Your Credit Score, Your Money & What's at Stake (Updated Edition): How to Improve the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"A great credit score can help you finish rich! Liz Pulliam Weston gives solid, easy-to-understand advice about how to improve your credit fast. Read this book and prosper." David Bach, bestselling author of The Automatic Millionaire and The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner "Excellent book! Insightful, well written, and surprisingly interesting. Liz Pulliam Weston has done an outstanding job demystifying an often intimidating and frustrating topic for the benefit of all consumers." Eric Tyson, syndicated columnist and bestselling author of Personal Finance for Dummies "No one makes complex financial information easy to understand like Liz Pulliam Weston. Her straight-talk and wise advice are invaluable to anyone with a credit card or check book--and that's just about all of us." Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D., author of Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office and Nice Girls Don't Get Rich "In a country where consumers increasingly pay more when they have bad credit, Liz Pulliam Weston's book provides excellent tips and advice on ways to improve your credit history and raise your credit score. If you just apply one or two of her insightful suggestions, you'll save many times the cost of this book." Ilyce R. Glink, financial reporter, talk show host, and bestselling author of 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask "Your credit score can save you money or cost you money--sometimes a lot of money. Yet, most people don't even know their scores, much less know how to make them better. Liz Pulliam Weston can help you fix that. In this easy-to-understand guide you'll learn how to make sure your score helps you get the best deal on loans and insurance. You can't afford not to read it." Gerri Detweiler, consumer advocate and founder of UltimateCredit.com The #1 Best-Selling Guide to Improving Your Credit Score...Now Thoroughly Updated for the Financial Crisis! In post-crash America, it's tough to get credit...and even tougher to get rates and terms you can afford. That makes your credit score more important than ever before. Now, MSN Money/L.A. Times personal finance columnist Liz Pulliam Weston has updated her best-selling book on credit scores to show how you can maximize your score right now--and save yourself a fortune! Weston reveals the tough new realities of borrowing and credit scoring, and shows why they aren't going to change any time soon. She rips away the mystery surrounding credit scoring, including the FICO 08 overhaul, and tells you exactly how to use the new system to maximize your score. You'll learn how to fight back against lenders who want to lower your limits or raise your rates...bounce back from bad credit and bankruptcy...choose the right credit solutions and avoid options that only make things worse. One step at a time, Weston will help you build (or rebuild) your credit score--so you can get the credit you need and deserve! Survive a credit crisis, one step at a time How to protect or rebuild your credit score after a major financial setback Fix your credit score in as little as 72 hours Rapid rescoring: what it can fix, what it can't fix, and how to use it Don't let the myths of credit scoring cost you a fortune! What you've been told just isn't true: how credit scores really work What drives your score--and what doesn't The real impact of credit cards, loans, late payments, inquiries, credit counseling, and more

From the Back Cover

“A great credit score can help you finish rich! Liz Pulliam Weston gives solid, easy-to-understand advice about how to improve your credit fast. Read this book and prosper.”

David Bach, bestselling author of The Automatic Millionaire and The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner

 

“Excellent book! Insightful, well written, and surprisingly interesting. Liz Pulliam Weston has done an outstanding job demystifying an often intimidating and frustrating topic for the benefit of all consumers.”

Eric Tyson, syndicated columnist and bestselling author of Personal Finance for Dummies

 

“No one makes complex financial information easy to understand like Liz Pulliam Weston. Her straight-talk and wise advice are invaluable to anyone with a credit card or check book–and that’s just about all of us.”

Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D., author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office and Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich

 

“In a country where consumers increasingly pay more when they have bad credit, Liz Pulliam Weston’s book provides excellent tips and advice on ways to improve your credit history and raise your credit score. If you just apply one or two of her insightful suggestions, you’ll save many times the cost of this book.”

Ilyce R. Glink, financial reporter, talk show host, and bestselling author of 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask

 

“Your credit score can save you money or cost you money–sometimes a lot of money. Yet, most people don’t even know their scores, much less know how to make them better. Liz Pulliam Weston can help you fix that. In this easy-to-understand guide you’ll learn how to make sure your score helps you get the best deal on loans and insurance. You can’t afford not to read it.”

Gerri Detweiler, consumer advocate and founder of UltimateCredit.com

 

The #1 Best-Selling Guide to Improving Your Credit Score...

Now Thoroughly Updated for the Financial Crisis!

 

In post-crash America, it’s tough to get credit...and even tougher to get rates and terms you can afford. That makes your credit score more important than ever before. Now, MSN Money/L.A. Times personal finance columnist Liz Pulliam Weston has updated her best-selling book on credit scores to show how you can maximize your score right now–and save yourself a fortune!

 

Weston reveals the tough new realities of borrowing and credit scoring, and shows why they aren’t going to change any time soon. She rips away the mystery surrounding credit scoring, including the FICO 08 overhaul, and tells you exactly how to use the new system to maximize your score.

 

You’ll learn how to fight back against lenders who want to lower your limits or raise your rates...bounce back from bad credit and bankruptcy...choose the right credit solutions and avoid options that only make things worse. One step at a time, Weston will help you build (or rebuild) your credit score–so you can get the credit you need and deserve!

 

Survive a credit crisis, one step at a time

How to protect or rebuild your credit score after a major financial setback

 

Fix your credit score in as little as 72 hours

Rapid rescoring: what it can fix, what it can’t fix, and how to use it

 

Don’t let the myths of credit scoring cost you a fortune!

What you’ve been told just isn’t true: how credit scores really work

 

What drives your score–and what doesn’t

The real impact of credit cards, loans, late payments, inquiries, credit counseling, and more

 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; Updated edition (February 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0137016611
• ISBN-13: 978-0137016617
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #226,817 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #72 in

  Books > Business & Investing > Personal Finance > Credit Ratings & Repair

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A clear and compact credit roadmap, June 11, 2009

By	ck "moonshadow" (Hawaii nei) - See all my reviews

(What's this?)

Every week, it seems, a new wrinkle in the country's economic condition comes to light. Local governments, banks and industry are facing shortfalls, and the effects of their reactions are having a deeper impact than ever on individuals' financial situations.

The current situation reminds me of some odd cross between rush-hour gridlock and the scene at a major airport hub when the next-to-the-last flight of the day is on indeterminate delay because of a mechanical.

In all three situations, we as individuals probably contributed little if anything to the problem. Choosing and implementing the major resolutions likewise is out of our hands. However, that doesn't mean we can't get off the clogged artery onto a smoother feeder street, hit the speed dial on a cellphone to get protected on an alternate flight, or manage our financial history and future choices in a way that gives us the best array of choices on anything from loans to insurance coverage.

In her newly updated "Your Credit Score" Your Credit Score, Your Money & What's at Stake (Updated Edition): How to Improve the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future, Liz Pulliam Weston starts with the home truths of credit and financial management. She presents information clearly but not preachily, in a manner that is useful to high schoolers who are evaluating college financial-aid offers and young adults looking to build or rehabilitate a credit history.

However, this is not just a beginner's book. With the recent rockiness of the credit market, many Americans who've got healthy, long-term credit histories are receiving unwelcome word from lenders about rate hikes, fee changes and decreases in credit lines. Others are coping with having been laid off or preparing for possible downsizing at work. Weston provides specific steps to use in evaluating how to deal with a personal credit crisis. Sections of the book dealing with identity theft and improving your credit score are clear roadmaps helping you get to the place you want to be with the fewest detours, slowdowns and roadblocks.

One of the best elements of this book, in my opinion, is that Weston works strictly with facts -- and presents them clearly and in way so that readers can take action. For example, she devotes one chapter to debunking 10 credit-scoring myths; heeding her advice here and throughout the book could easily save you a painful occurrence. Fully aware that knowledge is power, she starts readers off with a nine-page contents section suited for quick reference as well as for margin scribbling or sticky-noting.

She's researched the secretive and lucrative world of the credit-reporting firms and provides specific explanations of how data is gathered and evaluated. Her data and analysis of credit scoring and Fair Isaac's FICO 08 overhaul are particularly valuable. Throughout, she provides suggested tactics individuals can use to make choices that are in their own best interest. She explains how to verify whether the information in the credit marketplace about you is correct; how and whether to fix it if it's not; and how to evaluate choices that you face moving forward.

Since I believe she deserves every penny of the price of this book, the only specific tip of hers I'll mention is that the more recent an event (whether good or bad), the greater its impact. That said, now's the time to make the most informed decisions you can. The cost of this book and the time you spend implementing the parts that best apply to your situation will pay back your investment many times over.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Practical advice on credit score tuning, June 12, 2009

By	Damodar Chetty (Minnesota, US [www.swengsol.com]) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

(What's this?)

The book begins by establishing the importance of a good credit score. While the example that demonstrates this is obviously fictional, it is still a sobering reminder that the cost of credit is something that we usually do not consider when making a purchase.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I think of myself as a fairly informed consumer, and yet, I learned some new things from this book.

Some key nuggets:

# a payment normally has to be at least 30 days overdue before a creditor reports it to the bureaus, so you can probably stop worrying about that utility bill that you forgot to mail in until a week after it was due.

# Not all debt is equal. You should pay down debt on cards that are closer to the maximum credit limit on that card. In particular, your balance should not exceed 10-30% of your total credit limit.

# Lenders usually report your balance on the closing date for an account to the credit rating agencies. So even if you pay off your credit cards every month, the balance on your card on that reporting day is what affects your credit score. You should try to pay off your balance a few days before the closing date to ensure that you have more head room between your balance and your max credit limit.

# Don't close your oldest credit accounts. This is because the age of your oldest account and the average age of all your accounts affects your final score.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

On a very subjective level, I found the general level of advice in the book to be fairly ordinary. For example, while its hard to argue with advice like: Don't raid your retirement accounts, Keep a rainy day fund, Buy only as much house as you need, and Pay off your credit card balances; its still hard to think of this as anything but common wisdom.

However, what I considered off-topic digression for a book titled "Your Credit Score", may just as easily be seen by others as providing a holistic perspective on credit.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The "must read" chapters of this book are chps. 4 and 5 - both of which give you invaluable tips on how to tune up your credit score. This is where the heart of this book can be found.


Happy Reading!

- Damodar

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable book scores in more ways than one, May 30, 2009

By	R. Walker "pseudo-savant" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

(What's this?)

This updated edition (there's an updated Introduction, several references to the current credit and banking crisis, and an explanation of FICO 08, the new version of FICO) of YOUR CREDIT SCORE, YOUR MONEY & WHAT'S AT STAKE turned out to be a lot more valuable to me than I thought. I had a good idea of what went into making one's FICO credit score, but this book debunked a few important myths I believed. As Liz Pulliam Weston explains in the first chapter, "Why Your Credit Score Matters," even a little ignorance about how to make your score higher can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in higher interest payments over the course of a lifetime.

For example, paying your credit card balances in full each month, while a money-saving good idea, has no bearing on your score. What matters is how close your balance is to your credit limit, regardless of whether you pay it in full or not. The biggest myth? That closing accounts will help raise your score. According to Weston, closing accounts will never raise your score and can frequently lower it. There are several other tidbits where those came from!

At the time of this review, the "Search Inside this Book" function is unavailable, so I think it might be helpful to include the chapter listings:

1 - Why Your Credit Score Matters
2 - How Credit Scoring Works
3 - VantageScore - A Revolution or Just More of the Same?
4 - Improving Your Score - The Right Way
5 - Credit-Scoring Myths
6 - Coping with a Credit Crisis
7 - Rebuilding Your Score After a Credit Disaster
8 - Identify Theft and Your Credit
9 - Emergency! Fixing Your Credit Score Fast
10 - Insurance and Your Credit Score
11 - Keeping Your Score Healthy

While not all of the chapters were useful to my situation, and a lot of the information was known to me, I learned something useful in almost every one. I found the chapter about Insurance (how and why insurers base rates on your credit score) to be especially educational.

I got a LOT of use out of this book. It is clearly written and a quick read. It's hard to overestimate how important a person's credit score is to his or her financial life. Highly recommended.