Got Credit?

In this day of crashing economies, what difference does it really make, what your credit score is? The truth of the matter is simple: if you don't need to borrow money you are more likely to be able to. No one but those who need not borrow money have a decent credit score. Everyone has crashed credit scores, thank you very much Mr. Wall Street. Those who have money don't want to part with it.

It was once the case that if your credit score was in the neighborhood of 520, you could get a loan, but now no one will even talk to you if your score is under 620. They raised the bar just so they wouldn't have to help anyone. You need a higher credit score to borrow money today, at a time when credit scores are in the toilet. That is how banks and other creditors keep the rest of us in the poor house.

The whole credit reporting system is a farce anyway. No one is required to report business dealings to any of the credit reporting agencies and subsequently they only report the bad stuff, driving credit scores into the ground. If reporting is voluntary, what is the point? No one is getting a fair shot here, exept for those who don't even rely on their scores to live life. Those who have money aren't under a credit attack the way the rest of the working-class population is.

Who else wins this credit war? Those who will charge you money to repair your credit. Those businesses have sprung up out of nowhere and advertise heavily to those who have been hit hardest by the economic decline. Send us all of the money you have left and we will repair your credit so that you can get a loan to pay for our service. Is that crazy or what?

This is an age where businesses are creating the need for services we never knew we needed before. Protect your identity by giving us your money and your private information. We will guard it for you. We promise not to sell it out from under you. Buy insurance so that just in case... This is particularly scary when it comes to credit protection insurance.

When I was growing up there were very few forms of insurance products available: home, health, auto and life. Now there is insurance for everything you can think of; life insurance for your pets? Come on! What income do they have that needs replacing? When your credit was bad, you had to do the work yourself to repair it, not pay someone else to do some magic trick to fix it for you. And, your credit is kept low by the fact that you can be suckered into buying things like insurance for your pets. Waste money so you'll have to borrow more, but can you? Not usually, because your credit score is too low.

I am going through a crdit problem myself right now, because my bank refuses to report any of my business with them, and it is perfectly legal. They are not obligated to report anything, and as a result of that policy, many people are suffering from bad credit scores. Creditors only feel compelled to report the negative. I've been paying my bank for a mortgage for the last ten years, but my credit report doesn't even show that I have done any business with my bank. That hurts my score, just as much as negative reporting does. In my adult life, I have paid off many debts, but none of that appears on my report. No one seems to care that I have no car payment, or less than $3,000 worth of credit card debt. However, the couple of times I have been late on a payment, has these people rushing to report. It doesn't matter why I was late, just that I was, is enough to drive my score down. People say that you can submit an explanation on your file, but who cares? No one reads that stuff. They look at the score (number) and make a decision. They don't read your explanations.

The whole credit repair thing is just another scam. How are you supposed to repair your credit? By borrowing more and paying it back? That is crazy too. No one will lend to those who have bad credit scores and if they did, they still don't have to report that you paid anything back. Credit repair companies came out of the woodwork following the housing crash because of looming foreclosures, but no matter how much money one pays to a repair service, they are not going to get the loans they were seeking. That is the truth.

When the housing market crashed, credit repair companies started spamming the universe, looking for customers (suckers) to make their own fortunes. I never got as much email spam from home based business hopefuls as I do from credit repair companies.

Credit card companies can no longer solicit through th USPS, but credit repair companies can soak you and get away with it. They use the USPS, email and televison to pitch to you. Don't buy it! Believe me, if you do, you'll pay for it and get nothing in return.

Credit reporting should be removed from the picture all together, if it isn't compulsory , because it isn't fair and more and more people are being victimized by these repair scams. If creditors only want to report thae bad stuff that's all the are going to report and no credit repair company can change that. Don't BUY into it.

Everyone in this country, regardless of whether or not they make millions, should be able to borrow if they have the means to repay, and that should not be based upon a biased credit reporting system. The playing field needs leveling. I say abolish credit agencies or make reporting of the good and bad compulsory, not optional.

Kids, fresh out of high school are the new victims, buying into the old saying that no credit is just as bad as bad credit. So they flock to credit companies to establish credit and go into the hole doing it. That is setting our kids up to fail.

So what does your credit score mean? Not a lot. It means that you borrowed money from somewhere and that's it. It doesn't indicate whether or not you paid it back, it only reflects what your creditor wants it to reflect.

I believe that the bank I am about to sever ties with fails to report my timely payments as a way of keeping my credit score low enough that others won't loan to me so that I must do business with them. I'm not going to play that game. After ten years, I am going to look for a better deal. This is not a positive way to keep customers. It is like torturing detainees. It just makes them hate you more. It is not good customer service to hold your customers hostage. My bank has even gone so far as to bait me with, "You can always go somewhere else." Well, I think I will. That tactic lost them a customer. A long standing customer. I've been dealing with this bank for more than ten years and now they tell me that if I don't like how they do business to go some place else. That is the most pathetic attempt at customer service I have ever seen. Don't try to make her happy; send her packing.

Creditors will and have been using every means at their disposal, to avoid lending and keep all the money to themselves. Those bail out dollars are not working for you, me or anyone else who doesn't get a paycheck from the institutions involved. Those bail out dollars went to secure vacations and new cars; not for you or me, but for the very same people who wrecked your credit in the first place.

If your credit score sucks, so be it. Don't pay someone to fix it, because it won't do any good. My phone started ringing off the hook with people calling to offer me mortgage relief, but at a very high price. If I could afford to pay what they wanted, I wouldn't need relief, now would I.

Personally, I think that everyone in this country who has debt should refuse to pay it back, at least the interest part of it. That would hit 'em where it hurts. Capital One advertises the lowest interest, but the last time I checked, they were charging me the highest rate imaginable. (more than 30%) That, my friends, is false advertising. And do you know how they get away with it? By using your credit score against you. A score they contribute to and control. You have this interest rate because your credit score is low. They charge ridiculous interest and then cut your credit limit so that you can't spend anymore money. They are laughing at you and me.

When the market took a nose dive, all of my credit card limits dropped to a whopping $500. Never mind the fact that I had been making more than the minimum payment each month, they slashed my credit limit and failed to report how many times I maxed the card out and paid it off. Some of the credit cards I'd had for many, many years. When they jacked my interest and cut my limit, I cut up their cards and stopped buying things other than food. Then I discovered that I was locked out of my online accounts and was not being allowed to make payments online. Well, if that is the way I am going to be treated, I won't make payments anymore and they can suck it up. I don't care anymore. Why should I have to jump through hoops, waste paper by writing a check, just to give my money away? If they want payment then they should give me access to my account and let me pay online. Sorry Charlie, but I am not going to beg for you to take my money. Make it easy, or don't get paid.

Companies like this report only bad things anyway and since my credit has been damaged by their practices, why should I care if they get paid back? Do they care if my kids eat, or have a place to live? No they don't. They only care about the bonus check they get at the end of the year. Why should I finance their bonus?

Most people don't even know that credit reporting is voluntary. So don't be scared into paying someone to fix yours. They can't fix it. They won't fix it. They can't force your creditors to report anything, good, bad or otherwise. The government doesn't force the reporting of anything, so don't look to a credit fixer to do anything for you.

Then you have the knot-heads that blame you for buying a house you couldn't afford, but it was the bank that allowed you to do such a thing and now they are the one's blaming you for falling behind in your payments. They were supposed to tell you No, if the house you wanted to buy was more than you could afford. They didn't do that and now you are losing your home and you have bad credit so you'll never get another one. Back in the day, if you applied for a loan and your income was not sufficient to repay the loan, you were denied the loan. Not any more. There lies the cause of foreclosures. Banks did not do their due dilligence and are now blaming you for it.

The truth of the matter is that many home owners could afford their homes until the market crashed and they lost their jobs. Who, of all the people in this country has not worried about being laid off? The people who work in the lending industry, that's who. They got bailed out for crashing the economy and they blame you and I for our lack of employment and capability to repay on our homes. Three years ago I could afford twice the house I have now, but not any more. Unemployment sucks! I pay what I can, when I can. I can't do any better than that. My priorities are not to the banks, but to my family. I make sure they are fed and clothed before I make sure that some rich asshole gets his bonus check. The American consumer needs to look out for themselves, not the almighty banks. They are the ones with the money, and guess what..? You gave it to them. They control your credit value, not you, and you gave that to them too. If you thought it was difficult to get credit before, it is nearly impossible now.

The only way to fix your credit is to not ask for any. Pay for everything in cash. It will save you money in both the short term and in the long run. There is no interest charged for paying in cash. It will give you peace of mind as well. You won't owe anyone for anything if you use cash.

I say crash the credit market by not using credit. Payback is a bitch Mr. Wall Street. If you don't send them money, they can't spend it on themselves. No more bonus checks.