We need credit for everything nowadays, whether it's to buy a house, car or make a loan. As you grow older, your needs change and so does your credit. Analyzing your own credit can be difficult if you don't understand what it entails. This book will teach you the importance of credit and al the factors involved from credit scores, debt, credit cards and credit mistakes that contribute or can destroy ones' credit. In the end, you will learn how credit matters in not just the major decisions you make, but for the minor ones as well. Credit Is King and there is no better leverage to going your financial empire and building generational wealth.
A straightforward, simplistic overview of credit, it's usefulness, and how to improve it. As I got farther in the book, I began to realize this is mostly targeted to people in need of credit repair. The author has made an assumption that your credit is in shambles. Certain sections felt too short, but I think he wanted to make the presentation of this information as clean and quick as possible so it's easily understood by most people.
Notes: Credit is “the ability of a customer to obtain goods or services before payment, based on the trust that payment will be made in the future.” Put another way, credit consists of a loan being granted from a lender (or creditor) to a debtor, where the debtor is not required to reimburse the first party in full immediately, but can instead repay the money over a set period of time (2). There are several forms of credit that an individual or business can have, which are (3): Credit Cards Mortgages Auto Loans Lines of Credit Bank Loans Leases All the above types of credit fall into one of three categories: revolving accounts, installment accounts or open accounts. Revolving accounts are credit lines that involve different payments each month, depending on how much you utilize that particular line of credit. The amount you pay is subject to a monthly minimum payment and you have the option to push the rest of what you owe to the next month, subjecting yourself to additional interest in exchange for extra time. The most common examples of revolving accounts are credit cards. Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), which allow you to borrow against the value of your home, also fall under the umbrella of revolving accounts. Installment accounts have a fixed payment due each month. The total amount borrowed with an installment account is to be paid back over a set period of time and a set amount of interest is charged over the duration of the loan. Installment accounts include any loans on your credit report, such as mortgages, auto loans, student loans and business loans. Open accounts have a balance that is to be paid in full every month (4). There is no option to push your debt to the next month, no installment payments over long periods of time, and generally, no interest is charged (i.e., charge cards like American Express, cell phone accounts, and other home utilities). Since the balance in these types of accounts must be paid in full, they do not always show on credit reports
Chapter 2: What is a credit score? Your credit score is more important than your actual credit because to be approved for anything, organizations and lenders will look at your credit score first. That three-digit number sums up your financial behaviors to creditors. Your credit score determines how much money you can borrow and how much interest you’ll pay. There are different types of credit scoring systems and credit scoring models. The most commonly used and known method is the FICO score (which stands for Fair Isaac Corporation)(5). A FICO score ranges from 300 (being the worst), to 850 (the best) (6). 60% of all people sit between 650 and 799. The median FICO score is 723, with the average score being 678. If you fall somewhere in this area, you’re probably doing just fine, and shouldn't have to worry too much when your credit score gets checked. If you have a credit score under 400, you have horrible credit. A credit score of 400-500 is still very bad, so it is highly unlikely that you will do any better in terms of securing loans until you can raise your score much higher. A credit score of 500-600 is considered very low, but you might still get a loan A credit score of 600-700 is considered good credit, and you should be able to be approved for most loans, but your interest will be high if you are in the lower 600s rather than the upper 600s (7) A credit score of 700-800 is great credit and, barring any rare circumstances, you will be able to get any loan that you want A credit score above 800 is considered perfect credit.
Chapter 3: Credit scoring models & the major credit bureaus Credit scoring models are methods used by credit bureaus to evaluate your worthiness to receive credit. They are patterns of statistical characteristics used to determine a person’s credit payment pattern. There are also a number of other less commonly used scoring models outside of the FICO scoring system. You have Transrisk, VantageScore and the scoring model that most credit monitoring services use, which is referred to as FAKO score (8). There are three main credit bureaus that handle everyone’s credit profile: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion (10). Each year, you are allowed to receive a FREE copy of your three credit reports from www.annualcreditrepor.com.
Chapter 4: How is your credit affected? If you had a great credit score of 700 for most of your adult life, your score could fall by 100 points to 600 after just one missed payment (14). If you attempt to apply for a lot of credit in a short period of time, it can harm your credit score (15). To a lender, you will appear to be a compulsive borrower. The best thing you can do is check your credit score before you even think about trying to get credit. That way, you will know what your credit score is before you apply for anything, which will keep you from getting knocks on your credit score report (16).
Bankruptcy: When you go through bankruptcy, all your debt is wiped clean, but that comes at a very high price. That bankruptcy can stay on your credit report for as long as 10 years. On top of that, your credit score can fall by as much as 250 points (17). After going through bankruptcy, you can certainly rebuild your credit, but it takes a good amount of time to bring that number back up. Foreclosure: When you go through foreclosure, your credit can fall by as much as 200 points, so it can significantly affect your credit score. Foreclosures will stay on your credit report for 7 to 10 years.
Chapter 5: types of credit delinquencies The statute of limitations set a time limit with in which someone can file suit against another party. For debt, after reaching the statutory limit, it becomes what is called time barred debt (21). The statute of limitations wasn't designed for debt, which is why the laws surround to get remain a bit unclear (22). Pay attention to what appears on your credit report, and how long it has been there. If you find that a delinquency is still being reported, even though it should have been removed from your credit report, the law allows you to notify the credit reporting agency and have the error fixed (24).
Chapter 6: What makes a credit score Creditors use this number to determine whether or not they want to give you a loan, based on the probability of you paying in a timely fashion (25). Payment history: 35% of a total credit score is based on a borrower's payment history, which makes the repayment of past debt the most important factor in calculating credit scores (26). Amount owed or credit utilization: 30% of a total credit score is based on a borrower's credit utilization— more specifically, the percentage of available credit that has been borrow. Since FICO views borrowers who habitually max out credit cards, or who give very close to their credit limits, as people who cannot responsibly handle debt, a borrower should maintain low credit card balances whenever possible. The rule of thumb is to not utilize more than 30% of your available credit. Length of credit history: 15% of a total credit score is based on the length of time that each account has been open and the length of time since the account’s most recent action (27). it is not wise to close an account with a great payment history that had been reporting positively for 5+ years (28). new credit & types of credit used: Borrowers, even those new to credit, should avoid opening too many credit lines at the same time, since this sort of behavior might suggest that they are in financial trouble and need significant access to lots of credit.
For an FHA home, the underwriters would typically like to see at least three positive revolving line of credit reporting at the same time (29).
chapter 7: myths of credit cards You sure credit card with your spouse... you and your spouse have separate credit card files before getting married, and after getting married, those files do not merge (30).
I don't need to check my credit report if I pay my bills on time... you should check your credit report at least every 6 months (32).
Checking my own credit score will harm my score and incur inquiries on the report... this is completely untrue. There are two types of credit inquiries: a hard inquiry and a soft inquiry. A hard inquiries only generated when your credit is being checked for the purpose of obtaining credit from A lender or a bank. These hard inquiries can affect your score, particularly if many different hard inquiries occur within a short span of time. A soft inquiry, on the other hand, does not affect you or your credit score and anyway. You can check your credit score as often as you want and it will not cause a drop in your score, nor does it reflect negatively to and lenders (33).
Going over the balance on your credit limit is okay because the credit card company authorized to purchase… if you go over your credit card balance, you score can drop by as many as 50 once.
The credit bureaus are government agencies… credit bureaus are not government agencies!
Chapter 9: how your credit score affect your interest rates thanks set interest rates ( the APR, or annual percentage rate) based on the risk you post. The higher credit risk you appear to be, the higher interest rate will be. If your credit score is really low, you maybe tonight I completely (46).
chapter 11: debt to income ratio the debt to income ratio (DTI) is the percentage of an individual's monthly gross income that goes towards paying off their debts. This debt comes in two forms. the first form is called the front ratio of DTI, which shows the percentage of the income that goes towards housing costs, like a mortgage or monthly rent (52). The second form of the debt to income ratio is referred to as the back ratio, which is the debt payments that go towards your recurring debts (including those in the front ratio)(53). These payments include things like credit card debts, car loan payments, student loan payments, child support, alimony and judgements. The lower your DTI, the better it looks to the lender. The reasoning behind this is that the less you have to pay back each month on your debts, the more money you will have to pay for a long, which is also how they figure out individuals’ default rates (54). A great way to increase your income is your DTI is to increase your income. Lowering your DTI is possible and will drastically improve your odds of getting that dream home or investment property (55). It’s in your best intererest to stay below 30%, meaning that you have more income available to pay off your debts. This is when lenders become willing to lend you money. The worst DTI range that one can have sits above 45%. This means you are paying close to half of your income into monthly recurring debts.
Chapter 12: Establishing Business Credit By not spending time and resources on establishing business credit, entrepreneurs are missing out on the single largest source of lending in the world (56-57). Having separate lines of credit in your business's name makes it easy to keep your business expenses separate from your personal expenses. This means that when it comes time to file your taxes, you already have separate Financial records for business expenses and personal expenses, meaning that you will want to consult a tax attorney that specializes and individual and business tax preparation. To build your business credit properly and efficiently, your personal credit will also need to be strong as well. Setting up your corporate entity is the most important part of the business credit building process (58). Consult with a resident agent professional to see what type of entity is best for your business— either a corporation, C Corp, S Corp, LLC, or sole proprietor. You will want to set up a separate phone number other than yourself off. A free Google Voice number isn't easy option. It is recommended that you make payments for at least 2 or 3 months, which should be long enough for your business to have a paydex credit score ( the equivalent of a FICO score, but for businesses) (60).
chapter 14: debt settlement debt settlement basically means agreeing to pay your creditor less than the amount owed on your deck. Except in extreme circumstances, debt settlement should be avoid it. It will be a huge black mark on your credit score and the fees and taxes that you will pay might be the same as what you save by going into debt settlement (67). the IRS considers forgiven or cancelled that as income (69). For example, a person with $10,000 in credit card debt who negotiates to pay only $6,000 of the balance would have $4,000 in forgiven debt income. That $4,000 must be reported as “ other income” on line 21 of the 1040 tax form.
chapter 15: The Power of a Goodwill letter a Goodwill letter is a simple way to repair your credit report and it can be used for both Federal and private loans. The purpose of a Goodwill letter is to restore your credit to good standing by having a lender or servicer erase a negative mark on your credit report (71).perhaps most importantly, you want to craft a short and simple letter. Get straight to the point while telling your story. The people were doing your letter don't want to read an essay, and the easier you make their lies, the better (73).
chapter 17: credit card sins expect your credit score to drop if you ever reached the maximum amount on your credit card limit (81).
chapter 21: being an authorized user credit bureaus tree authorized user accounts as though they were your own, which is why it is so important that the user account any information it contains are in good standing (104). If you're a college student, someone new to building your credit, or just a parent trying to expedite the credibility process for your teenage child, the authorized user strategy is fairly common (105). If you are a parent and have established a positive credit history, this would be a good idea. It can also be a way to begin to educate your child about credit
chapter 22: disputing erros and delinquencies keep in mind that credit reports are only compile when they are requested by A lender (107). the first step and disputing a credit report mistake is to know whether an item is wrong or not on your credit report (108). Once you have established that an item is incorrectly report it, you can just dispute it (109). You can then contact the lender ( or collection agency) who reported the incorrect information. To begin with, you should ask them to remove the inaccurate information that is being reported. Asking the Creditor to fix the error may be the simplest approach, because if they agree that they made a mistake, they will be required to remove it from all three of the credit bureaus immediately. Going this route will save you the stress of going through the disputing process, which could take up to 30 days just to get a response. However, it is also important to note that to protect your legal rights under federal law, you must send a written copy of your dispute to the credit reporting agencies, not just a creditor.
chapter 24: identity theft approximately 15 million Americans have their identities used fraudulently every year (116). never reveal your social security number, password or other sensitive personal information to anyone by email that you cannot verify is a trusted source (117).
Different ways thieves steal may your information: Information retrieved from old computers or mobile phones. When upgrading to new technological devices, always erase your old data and destroy your old memory cards (119). Unsecured wireless networks. There are websites that list on secure wireless networks, called ‘ hotspots,’ with maps to the network location. Certain hackers, called War drivers, drive around with laptops testing and looking for unsecured wireless networks. Always be careful when using public Wi-Fi and secure your home and Business Wi-Fi with a password.
Must read by anyone that is even remotely conscious of their finances and how money and credit works. They dont teach the things in this book in school but now we have a textbook to pass on to our community to make sure we are knowledgeable and make the best decisions when it comes to credit. Great job Mr. Roundtree. #LeverageEverything
I enjoyed the book. It focused on poor credit situations amongst other possible situations however it was a easy straight to the point book. Personally chapter 13 sparked my interest because I have just ventured into opening my own business and that chapter went in detail on business credit. 4 stars from me
A very good read that explains credit in a way anyone can understand. I highly recommend this to anyone who's trying to get an understanding of credit, debt, and so forth.