The Triumphant Return of the Matt Super-Blog

I stopped blogging at the end of last year because no one was reading my blog, or at leat, no one was commenting. Then my wife Emily told me that I should do it again because she would learn things about me through my blog that wouldn't come up in every day conversation. So I decided to restart, but instead of focusing on my writing, just to blog about whatever I feel like.

So today, credit ratings.

I've always had pretty decent credit. My problem for a while was that my credit was fine, I just didn't have a long enough history. I didn't do anything wrong except get in a lot of debt, but I was okay because I paid my bills on time. Let me tell you, though, a great way to get your credit score up. Marry someone who wants to go to school. Have them take out a bunch of school loans and your score will skyrocket.

So last July I went in to trade in my 2004 Ford Escape with 80,000 for a newer car with only 8,000. This was more because I was afraid my depreciating car with high milage wouldn't make it that much longer and I'd better get something newer before it exploded and wasn't worth anything. (By the way, does anyone else wish that their car would get totaled or stolen so they can get their loan paid off?)

Anyway, I go in and they run my credit and tell me what my payments will be. Now, I've done my homework and know what the loan should run. They come back to me a few times and make me offers and each time I ask, "what exactly is my credit score?" Well, they try to dodge the issue until I press it. That's when they tell me that they haven't actually run my credit. So I tell them to get me a lower payment. They come back with something else that isn't acceptable. I press them again and they tell me what I can afford. I tell them, and they come back with that number, with maybe five bucks less. Amazing. But it's their own fault for putting payment estimators on their website.

This all reminds me of that stupid commercial out for the site freecreditreport.com. Let me tell you, don't go there, it's not free. The way they run their ads is dishonest and they should be shut down. The real free site is annualcreditreport.com, where they are required to give you your credit report for free once per year.

So, what bugs me about these ads is you have this guy singing about how he is working in a crummy restaraunt and can't get a job because his credit is bad, or how he could have had a nice car if he'd just known his credit was in the tank. My question: what does an employer care what your credit rating is? Do they run your score? No! These people play on fear to get you to spend your money. And if I walked into a dealership and said, "Hey! I went to this website and I knoew my credit sucks. Because I knew that in advance, you have to give me a good car with good payments." I wonder how hard they would laugh.

Save your money, my friends. Besides, if you walk into a dealership and they tell you your credit is bad, the worst that happens is you walk out without a car. And if they reject your credit application, they HAVE to give you a report of your credit for free.

Grr.