In reality, which is the world I live in along with everyone else has certain rules. A few of those rules you have to go by if you want to be successful. Sure you can buck the trend, but by following certain rules you can succeed most of the time.

If you have good credit you can get loans easier, you can get lower interest loans and you can get a larger loan than individuals with lower scores.

As one of the last posters wrote, when you use credit you can actually get cash back. You don’t normally get a discount if you pay with cash.

Also you stated that people are going in debt to get higher credit scores. Well maybe you should do some more investigating and you would find out that most millionaires are in debt, but they utilize that debt to create greater wealth.

The old saying it takes money to make money is too true. If I can borrow $50K to $100K at 0% or near 0% interest and invest it making a guaranteed 5%, even after taxes and inflation that’s a net gain. If I try really hard I can work that number up to an easy 7-9%.

Using money to go into debt is a tried and true method of not only increasing your credit score, (assuming ontime payments etc) but also making money and becoming financially independent.

Your article was funny to read, informative… no.

Just because YOU don’t need to borrow money and just because YOU don’t understand how credit scores are caculated and YOU don’t know how YOU can benefit from them DOES NOT mean you should go around posting mis-information about credit scores.

If YOUR site is trying to offer finicial wisdom to YOUR readers, you are doing them a diservice.

Being IN debt is NOT the best way to get a good score. The BEST way is to have open lines of credit (like a credit card) that you use for daily purchases and pay in full each month.

You posted about saving $400/year by not drinking soda. Do you eat food? drive a car? If you use credit cards that offer 5% cashback on grocery/gas/pharmacy purchases when YOU spend 25% of your income, you may be suprised who quickly the “savings” rack up. Do you fly? Discover Card is currently offering 5% back on Airplane Tickers. Do you have a phone/internet/cellphone/cable bill? Citibank offers a card that gives you 6% cashback on these “technology services”.

You have over-simplified a topic that your clearly know nothing about. This is clearly a dis-service to your readers.

But really, you don’t need a credit score, the purpose of this article is to diffuse some of the “credit score lust” that is plaguing society. It seems like some people make the credit score seem much more important than it is.

http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/699516/

Same with a home. Even if you save enough to buy a home outright, your homeowners will be 2-3x as much also.

That is complete BS. I have an excellent credit score, and I’ve never paid a penny of interest in my life.

I hope the author of this article lives in a small town where a smile and a handshake is enough to get a mortgage, because in the real world a blank credit report will get you screwed if you ever need to borrw money for any reason (including buying a house). Good luck even getting approved for a cell phone.

CREDIT = GOOD
Misuse of CREDIT = BAD

I agree with this in prinicple, but until I own a house outright, I still like to keep my credit score high.

Nice looking blog.

Credit scores are not a myth, however. What a high credit score tells lenders is that you have a history of repaying debt on time, so you are a good risk if you ask them to borrow money. You don’t need to be, or ever have been, in heavy debt.

I have an excellent credit rating because I spand almost 100% of my money using credit cards that I repay in full every month. I don’t carry debt from month to month, and don’t spend more than I have – I just choose to spend using credit cards rather than cash.

If the need to borrow money ever arises, I know that, not only am I good risk like the author of the article may be, but others will know it as well.