Credit Score: How Important?

I can’t help but be amazed at the time, effort, and stress people put into their credit score. On one hand I do see it’s a valuable tool, and like it or not will have some impact on your financial situation. Some employers will check your credit, landlords may want to check your credit, and of course the all important mortgage will give you favorable or unfavorable terms based on your credit. All of these things aside, I try to take the focus off of my credit score whenever possible. It’s not that I have a bad score, but rather I don’t like letting others dictate to me what I’m worth, which is precisely what the score does.

My brother recently began working on improving his credit utilizing one of the most tried and true methods: signing up for a credit card and dutifully paying off the balance each month. I think this is a fairly simple method that anyone is able to employ, and there are cards out there for everyone, even instant approval credit cards for bad credit. Simply sign up, get your card, charge a little (use discipline) on there each month and pay it off. This is the foundation of a good credit score, or so I’m told. Credit Cards Guru recently distributed a press release concerning credit issues in the UK as well as the US, which I found interesting:

“The USA and Great Britain at first sight can seem to be absolutely different countries with different history, political systems, customs and traditions. However, you can find several things that these two countries have in common. First of all, it is the English language.

The UK and America are both rather developed countries with high level of technical and scientific progress, high standards of living and healthy economics. However, do you think that Britons’ credit card habits are similar to American consumers’ ones?

Britons like Americans are active users of different credit cards. According to the research, about 78% of adult Britons have at least one credit card. And more than 3 million of Britons have 5 and more plastics.

The statistics shows that about 35% of Britons often use their credit cards for everyday purchases and needs. However, about 27% of British people prefer cash to plastics.As for young British people, they were born in the times when the credit card industry in this country was well-developed. That’s why younger UK generation gets used to dealing with plastics faster.

In fact, the situation with plastics in Great Britain reminds American credit card users’ habits. However, it is not the only aspect that makes the UK credit card industry similar to American one. British credit cardholders also suffer similar credit problems. “

Keep in mind that you only have to be as tied to your score as you want to be. If you avoid it as much as I do…pay for your cars in full, don’t take on debt unless absolutely necessary, even considering paying for your house outright. If you don’t have to borrow for anything, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever heavily rely on your credit score. Utilizing a credit card to your advantage, however, will ensure that if you do have to use it, your terms will be more favorable.