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Education Help

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SSgtUSMC
New Contributor

Education Help

To all:

 

    My name is SSgt Vasquez and I am in the USMC currently deployed to Iraq.  I want to give my Marines some training on understanding their credit reports and how to improve their FICO scores.  I have reviewed allot of information on here but wanted to ask all of you if anyone had any additional pertinent information which may assist me whether it be a Power Point Presentation or Word document.  I am by no means an expert but I want to give my Marines the best class I can present to them.  They will be returning from this deployment with a substantial amount of money and want them to understand the hazards of buying that new car or splurging all of their money away.  Any assistance or information is greatly appreciated.

 

If I put this is the wrong section of the forum I apologize.

 

P. Vasquez

SSgt  USMC

Message 1 of 11
10 REPLIES 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Education Help

Hello
My husband is a former Marine and I understand exactly what you mean. I don't have any powerpoint presentations to assist you with the request but what I find really handy are the score simulators. You can google that. You put in a score for educations purposes then it can simulate what it can do should you go and buy a car, etc. Give that a try.
 
Thank you for all that you, your men and women, and families.
Semper Fi.
Message 2 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Education Help

Hi Ssgt, welcome to the forum. I'd like to say to  you and your troops, God bless you all for serving your country. We are VERY proud of you. Smiley Happy

 

You put your question in the best place.

 

There is a wealth of educational tools on the myFiCO website. Take a look at the menu bar at the top of the page, under "Credit Education". There are a lot of invaluable tools, 2 of which are downloadable pamplets in .pdf format for handouts regarding credit and credit scores containted in the Support section of the menu titled: Understanding Credit Reports, and Common Definitions & Terms.

 

There are several educational videos in the Credit Education section as well.

 

Here is one of the most important pieces of information one could have, once the basics of understanding of credit reports have been taught:

 

What’s in your FICO® score

FICO Scores are calculated from a lot of different credit data in your credit report. This data can be grouped into five categories as outlined below. The percentages in the chart reflect how important each of the categories is in determining your FICO score.


Payment history: 35%, Amounts owed: 30%, Length of credit history: 15%, New credit: 10%, Types of credit used: 10%

If you or your troops have questions, please ask away. We want to support you all in any way we can.

 

I wish you safe passage, and safe journey back home. Be well.

Syl
Message 3 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Education Help

Once a Marine always a Marine-
 
No such thing as a "former" Marine-
 
Semper Fi
Message 4 of 11
Junejer
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Education Help

Semper Fi Marine. Ooh rah!






Starting Score: 469
Current Score: 849
Goal Score: 850

Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Message 5 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Education Help

SSgt,
 
My husband is a MSgt and got back from Iraq in September Smiley Happy I'm KVC for his battalion... When you get this put together, would you be interested in sharing it with me? This would be a fantastic presentation to share w/ the wives, too... DH's MOS receives some of the highest reenlistment bonuses in the USMC, and we've seen some pretty silly ways to spend it, in addition to the general blowing of every red cent of the haz duty pay, per diem, etc during the deployment..
I'd love to use something like this as part of the predeployment brief & maybe even with some contacts at MCCS.
 
-ivyalmighty
Message 6 of 11
SSgtUSMC
New Contributor

Re: Education Help

Ma'am,
    That should be no problem at all and I would be glad to help out fellow Marines.  I never received this types of classes so it was late when I started worrying about a savings account and limiting my credit card use.  Marines nowadays get alot of money for re-enlistment or when deployed and really don't know how to save it or use it to pay down their debt.  They just think that they have to go out and buy a new car/motorcycle or any other material items and at the end of the day they have even more debt than what they started with.  I am putting together a class for when we are due to return home about what to do/not to do with all their saved money and I am also giving a class here in the near future so they can start looking at their credit reports and fixing discrepancies.  This is a great time for them to start paying down their credit card debt and in turn improving their credit scores.  This will allow them to get the best deal should they decide to get that car/motorcycle.  I will keep you potsed and share any information I acquire with you.
 
Semper Fi,
P. Vasquez
SSgt  USMC
 
"Ductus Exemplo"
Message 7 of 11
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Education Help

Thanks for doing this! We get a lot of posts from young active duty members that have done the same thing and are trying to dig out. I would also mention that it's a good time for them to get in with Navy FCU and USAA. They'll have to have some sort of insurance with USAA, like renter's insurance, for it to carry over after they separate from the service.

Someone mentioned earlier using the score simulators, and I think that they meant the score estimators. Here's the link:

http://www.myfico.com/FICOCreditScoreEstimator/Estimator.aspx

The simulator comes with individual FICO score reports for your Equifax and TransUnion scores, but the estimator will work for anyone. If someone is working off a specific score report, they should only enter the information from that one report. So if they have 8 inquiries overall, but only 2 on the report they're looking at, they should enter "2" in that section.

This mostly-grown-up Army brat sends thanks and prayers for your safety to you and your Marines!
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 8 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Education Help

Hauling is right -
We have a personal loan, car loan & now a CC (as of yesterday! Yay!) through NFCU and for next-to-nothing, you can get insurance on each loan you take out through them. Remember though, the insurance is only for the primary acc't holder, so for example if you're primary and your WIFE loses her job, the insurance will not kick in. We learned that the hard way when I had to quit work b/c of DH's brain tumor. HOWEVER, it took almost a month and a half for the insurance company to process the claim & that info to trickle down, and NFCU kept our payments on hold the whole time while we found this out. When it eventually came back that our claim wasn't eligible b/c he still got his normal pay, NFCU held the payments, and did NOT put a 30-day late on our credit report. THey were amazing to work with, and despite paying almost two months late, they were understanding of the situation & the insurance process, and didn't punish us at all. I don't think you'd get that at most other financial institutions.
Think about how helpful this would be to have for when you get out of the USMC: One would hope they have a smooth job transition, but in case you don't, you can file the insurance claim.
And this is NOT a deal where they just pile those payments on the back end. For about $3 for every $1K financed, you are guaranteed that they will take over the payments for you for up to 16 months. The ins will pay the payments, so you don't have to stress about it, and there is no repayment, no nothing. It's a really fabulous plan.
 
P.S. .. we were stationed at Gtmo Bay for a 3-yr tour, and NFCU is the only bank on the base! So it's great to have for that reason, too Smiley Wink
Message 9 of 11
Barry
Administrator Emeritus

Re: Education Help

Hi P. Vasquez,

How about sending me your contact info via PM, and I'll see what I can come up with for you.

Thanks for joining the Forums!

Barry



SSgtUSMC wrote:

To all:

    My name is SSgt Vasquez and I am in the USMC currently deployed to Iraq.  I want to give my Marines some training on understanding their credit reports and how to improve their FICO scores.  I have reviewed allot of information on here but wanted to ask all of you if anyone had any additional pertinent information which may assist me whether it be a Power Point Presentation or Word document.  I am by no means an expert but I want to give my Marines the best class I can present to them.  They will be returning from this deployment with a substantial amount of money and want them to understand the hazards of buying that new car or splurging all of their money away.  Any assistance or information is greatly appreciated.

If I put this is the wrong section of the forum I apologize.

P. Vasquez

SSgt  USMC



Message 10 of 11
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