Why Good Credit is more important than Money!

Today, I had lunch with one of my Money Management clients. I went over the results of her Financial Evaluation. She was “shocked” at my findings.

I basically explained to her, that she was loosing over $5,000 a year due to low credit scores. She is a professional woman with a low 600 FICO score. After college, she carried some understandable debt and made her payments on time. But after purchasing a home and other items she started falling behind on some of her bills.

This is when her scores started to decrease. Her credit card interest rates jumped up, some over 20%, her car and homeowners insurance increased, and she experienced outrageous bank fees and over draft charges.

I know many of us get into situations where we can’t pay things on time and late fees are unavoidable. However, when you do have the money pay more than the amount due to the next dollar. For instance, if a bills $106.24, pay $107. You may think this doesn’t matter but it does. If you ever fall behind, it will show that you usually pay your bill on time and more than the amount due. Creditors will normally waive the fees. Also create and stick to a monthly budget, learn about credit bureaus and reports. Try very hard to keep your FICO scores above 680 and keep your debt as low as possible.

Now SCORE big!

Dina Harbour, CEO
Budgeting & Money Management Coach
www.womenobtainingwealth.com

Your Money Reflects Your Mind

Just last month I was teaching a budgeting class and one student bragged about how she was doing better than a friend of hers that made more money than her and had no children. This same student later admitted that she had purchased a new car and confessed that the payments were causing a burden on her finances.

As a Budgeting & Money Management Coach this information alerts me that something is going on with this individual. Since this wasn’t a one-on-one session I didn’t ask more questions, but I wanted to.

There is a direct correlation between how we think about ourselves and how we spend our money. I’ve noticed that many people buy things to “look” wealthy but financially they are a step away from bankruptcy.

Personally, I am on a mission to help other women educate themselves about money, but it is a very hard battle. When people are unwilling to change they keep the same belief system that they were taught years ago. They also don’t want to take the necessary steps to improve their lives until a crisis happens.

Maybe this housing crisis will be their wake-up call.

Dina Harbour, CEO
Budgeting & Money Management Coach
www.womenobtainingwealth.com