If you’ve missed some credit payments or paid late, you know your credit score will likely be affected.? How much depends on how many late or missed payments you have and how long ago they were.? Your credit score will be impacted even further if you have had account charge offs or if you filed bankruptcy.
If you have less than stellar credit, you know it will probably affect your ability to get more credit at a reasonable interest rate.? If the situation is bad enough, you may not even be able to get credit at all.
But did you know poor credit can affect you in many other ways?? Did you know that there are companies outside credit card companies and banks that pull your credit score and make decisions about you based on your credit history and score?? Unfortunately, they do.? Here’s who’s judging you based on your credit:
1.? Insurance companies.
Insurance companies pull your credit report and use the information on it to create an insurance score.? This score gives them an assessment of your probability of filing a claim.? In general, the worse your credit score, the more likely your chance of filing a claim and the insurance company having to pay out.? Of course, they would prefer to insure those who are less likely to file a claim, and the insurance companies believe those customers are the ones with a higher credit score.? This doesn’t mean if you have bad credit that you won’t be able to get insurance; the insurance company just might charge you more.
2.? Landlords.
Before allowing you to rent a property, landlords want to look at your credit report and determine your history of paying on time.? Once a tenant is in a property, getting them out if they stop paying is difficult.? Potential tenants with a higher credit score are more attractive to landlords because there is less of a chance that they will stop paying.
3.? Employers.
Your financial life and career life should be separate, right?? Not according to many employers who are increasingly checking credit more often.? Why do they check a candidate’s credit?? Some say it’s to weed out candidates in this competitive job market where there are many equally qualified candidates applying for one position.? Others say it’s because employers worry that a candidate with high debt will be distracted from doing the job at hand.
If you have poor or damaged credit, know that it can affect you in several different ways from applying for insurance to applying for a job.? Take steps as soon as possible to improve your credit score and reduce your chances of paying higher premiums or losing out on that job you want.
