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Cynthetiq · 02-29-2008, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pan6467

I can accept the changes in entertainment.... I guess that is just me getting old.

But really come on now, people work hard and try to live the American dream and because they didn't have the right credit they end up in an ARM... then they lose their jobs and rates go up? How is that their fault? And to say "it's just business".

Have we truly become so fucking greedy that we just don't care about others problems as long as we have ours?

You don't have to have take an ARM. No one puts a gun to your head to sign on the dotted line. That's a conscious choice. You could continue to rent and work on your credit. Of course, while that goes on the prices continue to fluctuate, by the time your credit is good, you may or may not be be able to finally purchase something. How is that again MY fault? YOU fucked up your credit. Remember when the teacher said, "This is going to go on your permanent record." Well, there is some place where there is REAL consequence to your bad choices and decisions. A person who has poor credit pays more for things, and thus if they have less dollars earned they waste money on higher interest rates. Again, how is that MY fault? High FICO scores aren't about high wages, they are about good credit

from businessweek.com

Quote:

But first, just what is a credit score? To come up with one, Fair Isaac uses 22 pieces of data collected from the three major credit bureaus (Equifax (EFX ), Experian (GUS ), and TransUnion) to calculate a credit score -- 300 is the lowest, 850 the highest. The final number is a composite that comes from individual ratings in five categories: payment history (35% of the rating); length of credit history (15%); new credit (10%); types of credit used (10%); and debt (30%). Income is not a factor. "A person can have a very high income and never pay their bills," said Craig Watts, public affairs manager for Fair Isaac.

Fair Isaac calculates a FICO score based on the data provided by each credit bureau. It's not uncommon to see up to a 50-point differential between ratings. The reason: Bureaus collect data at different times of the month, or one bureau may have inaccurate information.

The higher the score, the lower the risk you are to a creditor -- and the less interest you'll pay. Only 13% of the population has FICO scores of 800 or above; the median is 723. There is no single cut-off for loans, and it varies from industry to industry. But generally borrowers with scores above 740 receive the best rates.

To see how a change in your FICO score affects how much you'll pay, consider this example. On a $350,000, 30-year fixed mortgage, you'll pay 6.24% in interest, or $2,153 a month if you score between 720 and 850. If your score drops to between 620 and 674, your interest rate jumps to 8.05%, and your monthly cost rises to $2,581. You will pay an additional $154,131 over the life of the loan, according to a calculator on myfico.com.

You will pay an additional $154,131 <---- Is that really MY problem?

It's never changed.

Everyone cares about themselves FIRST. I know that I do. If you don't, that's great, but when push comes to shove, will you really give your last bite of food to someone else and starve yourself?

No one tells you to carry a huge debt load on your credit cards. Watching any of the shows like Suze Orman where people call in and say things like "I've got $30,000 in credit card debt, but I'd like to know if I can afford to go on this $10,000 European vacation." "WTF?" Is what goes on in my head when I see or hear this kind of irresponsible question and behavior.

People overspend for Christmas and go into debt for the a good portion of the year, is that responsible? Because they want to have a "nice" Christmas. or but Johnny wanted that XBox360 so I had to get it for him. No fuckin' way. You do without, you make sacrifices, you do something else. You don't go into debt to buy things that don't matter.