Understanding credit scores is not an easy task. In fact, credit scores can be some of the most complicated and intricate parts of finance for the average person to understand.
With that in mind, we wanted to help make understanding this important piece of financial literacy easier by debunking six of the most common myths related to your credit score.
Does asking for your credit score really hurt it? Does the amount of money you make at your job have an effect on your credit score? Is your employer able to view your credit score when they perform a credit check?
Find out the answers to these questions and several others below.
Here we go.
1. Asking For Your Credit Score Hurts It
False. There are two types of “pulls” or “checks” you can do on your credit. A “soft pull” is the type of pull that asking for your credit score falls under, and this type of request has no long-term impact on your score. While this type of check will temporarily affect your credit score, it is hard “checks” that you need to be more mindful of, like the type that occurs when applying for a credit card, but merely asking for your credit score is largely inconsequential.
2. Student Loans Don’t Affect Credit Scores
False. Credit scores are impacted by all types of bill payments, from utilities to mortgage and medical (in some countries, this is more relevant than in others). This group includes student loans. If those are not paid on time, just like you pay your electricity bill, your credit score will suffer for it.
3. Income Impacts Credit Scores
Untrue. In fact, income is actually just more of a measurement as it relates to your capacity to pay your bills. Your credit score is a numeric depiction of your credit risk or lack thereof, meaning your income is not correlated to your credit score.
4. You Don’t Need To Worry About Your Credit Score Until You’re “Older”
False, again. You become eligible to apply for your own credit card at 18 years old, so that is really when you should start thinking about your credit score. In fact, many financial experts will make a point to tell young people to start building credit as early as possible, meaning that this idea has little validity to it.
5. My Employer Can See My Credit Score
Incorrect. Your employer, when they go in to do a credit check prior to hiring you, will only be able to access your debt and payment history. Your credit score remains hidden from employers.
6. Getting Married Merges Credit Scores of the Two Parties
False. Your credit score always remains exclusive to you and only you. Multiple credit scores are considered when two partners do something like apply for a home-buying loan together, but credit scores always remain individual.
Okay, so now you’ve read this blog and now your child is sitting next to you and you’re wondering… how am I going to prepare them for this reality in the future? How am I going to get them ready to understand how a credit score works and how to not fall for myths like these in the future?
Lucky for you, we’ve got a solution. Check out our nationally and internationally-acclaimed personal finance programs for children in grades one all the way to grade twelve. In these courses, we cover topics from the basics and history of money to the stock market and global finance, and we know that our classes will be a great way for your child to start on a path to superior financial literacy in the present and in the future! Check our website out today and sign your child up as soon as possible!