Who is at Fault?

"It's important for you to know that if you have a bad credit score, it's not your fault!"


The above advertisement has been screaming over the airwaves lately. It scares me to think of the number of people who may be listening to it thinking, "Hey, this dude is on to something. It's not my fault. I've been screwed by the credit card companies!"

But it's so wrong because if you have a bad credit score, it's totally your fault!

I think back to the day we signed our HELOC loan. (oh the horrors to think back to that dreadful day...) The lady we worked with informed us, "You have one of the best credit scores we've seen in awhile!" In my head, I was doing an Austin Powers "Yeah, Baby!"

Now I know better. I realize her statement really meant, "Wow you've borrowed a lot of money but at least you are making regular payments!" While it's better to have a good credit score than a bad one, an awesome credit score only means you're good at going into debt. Nothing to be proud of.