Did you know that companies pulling your credit may sometimes hurt your score and other times not affect it at all?
In the world of credit and credit reports, there are two types of inquiries: hard or soft credit checks. Basically, a hard credit check (or sometimes referred to as a credit “pull”) is a voluntary inquiry of your credit report by a third party. Since these are made with your consent, they appear on your credit report, are visible to anyone when they pull your credit report and will affect your score.
Soft credit checks on the other hand, also known as involuntary inquiries, may result from a company wanting to verify the information you gave them, or can also be used by a lender wanting to send you a pre-approval letter. These inquiries happen much more frequently, and though all three credit bureaus track this data, they are only visible to you and will not affect your credit score.
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I remember them so vividly – a gorgeous pair of pink Nike running shoes. I wanted them so badly! They were my ticket to coolness, to being like the other girls. But my parents, working their way up from middle class into upper middle class, had different priorities. They said “no” to the brand name shoes and got me a cheap imitation instead.
Kids Are Expensive
It’s a well known fact that kids are expensive. Just type “cost of raising a child” into the Google search box and you will find that if you are a dual-parent family with a high income that lives in a city or a suburb along one of the U.S. coasts, you will spend about $250,000 per child from the day they are born and until they reach the age of 18. That’s before you pay, or help them pay, for college!
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Do you always need brand name stuff or can you settle with generics? It’s a battle that rages throughout the strip malls, supermarkets and boutiques. And chances are, you’re already fighting for one side or the other.
Brand names are armed with “reputation,” aesthetic appearance and sought after trends. Generic brands are at bargain prices, and mimic the look of the brands without ruining your budget. The true quality of each is often debated, and many of these possessions serve the exact same purpose, regardless if it’s the real thing or concealed in a generic cloak.
What Possessions Are Worthy of the Brand Names?
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College is ridiculously expensive no matter what you do. Cutting costs wherever possible is essential if you are to end your years in school without crippling yourself with debt. One of the best places to save money is textbooks. An average textbook, especially for a higher level class can run over the hundred dollar mark, and most classes require more than one. Saving money on these books is easy, but it takes a bit more planning than just stopping by the college bookstore.
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“We have to get out of here,” my husband said. “Living here eats up whatever we make. We will never be able to save significant amounts of money as long as we stay here.”
He was right, of course. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, one of the most expensive locations in the United States, is wonderful – the culture here is amazing, the population diverse and very tolerant, and the weather is mild year-round. We love the Silicon Valley with all the career opportunities it presents us, and we enjoy being surrounded by smart, ambitious people and lots of entrepreneurs. However, the price tag attached to living here is hefty.
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Social lending (also known as person-to-person or peer-to-peer lending) offer individuals the opportunity to borrow and lend money in significantly smaller amounts than a bank would deal in, as well as a social context in which to lend money. In a way, if you use one of the sites offering social lending, you can compare it to lending money over Facebook or Twitter — you can see a lot of information about the lender that a bank or other lending institution would consider less important than the statistical factors that give odds on whether or not a borrower will repay a loan.
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