News / Business / Columnists

Singletary: 7 credit myths that can really cost you

By Michelle Singletary

Published: September 26, 2018, 6:03am

What you don’t know about credit can cost you — perhaps thousands of dollars.

And, if you’re low-income, having bad or no credit can make you even more financially unstable, according to new research by the Urban Institute.

Let’s look at a person taking out an auto loan who has a subprime credit score below 600 (on a scale of 300 to 850, with the higher the score, the better). He’s buying a $10,000 used car. The subprime borrower has a FICO credit score between 500 and 589, which qualifies him for an interest rate of 17.548 percent for the 48-month loan. He’ll pay a total of $3,987 in interest.

Meanwhile, a prime borrower with a FICO score between 720 and 850 is offered a rate of 4.896 percent. Total interest paid: $1,031.

“People with no, thin or poor credit are doubly constrained,” says Diana Elliott, senior research associate with the Urban Institute. “They are already among the more economically vulnerable members of society and then have to pay much more to borrow money because of their credit. So, those with the least money pay even more for the goods and services that we all need — cars, appliances, emergency repairs.”

The Urban Institute put together a list of seven common assumptions about credit. So, how well informed are you? Are the following statements true or false?

• Everyone has a credit score.

• You have to be wealthy to have good credit.

• To build credit, you have to go into debt.

• Having a lot of credit cards is bad for your score.

• If you pay all your bills on time, you’ll have a good credit score.

• Paying rent or having a payday loan, if managed well, can help you build a good credit score.

• Don’t seek out credit. Inquiries can ruin your credit score.

Every statement is false.

Everyone does not have a credit score. Nineteen percent of U.S. adults and 46 percent of people living in low-income neighborhoods are without one, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Your income is not a factor in determining your credit score. And it’s not necessarily true that to build credit, you have to go into debt.

“A person with a credit card, who pays their monthly bill in full and on time, will carry no debt from month to month, pay zero percent in interest, and have excellent credit,” said Ricki Granetz Lowitz, chief executive and co-founder of Working Credit, a nonprofit that helps employees improve their credit.

The scoring system looks at how you use your available credit — not how many cards you have.

The two myths about paying your bills might have stumped you.

While it is true that staying current on your debt obligations is the No. 1 way to achieve an excellent score, a lot of people are paying bills that aren’t reported to the credit bureaus. People who pay their rent, cable and utility bills on time, every month, can easily have no credit, Lowitz points out.

A credit inquiry generally has a small impact on your score, typically five to 10 points.

Why should you care about all this if you’ve got great credit?

Because helping low-income folks reduce the cost of their borrowing creates economically stable families and that benefits everyone.

“Nearly 20 percent of the population have no credit score, and 27 percent of those in the credit system have subprime credit,” Elliott said. “This impacts whole neighborhoods and cities, meaning city budgets may devote more resources to helping these individuals, and whole communities may experience resource deficits.”

But because we live in a society where your credit history is your financial scorecard, having good credit is still well worth the effort.

Support local journalism

Related Stories