GF¢ 040: Everything You Need to Know About Your Credit (that you probably don’t)

As a Certified Financial Planner, I know a lot about financial planning issues, but there’s one thing that I didn’t realize I didn’t know much about and that thing is credit.

Several years ago, I went on a bold quest to find what my true credit score was and in doing so, I quickly learned that there are many different types of credit scores.  You can see that quest here. And, what is the best credit score!?

That’s when I realized that there were a lot of things about credit that I didn’t know.

I was determined to find out, so I did a lot of research so that I understood how credit works especially since I devoted several chapter on credit in my book, Soldier of Finance.

That experience has help me realize that I need to seek out credit experts to help me keep up with the always changing credit landscape.

One such expert is Gerri Detweiler, who is the Director of Consumer Education at Credit.com. Gerri has become my go-to person for anything that has to do with credit.

I was excited when Gerri agreed to come on the GFC podcast to share her expertise, and also answer questions from the GFC community.

My Questions About Credit

I still don’t have everything figured out about credit so I had Gerri answer some of my personal questions.

• Why is there such a discrepancy between all the different credit scores?
• What services do sites such as Credit.com offer consumers?
• Gerri explains a unique strategy that allows you to credit up to 3 times per year – for free!
• Find out the tactic that Gerri and I respectfully disagree on about credit.

GF¢ Reader Questions About Credit

On top of answering my questions about credit, Gerri took some time to answer some of my reader’s questions. Some of those questions are below and the rest are on the Good Financial Cents Facebook fanpage.

• What’s the benefit of having a good credit score and consumer debt, vs no credit and no debt?
• If you have no plans for any big purchases in your future (already own a home and two cars, no plans or need for anything that big anytime soon) how important is having good credit? I know filing bankruptcy really screws up your number, but if you have time to build it back up, is it really that important?
• Revolving debt versus student loan debt play on your credit score?
• Once you get things paid off, how long does it take to reflect on score?

Thanks to Gerri for answering all of our questions. Be sure to check out some great content on everything you need to know about on credit on Credit.com’s blog.