithm. you can score between 300 and 850. 739 is damn good, in the upper 30 percentile of the (us) population.

 

[Tropism]

With 739 thats an A paper loan; the lenders wont have any trouble with your loan as long as your debt/income ratio isnt too high.

 

[Guru]

 

[seXieleXie]

i'm working for a debt collections law firm this summer. i'm learning a lot about credit, it's actually pretty amazing.

 

[Guru]

 

[seXieleXie]

more income than debt?

 

[Guru]

 

[seXieleXie]

debt, it's the american way. as far as i can tell as long as you have what creditors see as good debt; that is, debt that you consistantly work towards paying off with on-time monthly payments, you're in good shape. after all, creditors make their money from the interest, so they want you to have some debt. they just want to make sure you won't have any trouble paying them along with your other creditors.

 

[Guru]

 

[seXieleXie]

well, the 0% intro rates bank on the idea that you're not going to roll your balance over to another card before the introductory period ends. if you can play that game you're pretty lucky. watch out for the contracts though, they may require that you not close the account until you've been with them a certain amount of time.

 

[Guru]

 

[Kasha]

Credit scares the HELL out of me. I haven't ever had a credit card...but I think I have bad credit. Due to the fact that my husband and I have been in school for the past few years...meaning we have had little to no money coming in. With no money comes no insurance and I have had some hospital and doctor bills I have been totally unable to pay. So when the phone rings...and the number on the caller ID says 800......(I know none of my friends have 800- number)...I know that some bill collector is calling to bitch at me about unpaid stuff.

What's weird is... I kept getting stuff from Capital One..saying I was preapproved this and that. I thought of course for awhile that it was some kinda computer glitch mailing stuff to me at an alarming rate. I mean I was getting like 3-5 things from them EVERYDAY. Finally, a couple weeks ago, some dude called with Capital One and gave me the whole "You've been pre-approved" spiel... I finally relented and answered his questions, but clearly stated to him.. I have BAD credit and NO JOB, and NO MONEY.. NO CHECKING ACCOUNT... He said that was fine..blah blah blah.

Can you believe I got a REAL life platinum card in the mail not one week later. Scared the living shit out of me. We will of course pay the whole balance every month...to get some kinda credit line going...but still I just can't believe that they would give me a card..... Crazy.

 

[Guru]

 

[seXieleXie]

kasha: see, you're smart. it's good that you don't have a credit card, you can't afford it. other people are not so smart, so when capital one rings them up, they sign on the dotted line and then they start racking up the charges.
pretty soon the principle and the interest are more than they can handle, so capital one takes them to court and sues them. i've only been at the firm a few weeks and i've seen it dozens of times. its really pretty sad.

 

[seXieleXie]

I'll read more carefully, but if we have a zero balance, who cares if the account is open?

is there anything in the fine print about minimum charges or anything like that? if not, they probably aren't making any money off of you. however, i can assure you that the VAST majority of people don't think that much about their finances until i have to call them up and inform them that unless payment is recieved within X number of days our firm will go ahead with the lawsuit.

that is my least favorite part of the job.

 

[Kasha]

YIPE. Well, we do have the card...BUT we will only use it for absolutely necessary things. My husband has gotten a really good job...well for around this horrible ass place. We have a 0%balance for 6 months. I figure since we have no credit lines out there, this will be a good way to start having a decent credit rating. But we have already set aside the money to pay the bill ahead of time so I think we will be okay. The limit is nothing substantial.. and I totally understand the whole deal of the companies making money off of interest and late charges... I suppose we will treat this card as if it were an American Express.

 

[seXieleXie]

YIPE. Well, we do have the card...BUT we will only use it for absolutely necessary things. My husband has gotten a really good job...well for around this horrible ass place. We have a 0%balance for 6 months. I figure since we have no credit lines out there, this will be a good way to start having a decent credit rating. But we have already set aside the money to pay the bill ahead of time so I think we will be okay. The limit is nothing substantial.. and I totally understand the whole deal of the companies making money off of interest and late charges... I suppose we will treat this card as if it were an American Express.

if you're going to have credit that is a good way to approach it. you and your husband are right in thinking that this will help your credit, but realize that it's a lot harder to build good credit than it is to destroy it.

 

[seXieleXie]

oh and guru, most credit cards charge you for ballance transfers, so rolling over your balance isn't always as easy as it sounds.