Bone In The Throat

Through my bank there is a portal to the Transunion Credit Bureau.

I sometimes look at the score, although it no longer has the meaning to me that it once did.

At one time I worked very hard to have a good rating. Then around 2008 or so, overnight my A+ credit rating simply disappeared.

I didn’t miss a payment, I didn’t open a ton of new credit, in fact I had done nothing.

What happened was a “Correction” because the banks suddenly realized that they had written a shit ton of bad loans and they were covering their asses, begging for money from the taxpayers, and in short screwing everyone by downgrading all of our credit even though there were a ton of people like myself who’d not used our homes like piggy banks and gone on spending sprees.

That day I realized that the whole credit score thing was bogus. Since then I’ve had a “whatever” attitude about it because the banks and the system can fuck us all anytime they want to. The recent bank failures are reminders of that.

This morning I was looking at my accounts, making sure that the bills were scheduled to be paid, and thought, “eh, it’s here and free, let me click on this just to look.”

I did, and my credit score is respectable, it’s not what it once was thanks to that morning in 2008 but it’s okay. At least I’m not obsessing over it like I was back then. As I was looking at the data on the web page, a comment jumped out at me and my brain rebooted.

“Having a low debt balance relative to your available credit signals to lenders you’re more likely to make on-time payments.”

That used to be called a debt ratio, it had nothing to do with on-time payments (they were a factor,) it was a measure of how much you owed versus your income, and real possessions. This was used to determine credit worthiness and your ability to repay the amount that you’d borrowed.

I know in this day and age when college loans are supposed to be paid by the tax payers and no-one is responsible for anything they’ve done, old ideas like repaying the loans you’ve taken out are passé. But there was a time when you could get into real trouble with credit and you only had two choices, get a better paying job, or bankruptcy.

What should signal to lenders you’re more likely to make on-time payments is actually right there on the same web page.

It Looks something like this:

Open Accounts – 5
Total Late Payments – 0
Accounts in Collections – 0
Inquiries (last 2 years) – 0
Age of Credit – 35 Years

Factor this data with the real assets I have, (equity – how much of my home loan I’ve paid off and current value of my home, for example,) plus my income, and a financial person should be able to determine if I’m able to reasonably take on additional debt or NOT.

You also have to factor in the cost of the loan. High interest rates for example can really screw your ability to pay the loan off. For reference see Debt Ceiling!

I learned this over time, the hard way. I wouldn’t take on additional debt right now because I’m a little close to my personal discomfort zone.

The way things are, I wouldn’t get the kind of favorable interest rate I’d want, so taking on additional debt is out of the question. I know this because I have a handle on my finances. The credit bureau isn’t telling me anything new.

Laughably, the bank and credit bureau would still give me a shit ton of credit which would be more likely to push me as an individual into default.

Financial institutions are supposed to be about profit and part of the way they do that is through responsible lending. Ideally a financial institution should be concerned enough about their customers that they take the time to explain why a customer should or shouldn’t take out a loan and that the customer understands the risks.

While foreclosing on real property does make the bank money it’s a pain in the butt. Unsecured credit such as that associated with credit cards is a losing proposition, if the bank allows a customer to over extend themselves.

Why loan someone a bunch of money you’re never going to get back?

That makes no sense unless the banks are inflating their losses then billing the FDIC somehow.

With interest rates increasing the way they have I’m betting there are going to be a lot of bankruptcies in the next few years. I’ve got some credit cards that are suddenly at 18%. I haven’t seen those interest rates since the 1980’s.

There’s a part of me that says pay off the credit cards and close those accounts. Logically you’d think that would be the wisest path because it limits your liability. But doing that would reduce your credit score.

That’s another part of the Scam. They force you to keep accounts open but unused because it inflates the arbitrarily calculated number.

I understand mostly how this works. I understand that the numbers are supposed to equalize us all and allow computers to make approve or deny decisions. I just have no faith in the numbers or how they’re created.

I suppose that why the noise over the debt ceiling makes no sense to me.

I’ve completely lost faith in the credit score system. Credit Scores are bullshit and have been for at least a decade.