A Love/Hate Relationship: How your credit score can open and slam doors for you
There are many ways to get ahead financially: attend seminars where you cut up your credit cards with hundreds of other people, participate in debt consolidation services that help you take out a home equity loan or refinance your home, or you can transfer debt on one credit card to another credit card with an introductory rate of 0% (which goes up to 12% six months down the road). The reason these methods dont work is because we dont concurrently cut our expenses while implementing these strategies. Even if were making more money, unless we cut expenses, we will continue to spend more money than we have and incur debt. Manage yourself and your money. Money is like food; we dont eat only when were hungry, and we certainly dont spend only when we need something.
Beware: Debt forgiveness can hurt you. The company that forgives your debt can issue a 1099C, which means the forgiven amount gets added to your taxed income.
When theres a will, theres another way:
Your credit score (also called your FICO or Beacon score) will affect the interest rate youre able to secure. Credit...