My Crazy Wife

[blume357]

I have to tell this .... and first understand I'm about as far from a financial wizard as one can get.
My wife who owns our house... actually her living trust does... has had a home equity line of credit with her credit union for about 40 years and she likes to borrow some from it just to keep her credit rating up.... about 25k .... so she gets a letter from her credit union saying that to keep the line of credit they will need a new appraisal of the home and such by a certain date... she says ...thinks... what the heck I've had this line of credit with them for decades and have never ever even had a late payment... house was actually paid off probably 20 or more years ago... So, she decides she's not going to play their game and jump through their hoops.... the day before her current line of credit expires..... she goes in and borrows....25k... maxing it out....

 

[eveled]

As long as she pays it off quickly and it helps her cause. More power to her.

 

[krw]

So your borrowing money that you don't need just to boost your credit score and paying interest on it??

 

[LCP22LR]

Credit scores, and messing with that stuff is asking for trouble, especially when you don't need the cash...and if you do, you're playing the banks games! Those buildings weren't built with 0% loans being paid.

 

[hittman]

Funny …. Congress made red-lining illegal yet lenders can red-line the entire population through the invention of credit scores. And the uneducated public bought into it.

 

[Rat76]

You're right Blume, she's crazy.

 

[Threespears]

And then she went to the gun store with the 25k…

 

[Yaworski]

Funny …. Congress made red-lining illegal yet lenders can red-line the entire population through the invention of credit scores. And the uneducated public bought into it.

Conspiracies everywhere.

 

[Cholo]

Unless you have bad credit once you turn 50, why would someone want to borrow $ they don't need to boost their credit score?

I paid a car off in 2001 and my house in 2002. I have had no payments to a bank since then, none. I pay my CC bill in full every month and I have maintained a credit score right around 800 ever since. Right now it's at 801; I just looked.

So, why would anyone borrow $ they don't need to boost an already good credit score? If they have a bad credit score in their 60's someone wasn't doing something right.

Simply put, why?

I can see someone borrowing $ they don't really need in their 20's, and maybe even 30's, to simply get a credit score.

 

[Yaworski]

So your borrowing money that you don't need just to boost your credit score and paying interest on it??

You could borrow against your house at 3% and invest that money at 8%. Even after paying taxes on the gain, you're making a bit. I do understand wanting to keep that line of credit active, just in case.

I do everything with my Discover card which I pay off every payday. However, I have a couple Visas and a Mastercard with insane credit lines. Once a year or so, I'll dust those cards off and buy a coffee at McD's. I then pay the bill off until the next year. Why? Just in case I need to cover a large purchase.

 

[Johnnu2]

I have no idea what my credit score is......

J.

 

[Fox Mike]

Just cheeked my credit score (08:50 Monday 15 Sep). It is 805 and I haven't borrowed any money for years and years. Pay your bills on time, to include credit cards, and your rating will stay high.

 

[hittman]

Ramsey is wrong about a lot of things but not this one ……

 

[Yaworski]

So, why would anyone borrow $ they don't need to boost an already good credit score? If they have a bad credit score in their 60's someone wasn't doing something right.

About a decade ago, I had a good credit score, just north of 800. Minimal debt, paid all my bills on time, etc. I was shopping on Amazon and they offered me $30 off my $35 purchase if I opened an Amazon card. Sure, fine OK. They gave me a $400 credit line (WFT?) and that pushed my credit score below 700. It took a few years to get that number back up over 800.

 

[Yaworski]

Ramsey is wrong about a lot of things but not this one ……

Meh. I've never had a mortgage, haven't had a bank loan since 1987, and haven't had more than $1,000 in credit card debt in over a decade. My FICO score is well over 800.

My daughter is 32 and never had a car loan, never had a mortgage, and pays off her credit card every month. Her FICO score is also over 800.

 

[hittman]

Score isn’t determined by how much or how little debt …. Mainly by how the debt is repaid.

 

[hittman]

https://consumerfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2003/06/6-12-03-Your-Credit-Score.pdf

 

[Yaworski]

Score isn't determined by how much or how little debt …. Mainly by how the debt is repaid.

Your hero says, ". . .it is an 'I love debt' score." I don't love debt, have no debt, and have what is an insane amount of available credit alloweing me to go so deep into debt that I could never pay it off.

 

[vito]

I pay my bills on time and never incur a finance charge on my credit cards. But I still have a mortgage, and see no advantage to taking money out of investments that are doing well to pay off a 3% mortgage balance. I also have a car payment and a motorcycle payment, but both are at 0% interest, offers that were too good to pass up at the time of purchase. So it might seem strange that at my age I am still making payments on a house, car and motorcycle but I think I am better off than paying these things off right now. FWIW, my credit score as of a few days ago was 818.

 

[hittman]

There you have it ….. success is in how we manage our debt and why we have it.

 

[krw]

I don't know my credit score and cood care less. I aint borrowed money in a looong time and don't intend to. We do pay our CC bill bal ea month

 

[blume357]

My wife and I are total opposites and our finances are completely separated and for a good reason. I'm the poorest person there is both financially as well and financial wise.... I defaulted on several credit cards back in 2008 and so I'm pretty sure my credit score is in the tank... but here is the strange thing.... figure this one out... back about 8 years ago I had two American Express Gold cards with 10's of thousands of dollars worth of credit on them.... I managed somehow to pay them off... and actually learned the secret is to pay off everything every month. Wife and I were headed out to Portland Or. for a convention and while going through the Atlanta Airport a guy in a Delta suit grabs me and talks me into applying for a Delta Sky miles American Express Card... I already had one... but figured I'd play the game and he might get a commission regardless... I was sure AX would kick my application back with a no way.... when we got back home two weeks later there was another gold Card with 12K credit on it in the mail..... I determined the only folks dumber than me about money must be the folks at American Express.

 

[Kevin]

I think every time Money gets discussed here there are about a million different view points.

We’ve had a line of credit before. Not right now though. I’m like Blume, it’s best if I just go along with what my wife tells me too about money.

But lines of credit can be useful if used correctly. I know we used it a few years ago to buy a car because the interest rate was better. Things like that.

Blume has been talking about fixing his house since the hurricane last year. $25,000 could be a small drop in the bucket for major home repairs. The video of that retaining wall ! Yikes.

 

[wproct]

I pay my bills on time and never incur a finance charge on my credit cards. But I still have a mortgage, and see no advantage to taking money out of investments that are doing well to pay off a 3% mortgage balance. I also have a car payment and a motorcycle payment, but both are at 0% interest, offers that were too good to pass up at the time of purchase. So it might seem strange that at my age I am still making payments on a house, car and motorcycle but I think I am better off than paying these things off right now. FWIW, my credit score as of a few days ago was 818.

My story is similar. I'm 80 years old but still have a mortgage payment. We had a remodel done on our house and re-financed out to 30 years. I could pay off our mortgage if I drew money out of my 401k but my finance guy says it's better to have the liquid funds in your 401k rather than pay off the mortgage. We don't have car payments and we pay our credit cards off every month. Our credit rating is 820.

 

[Jeepnik]

My credit score is 830. Not bragging just want to prove a point. I own my house. I don't owe anything to anyone. I live within my means, rather comfortably.

Every month I get my FICO from the bank. And every month it says my score is impacted by lack of information on credit debt.

Think about it maximum credit score (a made up number by companies who sell their ratings to retailers and banks) is 850. But owning nothing, being fiscally responsible and having a good secure income it's impossible to reach that number.

 

[bergmen]

I have no idea what my credit score is......

J.

Me neither. I haven't needed one in over 20 years. Couldn't care less.

Dan

 

[Yaworski]

I don't know my credit score and cood care less. I aint borrowed money in a looong time and don't intend to. We do pay our CC bill bal ea month

Spell much?

 

[NC FNS]

I took a screenshot when my credit score was 805 a few months ago. It won’t ever be that high again, I’m thinking…

 

[Johnnu2]

When I buy somthing (anyting), I always ask: "You folks take CASH?".
p.s. I've found that when buying a car with cash, the salesperson ALWAYS reduces the price. It turns out that, if you finance with them at the "super special zero rate"; they just tag on the "interest" to the price of the car. bless their hearts

J.

 

[eveled]

They may want to reinspect based on the recent storm damage to many houses in your area.

I doubt borrowing the money will stop the reinspection