EPISODE 56 ~ Improving Your Credit Score Can Save You More You Think

When most people talk about ways to save money, they use phrases like “tightening your belt” and suggest strategies like skipping your daily latte or brown bagging your lunch.  That’s all fine, but most people don’t talk about the biggest money-saver of all: improving your credit score.  That is our featured save more segment of this podcast.  Raising your score lowers the interest rate you are charged for loans, which can easily save you 5 or 6 figures in interest on credit cards, car loans, and mortgages.
My guest is Carolyn Warren, author of the new book “Repair Your Credit Like the Pros” and a working mortgage broker who deals with people and their credit all the time.  Welcome to Easy Money, Carolyn.
 
Carolyn, why are credit scores so important and what’s the number people need to hit in order to get the best possible interest rates on loans?
 
These days, virtually any loan you take out will be based on your credit score.  Lenders give the best rates to people with credit scores of 740 and above. 
 
It’s not just loans, though is it?  Now other businesses, like insurance companies, are using credit scores to decide how much to charge us for car insurance.  You recently blogged about how much an insurance company would charge somebody with a low credit score versus somebody with a DUI.  What was the difference? 
 
Low Credit Score: $1,521 insurance premium
High Credit Score but with a DWI: $1,097 insurance premium
The person with a low credit score pays $424 more than the person with the DWI!  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be a passenger in a car with a driver who had a low score than with an intoxicated driver. 

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