“Everyone” says you should get a credit card so you can establish credit.
Well, the truth is “Everyone” is Broke!! You want to establish credit so you can one day buy a house, right? That’s what most people believe they are doing or at least that is the reason they give for getting a credit card. I believe that it is the beginning of a cycle that ends up becoming a nightmare!
Why would you need to have good credit?
You would need to have good credit if you are planning to borrow money. If you do not plan on borrowing money then your credit score is pretty much useless. Can you buy a house if you have never borrowed money to establish credit? Absolutely! All you need to do is be on time or early with your rent for more than two years, maintain the same job for more than two years, have the ability to pay the mortgage you are trying to get approved for, and have a substantial down payment. Manual underwriting is when the loan company actually looks at your situation as opposed to checking your FICO score.
Can you survive without a FICO score?
If you went your entire life and NEVER borrowed any money, then your credit score would probably be a big fat zero! SO WHAT! All that means is that you have gone your whole life using cash and ONLY buying things that you could afford. It also means that you have spent WAY LESS for your stuff because you avoided interest payments! The problem with this in today’s world is that people want things now without having to wait or plan their purchase. They “need” it so they go borrow to get it. If you are a human being living in the United States you have probably used credit to purchase some pretty absurd things. I wonder how many pets have been repossessed due to non-payment?
To Borrow Never Again!!
My wife and I have vowed to NEVER, EVER, EVER borrow money EVER again EVER! We now understand that while it isn’t “normal”, it is more than possible. We currently have a mortgage and when it is paid off that is it!! My co-workers and even some family members swear that this is not plausible. The only thing they have to make their case is NOTHING! Their case is made for them by the simple fact that they just can’t comprehend owning anything big without having to borrow to get it. Then they say things like, “It’s going to take you forever to pay your house off!” If I lived like them and continued to borrow, and most of my paychecks went to paying off my monthly debt payments then they would be right! It WOULD take FOREVER!
No payments?
If you have no payments of ANY kind, your income becomes a very powerful tool! You can then afford to pay your house off in less than 10 years. You can then afford to pay cash for that car. You can then afford to do just about anything without it following you around for the rest of your life. Stop acquiring debt NOW, before you end up finding out why!! Forget about your credit score, because it only encourages you to BORROW MONEY you don’t have! Use cash and make sure you have a financial plan! Anything you can borrow to get, you can use cash to get without becoming a slave, and without making everyone but yourself wealthy!
In (Family is Important use Cash Only!) WE Trust!
We believe in our own F.I.C.O. score to manage our financial matters. We believe that because FAMILY is so IMPORTANT we shouldn’t use debt to set future generations up for failure, so we use CASH ONLY! Debt destroys families, DON’T let it destroy YOURS!
- What is the most obnoxious item or thing, you have ever financed?
great post!! you remember that girl I was going back in forth with a few months back?? I think she is going to cross over to the other side!!! yippy!!!!!!!
I dismantled the FICO alter in my living room a few years ago.
More and more people are waking up to the fact that the FICO is not a measure of winning. I won’t be worshiping my FICO score again until it takes on the halo shape of ZERO FICO, baby … 0.
If you want to really freak out a normal (aka broke) person, just tell them you look forward to the day when your I LOVE DEBT credit score gets to 0. It’s as if you said the earth was flat or Dave Ramsey has a flowing head of hair.
FJH
Welcome Fielding and thanks for posting! Glad to hear there are others turning on their FICO score because as you said it its ONLY an “I LOVE DEBT SCORE”! You are ABSOLUTELY right about peoples reaction to the thought of having a ZERO FICO score! A few members of my family insist that we must have a good credit rating as if that was the only way to live. I and many others are here to say “NO, THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!”
daveramseyguru.com <~~FJH's website, go take a look at it! I LOVE the soundboard! Hey Mikki!! You must be talking about the girl that was at the time looking to get rich quick, but just didn't want to call it that. Am I right? That is great news! It's always nice when people realize that society has done nothing but set them up for failure by instigating the "got to establish credit" mentality! We as a country MUST destroy that concept once and for all, for it is destroying families! In some cases the debt load that people experience causes suicidal thoughts, so my cause is very REAL! Let's SAVE America, ONE slave to debt, at a time!
Brad can you talk about the recession?? I got into an argument with 3 people today and I can’t win!!
The stupidest thing we ever financed was membership into one of those stupid Direct Buy places that we never used….
But then there was also furniture, tires, cars (oh, boy – we are still paying for that one!), camera, bed, theatre equipment, etc….
NO MORE! We will be buying everything with cash from now on! I am getting ready to write the check to pay off one installment account – for the theatre system, and it feels SOOOOOO good!
Brad – definitely let’s talk about the recession! Also, I saw a report on the best ways to use the stimulus check – one of the top ways is to use it to pay off a credit card – BUT the reason is this “it won’t do anything immediately to stimulate the economy in the short term, but it frees up credit for you to use in the future….” AUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
Great Blog, you rock Bro!
Melinda
Good Blog. I will continue reading it in the future. Nice layout too.
Aaron Wakling