Deadline Approaches to Get Free Credit Reporting and Monitoring

For those readers who want to obtain access to their credit history and obtain 6 to 9 months of free credit monitoring, the deadline for signing up for those benefits is September 24, 2008.  These benefits are being provided in settlement of a class action lawsuit against Trans Union Corporation.

To get more information and to register, go to the class action site at www.listclassaction.com.

Just do Mr. ToughMoneyLove a favor and do not use this benefit as a tool to get more credit.

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

My Tough Love Campaign Against Credit Score Obsession (Part 1)

I have observed that too many Americans are now obsessed with their respective credit scores, sometimes also referred to as a FICO score.  Based on a recent development involving one of my sons (and his lack of any credit score), I have decided to publish a series of posts about credit score obsession and how it distorts money behavior in a mostly negative way.  In turn, this causes people to focus on incorrect targets in their financial plan.
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