Stop Throwing Money Away, Prepare Now Before Tax Time

Stop Throwing Money Away, Prepare Now Before Tax Time

Ask yourself: How much do you pay in rent every month?

For the rent that I pay, how much space do I have?

Am I truly happy giving someone money every month without seeing a return?

If you do not like the response to these questions, its time to make a change now. Do you know that every year people get thousands of dollars in tax refund money and in 3-4months they do not know where that money went? I know because I used to be one of those people. So, what did I do...I made a change. Its time to spend your money more wisely.

How do you start doing so? The first step is to understand your credit score.

In this day and time, if you do not understand your FICO score, you do not understand your money. FICO stands for Fair Isaac Corporation; which is the company that created the credit score over 50 years ago. The credit score is a 3 digit number that will determine the interest rate that you will pay for a credit card, auto loan, or any other debt that you are looking to incur. These scores range anywhere from 300-850 in which you should strive to be above 700.

Here is 5 parts of a formula you can use to keep your score as high as possible:

1. Make payments on time. This makes up 35% of your score and is the most important part (Don't buy things you cant afford)

2. Amount owed: Its not about how much debt you have, but about how you owe compared to how much you have been authorized to borrow. Its a debt-to-credit ratio. This is 30% of your score

3. Length of credit history: How long have you had ongoing debts? That's why its important that before you close a credit card, think really hard because that track record is important to you credit reputation. This is 15% of your score.

4. Mix of Credit: This determines if you are responsible for  different types of debt. 10% of your score.

5. Application for new credit: Making an unusual amount of applications in a short period of time is a red flag. This is 10% of your score. (Susan Orman, 2014)

FICO is as important to you as your SAT score when trying to get into college.

KNOW IT AND PROTECT IT

Contact me today to meet about your options and make plans to spend  your tax money right his year.

Til next time,
JC
Jay Cooper
New Realty
443-869-1364