Pin Money Club

Take away his credit cards! (but seriously folks!)

Recently Jonathan Clements wrote in the Wall Street Journal about the looming credit score crisis many Americans face in the current economy, likening people’s plummeting credit scores to junk bond ratings.

It’s worth a reminder here of the three big things you can do to keep your credit score as high as possible if you should lose your job or your financial circumstances take a turn for the worse: pay your bills on time, avoid applying for credit too often (I know it’s tempting, but ladies, resist the urgings of every cashier in town asking you to apply for that credit card and get 10% off!), use as little of your available credit lines as possible.

It also pays to know and keep up with your credit score; the most useful to know is your FICO score. The score ranges from 300 to 850 and it’s basically a number that summarizes all the activity on your credit report. Generally speaking a score in the mid 700s or higher is considered good. You can get it directly from myfico.com for about $16 (with some add ons if you choose). You can also succumb to freecreditreport.com; their constant advertising makes them hard to forget, but know that it has a catch; you are automatically enrolled in their Triple Advantage Credit Monitoring program. If you don’t cancel your membership within their 7-day trial period, you will be billed $14.95 a month (doesn’t seem like the best deal to me). However, their latest commercials are darn funny and this subject demands some comic relief (other than my bad jokes)…