Anyone Listening on Credit Scores?

Filed in archive Credit on July 25, 2007

This morning I was reading my not-favorite local newspaper columnist righteously taking to task parents who allow their children to do bad things and then have the audacity to blame the police or others in the community when their kids get in trouble. I was in agreement with everything she said-some parents need to understand their kid's a thug and it's nobody else's fault but their own. However, as I read, all I could think to myself was that everyone reading the article would be nodding righteously and saying to themselves, "That's right. I taught my kid to fly right. These other parents should be ashamed." And therein lies the problem. The only people reading the self-righteous column are the self-righteous people in complete agreement-this is known as "preaching to the choir." I'm almost positive that none of the column's readers have thug kids and said to themselves, "She's right. I need to parent with a stronger hand."

This of course leads me to the subject of credit scores.

What's that you say? How do we go from thug kids to credit scores? Let me explain.

I was reading this article from Kimberly Palmer in U.S. News & World Report today on credit scores. In it she quotes a study showing that 40% of people have never seen their credit score. The article is very helpful in discussing what a credit score is, why it's important to know it and keep it as high as possible, and how to raise it if it's low. Good stuff, right?

Yes, except... How many of those 40% of people that have never seen their credit score are going to read that article and decide today's the day to lose their credit score virginity? How many are going to take the information they learned in that article and start working on improving their scores?

Or I might ask, and this gets back to my original thesis on the thug kids, how many of the people who read this article on credit scores, or one of the many other personal finance articles discussing credit scores, are people that are already well-versed on credit scores and are reading the article with a smug smile on their faces because their scores are impeccable and they never get turned down for a loan and always get the best rates? Is the credit score discussion just preaching to the choir?

Personal finance articles are often great sources of information for those who want the information-the problem is that the people who need them the most never read them, if they read anything. Whether it's credit scores or putting away 10% or taking advantage of a company's 401(k) or disciplining your children so they don't think the world owes them a kiss on the behind, you only use the information if you get it in the first place. And I see too much evidence, both in the financial world and the real world, that the people who need help the most are the least interested in getting it.

Thus ends my negative, cynical view of the world for today. I'll try to be more positive tomorrow.