April 9,2009
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Credit Score Drift, Pt.1
...gently down the stream...Just when we think we're doing fine with our credit card score, all of a sudden we find out we're not. What's up with that? Bad luck, entropy, etc.? These, of course, may be factors but there's certainly more involved with the extreme outside pressures closing in on us all. We try to decide the right things to do between using credit cards or using cash; spending or saving; opening credit card accounts or closing them. Just what is the right thing to do anymore? Therein, lies the crux of the answer. The truth is that those answers have always been adrift. In the past, change was so slow as to be unnoticeable over a year's time. It should be apparent to us all by now though, that has all changed. In fact, the drift has accelerated so greatly by buffeting strong economic trade winds that we now need to track this drift several times within a year.
So, here are a few navigational markers to help us all see where we've drifted to in the credit card world; which way we're headed and how to direct our course towards the more favorable credit card trade winds in a globally cooling economy. Since each individual's desired destination may be different, these guidelines should only be used to navigate toward the desired destination:
FICO Score – What's that?:
Do we even care about our credit card scores? If the answer is "No", then you may wish to stop reading any further. If the answer is "Yes", then you may have a lot to gain by reading further. If the answer is "I don't know", then it may be worth a lot for you to know how this may or may not effect you. The following article series' will provide some background and forward-moving guidelines: