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Isn't it interesting how things come together? I have been reading a lot about credit scores, due to my involvement in the Debt Movement. When you sign up for the free Debt Movement, you get free access to a program called the 14 Day Credit Challenge, offered by 720creditscore.com. It has been very educational for me. My credit score is (finally) outstanding, but I've learned lots of tricks and tools to keep it that way, and my voyage could have been a lot shorter if I'd had the information in this program. Just the 720creditscore program is worth way more than the energy to sign up for the Debt Movement.
I was going to write about this program as I got further through it, but then something else popped up and it seemed timely to write about it now. I stumbled across this fascinating article and infographic about the Techniques of People With The Highest Credit Scores In The Nation. It is written by the folks at myFico, the consumer division of the company that created the FICO score. You can read the full report, or just look at this nice little picture. (You might have to click on it to make it large enough to see clearly.)
And...it won't upload. Darn it. I guess you will have to click on the link to see it. Sorry.
There are a couple of things that I find very interesting about this story. The first is the choice of the word, "technique." At first, I thought that it was a poor choice, and that perhaps I would have used "traits" or "characteristics" instead. And then I realized that the word technique describes something that you can control and that you do deliberately, whereas trait or characteristic could be something that is accidental or out of your control. At that point, I realized that technique was exactly the right word, because the choice to have a good credit score IS something that you can control, and you can take deliberate steps to build and maintain a high credit score.
There are plenty of people who will tell you that credit scores are not important because you should never go into debt. I say that is silly. First, sometimes debt is appropriate. More importantly, there are plenty of other things that rely on your credit score.
If you have ever struggled with less than great credit, both of these sources of education will be very helpful for you. They're also great reading if you just want to learn more about how the credit score process works. Enjoy!
