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Sound Financial Management Can Improve Your Credit Score and Save You

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Terry Price

While some surveys show that 9 out of 10 consumers areunaware what their creditscore is, I'd like to quicklyshare with you how yourcredit score could be costingyou a fortune (in more waysthan you can imagine).

We all know a low credit scorewill make everything in theworld of finance more expensivebecause of higher interests ratesfrom lenders due to beingconsidered a greater creditrisk (i.e. higher interest rateson cars, homes and credit cards).While this may be consideredcommon knowledge by some, it'struly devastating effects areunderstood by few.

For example. If you purchase a$200,000 home on a 30 year fixedmortgage at 8% interest insteadof 6% (because of your credit score);that 2% is going to end up costingyou a total of $96,934.11 over theterm of the loan. Now, think abouthow many extra years you'll haveto work to pay off $96,934.11 because of an extra 2% in interest?

The part few people talk about is allthe other areas in life where a lowscore will increase your cost of livingon an annual basis. For example. In addition to paying more for a car,home and credit cards, a low creditscore will most likely have you payingmore for the following as well:

1.) AUTO INSURANCE. As many as92% of the 100 largest personalautomobile insurers use creditinformation to underwrite newbusiness, according to a 2001 studyby Conning & Co., an insurance-researchand asset-management firm.

2.) HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE. It'sthought many insurance companiessee a correlation between low creditscores and increased property insuranceclaims. Therefore, a low score willresult in a higher rates.

3.) LIFE and HEALTH INSURANCE. Customers who are unable to pay theirmonthly insurance premium therebypass along that increased cost to theinsurance company whose stuck withthe bill (resulting in a loss for thecompany). Since customers who paywithout lapse are more profitable itis felt by many that a low credit scorenow even affects a monthly life and/orhealth insurance premium negatively.

One of the more shocking areas wherea low credit score will you cost youis inthe area of employment. It's estimatedas many as 42% of employers now docredit checks on applicants beforehiringthem (according to a 1998 survey bythe Society for Human ResourceManagement).

While many employers claim they onlydo it to verify information on yourapplication (such as where you live andwhere you have worked etc.) we canboth assume they are taking the libertyto have a peek at how you handle yourfinancial affairs as well. Accordingto thePublic Research Interest Group (PIRG) asmany as 79% all credit reports containerrors, 25% of which are serious enoughto cause the denial of credit (accordingto a 2004 report).

And that's all the more troubling inlight of the increasing impact a badcredit report can have, says EdMierzwinski, director of PIRG'sconsumer program. "It's outrageousthat the credit bureaus are claimingtheir scores are accurate enough totake people's lives and screw withthem like this".

In the next segment we'll be talking about something very, very exciting.It's called...

"Insider Techniques to RaiseYour Credit Score... FAST!"

See you in a couple days...

Terry Price is the founder of Consumer Education Group which publishes "The Credit Secrets Bible". In print since 1994