Credit and Credit Scores: A short lesson - Page 8

Bartman387 · #71 12-27-2006, 10:39 PM

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Who gives a crap about your credit score? Pay cash for all, live without debt, and you're set. This is one of the craziest thongs out there. Being concerned about your credit score so you can be in debt forever.

Anyone heard of Dave Ramsey?

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Mortgage interest deduction...

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You pay more in interest than you get back on a deduction. But if you want to send me 10k, I'll send you back 2.5k and call it even.

Bartman387 · #72 12-27-2006, 10:41 PM

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Anyone heard of Dave Ramsey?

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If you'd started your post this way it would have saved me from reading the rest of it. Anyone with a college education - maybe high school, these days - should understand why going into debt is a good thing.

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Please explain this to me. I would like to hear elaboration.

Also, if you have fuctional eyes you should have been able to see that sentence while reading the first.

RacersEdge · #73 12-27-2006, 10:44 PM

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Who gives a crap about your credit score? Pay cash for all, live without debt, and you're set. This is one of the craziest thongs out there. Being concerned about your credit score so you can be in debt forever.

Anyone heard of Dave Ramsey?

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Businesses would be insane to not have any debt on their books, so if you can get more value out of an asset than you pay in interest, take the debt. The part I don't get is why people want to pay off low interest debt early. I would take a 100 year mortgage if I could get it.

punkass · #74 12-27-2006, 10:45 PM

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Who gives a crap about your credit score? Pay cash for all, live without debt, and you're set. This is one of the craziest thongs out there. Being concerned about your credit score so you can be in debt forever.

Anyone heard of Dave Ramsey?

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For most of us, we need a good credit score to get good home loans, car loans

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Why not buy a car with cash? Why not live within your means and save up? why make monthly payments on something that does nothing but lose value?

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Now you're just trolling.

RunDownHouse · #75 12-27-2006, 10:46 PM

JB,

I didn't say "a lot" of debt. I simply said "debt." If you're never leveraging what you've got, you're leaving a ton of assets on the table and enjoying a lower standard of living than you would otherwise.

Dave Ramsey tailors his advice for his main audience: idiots who have $30k in credit card debt and don't know what to do. In light of that, his advice - stop spending more than you earn - is good. But for the rest of us that can be responsible, you're better off taking a consumer econ class at a local CC than spending the money on his books, tapes, and whatnot. You'll learn the same things but have a deeper understanding and be able to handle your life without maxims such as "debt is bad."

Bartman387 · #76 12-27-2006, 10:51 PM

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Who gives a crap about your credit score? Pay cash for all, live without debt, and you're set. This is one of the craziest thongs out there. Being concerned about your credit score so you can be in debt forever.

Anyone heard of Dave Ramsey?

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For most of us, we need a good credit score to get good home loans, car loans

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Why not buy a car with cash? Why not live within your means and save up? why make monthly payments on something that does nothing but lose value?

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Now you're just trolling.

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I dont mean to. But, these people are talking like they need to get a car loan. Yeah, you need credit if you plan on buying everything you own on installment plans, but please explain why it makes sense to buy a car with credit?

RacersEdge · #77 12-27-2006, 10:53 PM

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Hey Ace,

What's a decent credit score? I was recently told mine was like 760, but I had a house go into forclosure in the middle of my divorce (it was PAID right away). I know that really screwed me up. Any ideas on how to get that taken care of? Will haunt me forever? I know no one is gonna believe it was my stupid ex-wife's fault (actually, it was my lawyer's who advised me to stop paying the mortgage until she got a job).

Anyway, what's a borderline score, an average score, a good score, and a great score?

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For FICO scores something like

680 average
700 decent
750 very good
800+ great

It seems like the cut-off for getting the "Tier 1" (best) rate for loans is somewhere in the 730-750 range - at least for cars.

James Boston · #78 12-27-2006, 10:54 PM

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If you're never leveraging what you've got, you're leaving a ton of assets on the table and enjoying a lower standard of living than you would otherwise.

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RDH-

I'm not really trying to disagree with you, but I am interested in your thoughts on the proper amount of debt. I, personally, have never been in any real amount of debt, outside of a mortgage, and my credit score is fine. I also don't feel like I'm living in a lower standard of living.

Bartman387 · #79 12-27-2006, 10:55 PM

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JB,

I didn't say "a lot" of debt. I simply said "debt." If you're never leveraging what you've got, you're leaving a ton of assets on the table and enjoying a lower standard of living than you would otherwise.

Dave Ramsey tailors his advice for his main audience: idiots who have $30k in credit card debt and don't know what to do. In light of that, his advice - stop spending more than you earn - is good. But for the rest of us that can be responsible, you're better off taking a consumer econ class at a local CC than spending the money on his books, tapes, and whatnot. You'll learn the same things but have a deeper understanding and be able to handle your life without maxims such as "debt is bad."

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The idea of not spending more than you earn is what kind of drew me into his show, but I do agree that he can be simplistic at times.

I don't own his books or tapes, etc. I just listen to his show and have perused his book at B&N, I didn't mean to sound like an echo chamber. However, I still wonder why not pay cash, and put the money you would be using for interest on things toward investments?

milliondollaz · #80 12-27-2006, 11:00 PM

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Is it true that if I have 10 credit cards but I NEVER use them that it won't help my score?

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Somewhat true.

One of the factors in determining your credit score is the ratio of available credit to used credit. Simply put, it would be a concern to a lender if you had $20,000 in available credit, but only had $400 out at a time. You could easily run up the other $19,000+ credit, get in a pinch, and default on the loan you're applying for.

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James,

I think you are wrong. The specific point I disagree on is that I think a low ratio of used credit to available credit is a good thing. So leave all the CC's open because they lower the ratio, and all things being equal, a lower ratio is better than a higher one.