Warning: Only read this if you are in “goofing off” mode. You may also want to ignore this post (along with your FICO score of course) if you just got yelled at by your boss.
Everyone ignores their FICO scores anyway so why don’t you as well? Here are the reasons why I believe you should stop checking those reports and just relax, watch some TV and let the others do all the hard work.
- Out of Sight – You never really see it unless you ask for it, out of sight, out of mind!
- Promotes Use of Credit – I’m a cash person. No credit right here.
- Seldom Used – How many times do you ever need a loan anyway? Why bother when the score is only used a few times in your life?
- Not Always Used – Furthermore, not every company will use your FICO score to determine your credit risk. You can always try your luck and hope for the best.
- Wait for the Bubble – If you couldn’t get a loan approved, you can always just wait till the next credit bubble when everyone including the no-income retired folks were approved to buy million dollar homes with $0 down. Actually… I take the no-income part back. They have social security to pay for the loans.
- Just a Number – The thing is only three digits. Who cares? How much of a difference could it make?
- Scams – All you hear are scams associated with credit scores and reports. This can’t be important.
- I Live in a Vacuum – The FICO score is country specific, so whatever you do here means nothing in another country. In fact, only Canada and United States call it a FICO score.
- No Hope – I just got disapproved so whatever I do, it won’t make a difference anyway. I want a house NOW.
- The Thing is Jumpy – The score is a snapshot of information in your credit report so it fluctuates. Who has time keep track of something that’s ever-changing?
- Government Cares – Since the government pretty much screws up everything and they claim that credit scores are reliable, FICO scores must be useless.
- Temporary – Most negative credit information only stay on file for seven years. Even a bankruptcy is gone by the tenth year. I’m young. I have patience if any mistakes get on there…
- No Control – No one (except the people who actually make money off us with this) really knows exactly how it’s calculated, so if it can’t be manipulated, you can safely ignore it right?
- Against the Grain – Whenever everyone talks about something, it’s reason enough to ignore it. I’m special. I don’t need to think about what everyone else worries about.
- Still Reading? – By now, you should know how ridiculous it is to think that your FICO score doesn’t matter. Do you check your credit reports regularly? Are you on top of your credit score? If not, you are already ignoring your score.
Think again if you’ve been ignoring your FICO score… and congratulations. You must be in a happy mood if you got this far 
Promote or Save This Article
If you like this article, please consider bookmarking or helping us promote it!
Print Post | Email Post | Del.icio.us | Stumble it! | Reddit |
Related Posts
- Credit Scams: Part 1 – Credit Reports
- Increasing Your Credit Score
- Banker Says – Carry Debt to Improve Credit Score
- Decided to Not Pick Up My Lucky Penny and Nickel
- We Share in Life – Interesting Stories All Around Us
Subscribe! (and Get a Mini-Course with Free Registration)
Follow me on twitter! In addition, subscribe to grab free amazing content or take advantage of the newsletter to have content delivered to you. For starters, a 7-part mini course to help you spend less and be happy will be delivered to you when you subscribe!(Don't worry about spam, because we hate it as much as you do!)
Twitter
Facebook
Subscribe
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I must be really special. I’ve been ignoring my FICO score for my entire life. Don’t know what it is now or ever. Instead, I’ve been focusing on my net worth and building wealth. The credit score was designed to promote the use of credit and to make money for FICO. Who wants to be on that bandwagon?
BTW – your post does what a lot of folks do and commingles the concepts of credit reports and credit scores as if they were the same. They are not. I pay a lot of attention to my credit reports to monitor for ID theft. FICO score? Don’t care – my money habits will take care of that. Funny how not bowing at the feet of the credit industry seems to work out.
It’s true that credit reports aren’t the same as credit scores, but you might be surprised to hear that much of the credit decisions are based solely on the score. The point of the invention was to make these types of decisions faster and more automatic.
When you apply for credit and get an instant decision, those are all based on scores. Credit reports usually come into play after they already grouped you into tiers using credit scores, so while the score isn’t something you can control and therefore not something you can change directly, it’s an indicator that you are on the right track (if you are actively trying to improve your credit risk in order to get better loan terms)
I don’t dispute anything that you’ve stated about how robotic “credit analysts” make instant credit decisions using the FICO score. But that doesn’t make it right or even more valuable to consumers. Making credit decisions “faster and more automatic” is a strategy designed to capture impulse spenders and keep them in the buying mood until the credit decision is made. If true credit due diligence and underwriting were used (as in the days before the FICO score), many consumers would have time to reflect on and reconsider the borrow and spend decisions that the sellers are trying to expedite. That would be good for consumers but bad for the credit industry. Thus, FICO was born, inflicted upon us, and slowly expanded to become an indicator of our personal worth as a potential employee or tenant. Sorry – I’m not playing along.
Well said! I think we can all go on with how those evil companies have no morals. They are all in it for the profits.
I don’t worry so much about my score. I have checked my reports. But, not as often as I should. If you pay cash for things (we don’t), you don’t have to worry about your scores. If you take care of your payments and pay debts off, you don’t have to worry about your score.
You only have to worry about your score when you aren’t and have a pattern of not meeting your obligations.
I used to check my FICO score twice per day online and it’s nearly make me crazy, Ning! You’re right, as we should be relax and not to worry too much about the FICO score.
FICO score, credit score, credit reports. Who cares?
Pretty funny post for a Friday afternoon!
I seriously can’t wait until I can ignore my FICO score again. I’ve been in the process of purchasing a house and the stress of keeping my FICO score up is killing me. One late payment or missed bill, and all of the sudden I could be dropping my score and risk higher interest rates or even being turned down for a loan if I needed to switch banks last minute or something.
I’ll be happy after this is over if I never need good credit again in my life.
Don’t ever say “never”
One day, you may want to refinance, or buy a bigger house!
On a separate note, shouldn’t you be keeping up with your bills anyway? The last thing you want is a late payment charge right?
Hey, thanks for the reply.
Yeah, one day I’ll need good credit again, to buy a car or a bigger house as you say, but it will just be nice when it’s not such an immediate issue on my mind.
And of course, I’ll always keep up with my bills, nobody wants a late fee, but the idea that simply missing a payment by a couple of days could cause my FICO score to drop and affect my ability to purchase a home for my family is too much to worry about on top of everything else.
We’re all humans who are bound to make mistakes, but who needs some mathematical equation to remind you of that?
It’s just some number that a corporation conceived of for the entire financial world to judge you by, and oh yeah, they’re getting rich off of it as well, go figure.
And unfortunately, in order to get a loan, we humans have to momentarily enter the mathematical matrix set forth by the FICO system we are stuck in.
I’m lucky, I have a good FICO score, but I can’t imagine those who are struggling to increase their score so that they can purchase a home or get other things that require good credit.
Anyway, maybe your article warning was meant for me, I’m probably taking this whole FICO thing too seriously.
Thanks again.
I’m sure you are fine. You should go to the homepage and read the article titled “I’m losing $50 to be happy and I’m not crazy”. Sometimes, it’s easier to just setup everything on automatic while leaving some interest on the table. You end up with less money (by a tiny bit) but much less stress.
I came up with the slogan, thus:
“The FICO® score is the new debtor’s prison.” © Maria Keller
I put a copyright on it, so if anyone sees this and wants to attribute it to them, you know you heard it here first!
There is no sense to have a good FICO® or any other type of credit score. When it comes to borrowing any kind of money, there is nothing a good credit score can do for you, when trying to refinance your house or negotiating a better rate based on your good history with credit cards and making all the payments on time. NOTHING!
Why should the credit card companies give someone with a good and long, on-time payment history a better interest rate? The only way they will agree to negotiate and either give you a lower monthly payment (so you can refinance) and/or a lower interest rate is if you stop paying them!
They bombard you with paperwork and threats, but guess what……about three weeks ago I stopped caring what my “excellent credit score” will do. Since I am going to have to go to an “all cash way of living,” I may as well stop paying them. They all want you to go to Consumer Credit Counseling, when in fact the credit card companies LOVE CCC and possibly are bankrolling them!
Notice how now the countdown of the CARD (cute acronym) legislation is bearing down and now they are jacking up everyone’s interest rates and cutting their credit lines and RENEGING ON THEIR AGREEMENTS that they made, in some cases as far back as 2004, for a low introductory rate for the life of the balance! If you want to keep your low introductory rate you have to close the account and give them written notice (which I suggest be sent certified mail…..because they can and do lie about it).
Of course when you cancel the card, you’re ruining your FICO (r) score yet again!
Sincerely,
Maria Keller
Your FICO score is pointless, until it comes to getting a big fat mortgage. Then all hell breaks loose. Strive for 700+, or else you won’t get the best rates.
RB
MoneyNing, I read with interest your comments. I have a couple of my own, and a question. There are some of us out here who are not “ignoring” our debts, but have been hit by a devastating situation. In my case, a horrendous divorce, disabilities meaning I have limited income (Social Security and low alimony), and lawyer’s fees plus much more in problems caused me to have no option but to run up credit cards. I could not get the money anywhere else, no family to turn to, etc. Now, I owe about $20K (down from about $34K a year ago on a VERY limited income), and my FICO score is STILL in the high 700’s, though my ratio is not good. I made one late payment thinking my ex had paid it (he thought I did) and for several months, my FICO fell. I now no longer get offers of 0% intro rates, which I’d been using to shuffle debt around, nor can I get ANY credit cards because I got “too many” in the last year (I got TWO!). Also unfortunately, I’m about to lose my 0% interest-rate on one card in 2 months, another in 5 months (right now, all are 0%). Then, it’s really gonna hurt when I have to start paying interest. I didn’t carelessly use these cards, I had nowhere else to get money to live on, but I’m going to among those who will probably be paying off this debt for quite a while. Question: should I go with one of the debt “consolidators” who (at least by claim) get your credit owed cut “in half”? Or should I just carry on using every penny I can find to pay as much as possible on the 4 cards I owe money on? (I paid off 2 already, and one with a 27K credit limit cut my limit to 2K!!. Another I had not been using then lowered their limit from 10K to 1K. Why? I don’t know. As you might guess, I hate credit card companies, but I really didn’t have a choice.) Thanks if you have time to read and answer this.
Although I can’t guarantee that there’s some guy out there that will be able to cut your credit in half (if anything, he/she can always pay it off for you even though it’s unlikely), I’m very skeptical of any debt consolidation companies that promises to be able to do anything for you. As all your debts are concentrated in credit cards, I’m even more doubtful that anyone can negotiate their way out of paying less money for you. Interest maybe, but definitely not the amount you already owe. So as a general rule, I will not recommend a debt consolidation company, especially since they want to charge you for their service.
However, it doesn’t hurt to talk to them and IF they offer free consultation, you might want to see if you can get any ideas off of them. Just be careful that you won’t be on the hook for some type of charge and make it clear to them that you are here for a NO COMMITMENT type of free consultation (if they offer one).
Unfortunately, without any collateral, it will be hard to get another lower interest rate loan to cover these credit cards so the best thing is to be responsible and try to pay them off ASAP. There will be sacrifices, but it will be worth it when you pay off all your debt!
Funny.
People need to focus more on this number– it impacts everything! Jobs, insurance, as well as credit.
I ignored my credit rating for the first 8 years of my ‘adult’ life. I’ve never once been refused credit. So you can ignore it to a degree without any incident… but I do now subscribe to keep an eye on it more for checking fraud than anything else!
I love it.
Humor gets me everytime: I accepted your article to the Carnival of Economic Fun #2. It will appear on Wednesday, September 16th, alongside other fun economics articles.
Thanks for submitting.