31 Aug What Is Bad Credit? Why Should You Care?
What is Bad Credit?
Bad credit means you’ve been labeled untrustworthy like the boy who cried wolf. Lenders don’t want to let you borrow money, and if they do, it’s going to be at a very high interest rate. You look like a risk to them because you have negative credit history.
What makes for bad credit? Late payments or no payments are the biggest reasons why a person’s credit is bad. You might have a very good reason for what happened, but the scoring system doesn’t care. Until you repair your credit history and raise your credit score, you’ll have a tough time getting loans and lines of credit.
A credit score is a three-digit summary of your credit history. There are several companies like FICO that calculate credit scores. Generally speaking, bad credit means you’ll have a score of 600 or below.
A bad credit record can affect your ability to get a job, rent an apartment, or get a mortgage. The number of employers and landlords that look at your credit history is on the rise and having a bad credit score is starting to affect more areas of consumer’s lives than ever before.
Imagine for a moment that you are just starting a family, you are out searching for a larger apartment for you and your growing family. You find the perfect location with good schools and a beautiful park nearby. You take a tour of the apartment and you are absolutely IN LOVE! You go back to the leasing office to start filling out the paperwork and they leasing agent lets you know that they will have to do a credit check to see if you are eligible. You start to panic a little because you haven’t checked your score in over 2 years and you know you’ve had a few issues with late payments over the last couple of years. She gathers your information as you sit there starting to sweat a little… Finally, she comes from the back room, straight-faced, and says “I’m sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, unfortunately your scores do not meet our minimum requirements.” Your heart sinks a little and the leasing agent recommends a place a few miles away that might be able to accept someone in our score level.
This situation is embarrassing and almost unbearable. It’s not fair! There might be an option to get a cosigner, but that can put you in an awkward situation of having to ask a friend or family member to put themselves out on the line for you. It puts a lot of pressure on both you and them and is definitely not ideal. If something happens where you aren’t able to fulfill your obligation then you risk destroying that relationship.
But bad credit does not have to be a life sentence. There is a way to move out from underneath the dark cloud that’s been looming over your past credit history, and you don’t have to wait years for it to happen. Honore’ Credit Consultants will help repair your credit history, starting today. We’ll review your reports with you, and dispute errors with both your creditors and the credit bureaus so we cover all the bases.
Call one of our credit consultants today so we can discuss options for helping to improve your credit profile! (844) 967-3724