Atonswife, I can see your point, if this is the way it's changing, then the way the 3 CRA's REPORT and educate consumers has to drastically change. You can't change so suddenly and base all things on credit, when the majority of consumers do NOT understand the process, the process is antiquated, unforgiving and mean to penalize you even AFTER paying (like a paid state lien for crying out loud).
Our kids aren't taught about these things in school-if it's a part of jobs/insurance, etc...THIS should be MANDATORY teaching-since they're coming out and facing these things suddenly.
I am an American citizen, raised overseas, my parents didn't understand credit much either (though both US born we lived many years overseas, no such system)-
When first arrived and getting settled, we came into a lot of debt -manageable at the time until the divorce, the good thing is after my divorce/sale of the house MOST bills were entirely paid off. The MISTAKE:
Co-signing w/my ex that allowed his vehicle to be repoed
2- my mother telling me we should CLOSE all accounts as to not get in debt again. TONS of positive/paid off lines gone and shortened AAoA
3-getting behind in taxes-having NO idea I had a lien, what a lien meant, **bleep** what a credit report meant for the most part
4-not getting into a payment plan w/the two creditors I didn't pay or the state for that matter...granted i was struggling financially really bad there for several years so exra money beyond feeding my kids was tough to come by.
All these things are part of life....doesn't make someone trustworthy or not. I still disagree we should go in this direction-NOT until the entire reporting system is cleaned up/streamlined/updated to reflect more accurately somebody's true 'score'. I mean come on, fico8, vantage, auto 4, auto 2, whatever else, how many 'ways' score differences can you FIND out there?
