| Accessories By Manufacturer | |
|
|
Email Newsletter
Get info on Sales, Events, New Products, and More!
|
|
|
|
|
| Your Credit Score: How to Fix, Improve, and Protect the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future, 2nd Edition | 
 enlarge | Author: Liz Pulliam Weston
Publisher: FT Press
Category: Book
List Price: $18.99
Buy New: $11.23
You Save: $7.76 (41%)
New (38) Used (19) from $8.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 60845
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2nd
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.8
ISBN: 0132254581
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.743
EAN: 9780132254588
ASIN: 0132254581
Publication Date: February 4, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Just about everything you need to know April 23, 2005
86 out of 96 found this review helpful
L.A. Times and MSN Money columnist Liz Pulliam Weston knows money and she knows credit, and in this information-packed, no-nonsense book she gives you just about everything you need to know about that "open sesame," that shibboleth of numbers, that Holy Grail of liquidity--your credit score!
First, what is your credit score and why is it important? It's a three digit number ranging from 150 to 950 (p. 16) that creditors use to determine whether you are a good risk. If it is low, they won't lend you any money, meaning you can't buy a car or a boat or a house unless you pay cash; and if it is somewhere in the middle, you'll pay higher interest rates than those with a higher score.
Second, how can you find out what your score is? As Weston explains there are three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion that calculate "real" credit scores (either FICO or NextGen). You can contact them over the Net or by phone (Weston gives addresses and phone numbers), but here's the rub:
"Congress recently did give US residents the right to get free copies of their credit REPORTS annually from each of the three bureaus. But that doesn't include the right to free SCORES; the bureaus can and will continue to charge for those." (p. 25, my emphasis) The point here is that you can get your credit report for free, but they won't tell you the score!
So I checked out some Web sites and found out that they wanted me to sign up for their credit monitoring services after which I would get my score, or I could get the score by itself for a flat fee. Since I found out my score a couple of years ago when I refinanced my house, I declined the offer. One thing I didn't like was having to give out my Social Security number to get the score. As Weston advises, under the heading of "Get Stingy with Your Social Security Number" (p. 108), you should "...keep your number to yourself. If the business insists that it needs the number, you can either do business with someone else or 'misremember' a digit or nine to protect your privacy." Hmm. Never thought of that.
However the credit bureaus mentioned above are presumably safe, and at any rate for most people there is no other way to get your score. (And of course, "misremembering" won't work in this case.)
Third, what information goes into making up your score and how can you improve it? And finally how can you repair damage done to your credit and lift your score high enough to get credit and good interest rates?
Weston goes into detail answering these questions. She relies on the experience of people who have been there and done that, and upon her personal experience as well as information culled from the many letters and emails she gets from readers. She makes "what makes for" good credit scores crystal clear.
By the by, it is interesting to note, as Weston does in Chapter 9, "Insurance and Your Credit Score," that bad credit can affect what you pay for insurance as well as what you pay for credit. She writes, "Insurers...believe credit is an excellent predictor of whether you'll file a claim--better, in fact, than almost any other factor, including your previous driving history." (p. 130) So what we have are credit-based insurance scores for all kinds of insurance, auto, home, health, etc. What insurers have discovered is that there is a strong correlation between low credit scores and high risk (for them). Although correlation is not causality, and does not in a scientific sense constitute proof, the insurance companies will tell you that they make money from those with high credit scores and lose money (through claims) from those with low credit scores. Weston even has some stats on pages 132-133 attesting to this fact.
Why the correlation? I think most people would say (and Weston makes this most reasonable surmise) that people who are careless with their money are likely to be careless in other aspects of their lives as well.
One more thing: you can get a fair idea of how credit worthy the credit people think you are by the amount of junk mail you receive offering to lend you money! I have a pretty good score and I must get fifty to a hundred offers a year. And of course I have no need to borrow; but isn't it always the case: those who least need credit are the ones who can most easily get it, and those who need it the most are the ones least likely to get it! Life is an eternal Catch-22.
By the way, another annoying Catch-22 of the corporate world is revealed by Weston as she quotes "Glen" whose insurance costs increased because his wife max'ed out her GAP card. He calls a number and is told that his credit is scored "according to how the insurance company wants" it to be scored. He is then told that the insurance company "can't discuss the criteria [because] it's proprietary"! Ah, yes, the old proprietary dodge.
Anyway, in this age of identify theft and other kinds of information fraud, this book belongs on the syllabus for Personal Finance 101, an ongoing, real-world, absolutely required course for all of us living in the postmodern age.
A complete and accessible plan for improving a credit score March 10, 2005
20 out of 22 found this review helpful
One of the most critically important aspects of sound financial planning is the establishment and maintenance of a sound credit rating. But sometimes "things happen" that result in damage to a credit rating. In Your Credit Score: How To Fix, Improve, And Protect the 3-Digit Number That Shapes Your Financial Future, personal finance journalist Liz Pulliam Weston provides the reader with a complete and accessible plan for improving a credit score that has been damaged through error, neglect, or debt load. Readers will learn what a FICO score is and why it's so important to their financial well being both short term and long term. Readers will learn how to lighten debt loads, cut credit card rates, review their credit history, improve their credit rating, save money, and employ a credit rating to their best personal and professional advantage. No personal or community library Money/Finance Management reference collection can be considered comprehensive or up-to-date without the inclusion of Liz Weston's Your Credit Score!
 Good - but could be better! January 26, 2005
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
This book is very informative and illustrates in simple terms what your credit score is all about. I read the book because I am in the market to buy my first home. I was seeking information on how the score was being calculated and what I can do to positively influence my score. The book provides basic information but lacks in detail. I have received more valuable insight from researching the internet and related articles than this book provided.
Wondefully concise book on your financial grade score January 26, 2005
25 out of 25 found this review helpful
Liz Pullman Weston has written a wonderfully concise and easy to understand book on "Your Credit Score", a poorly understood system used to calculate our financial GPA. She uses her expert paragraph and writing skills to give us an easy to comprehend, information filled book with good examples and follow-up reference material where needed. She has taken a topic and material that has been kept in the dark for years and made it understandable and manageable for the average individual. She not only defines and explains the "Credit Score", but also illustrates what can be done to improve it, no matter what your present score is. This is an easy to read, concise book that will benefit anybody at all interested in their financial health. Five Stars all the way!
Good news for the numbers-impaired November 5, 2004
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
As someone with absolutely no financial savvy (Thankfully, my tax accountant is only a phone call away) I found this book very helpful. The author spells things out in a way that even I can understand and dispenses information that everyone who's ever had a credit card should know.
|
|
|
Site by: Troy Peterson | |
