My Tough Love Campaign Against Credit Score Obsession (Part 2)

A Little History about the Credit Score

Welcome to Part 2 of my series on credit score obsession and addiction.  In Part 1 of this series, I told the story of my son being denied the right to open a savings account at an online bank because he had no credit history.  This experience reinforced my belief that the credit industry (with our unwitting cooperation) has unfairly elevated the status of credit scores in our economy.  This has led to pervasive abuse of credit scores by not just creditors but by financial service providers of all kinds, by landlords, and even by prospective employers.  Unfortunately, too many consumers have allowed this trend to push them into engaging in money behaviors and adopting bad money habits for the sole purpose of maximizing their credit score. Read more