New Threats to Your Credit Score
According to a recent article on MSN/Money, an increasing number of municipalities are turning over unpaid library fines, parking tickets, traffic fines, etc. to collection agencies. Thus, these sorts of things are now starting to turn up on people’s credit reports, wreaking havoc with their FICO scores. The unfortunate thing is that such indiscretions may have more to do with absent-mindedness than with a lack of creditworthiness, but they count just the same. So be careful not to let such things slide by, or you might inadvertently wreck your credit.
Disclaimer: Discover is a paid advertiser of this site.
Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the Discover online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards.
Modified on January 7th, 2013 - 3 Comments
Filed under: Credit Cards
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
Related articles...
» One Year Ago This Week (July 9th – July 15th)» From the Archives (July 8th – July 14th)
» Five Ways to Hurt Your Credit Score
» $4.60 Worth of Laziness
» Another Reason to Value Your Credit Score
» Effect of a Short Sale on Your Credit Score
» Yet Another Reason to Value Your Credit Score
» What’s the Lowest Possible Credit Score?
Was this article useful? Please sign up to receive our content via e-mail:
3 Responses to “New Threats to Your Credit Score”
Leave a Reply
Top Cards by Category
Earn 100 Reward Dollars after you make $1,000 in purchases in the first three months of Cardmembership.
Bonus Miles: Earn 30,000 bonus miles toward Award Travel after you spend $500 on the Card within the first three months of Cardmembership. Earn As You Spend: Get 2X miles on Delta purchases and 1X miles for all other eligible dollars spent.
Consumer friendly credit card with a great low rate of 7.25% and save on interest charges. No balance transfer fees and no annual fee.
The new Discover it card is out to change the way people think about credit cards. No annual fee. No overlimit fee. No foreign transaction fee & no pay-by-phone fee. No late fee on your first late payment. And Discover won't increase your APR for paying late.*
The new Discover it card is out to change the way people think about credit cards. No annual fee. No overlimit fee. No foreign transaction fee & no pay-by-phone fee. No late fee on your first late payment. And Discover won't increase your APR for paying late.*
Consumer friendly credit card with a great low rate of 7.25% and save on interest charges. No balance transfer fees and no annual fee.
Limited Time Offer: Get 25,000 Membership Rewards(R) points after you spend $5,000 in the first three months of Card membership. Enroll and select a qualifying airline to receive up to $200 annually in statement credits for incidental fees, such as checked bags and in-flight refreshments, charged by the airline.
The new Discover it card is out to change the way people think about credit cards. No annual fee. No overlimit fee. No foreign transaction fee & no pay-by-phone fee. No late fee on your first late payment. And Discover won't increase your APR for paying late.*
- How to Become a Millionaire
- How to Get Out of Debt
- The Best Dollars I've Ever Spent
- How Our Estate Plan is Structured
- How We Paid Our Mortgage In Less than 10 Years
- Money Making Ideas
- How to Manage Your Asset Allocation with Multiple Accounts
- Consumption Smoothing - Save While the Saving's Good
- How to Save on Groceries
- How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?
- Eleven Great Books About Money
- Dave Ramsey is Bad at Math
- Dish Network Customer Service SUCKS
- $8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Pay Off Mortgage Early or Invest?
- How to Claim the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Termite Control: Sentricon vs. Termidor
- How Much Should You Pay a Babysitter?
- Ethanol Blended Gas = Lower Mileage?
- Reduced Credit Limits? Share Your Experience
- $15,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Will Mac OS X Lion Kill Quicken 2007?
- Federal Income Tax Rates Went Down but Your Federal Tax Withholding Increased. Here's Why...
How to save money on insurance
- More money, more happiness: Do you think money can buy happiness?
- Overdraft fees soared to $32 billion in 2012
- How do you combat prom inflation?
- How should you choose a bank? Look in the mirror.
- The cost of clean water
- College debt 101
- Is it possible to live debt free?
- How to prepare for a home appraisal
- Home prices are up: good news or bad?
- A bit of foolishness
July 11th, 2005 at 1:37 pm
I would say that these things indicate that a person is not as responsible as the average person (after all, if you consistently forget to return your library books, can a company be certain that you’ll remember to pay your bill?). On the other hand, credit card companies love absent-minded people because then they can charge extra late fees!
July 11th, 2005 at 1:41 pm
Good point. However, is honestly forgetting to pay a bill on time a reliable predictor of whether or not you will *default* on your debt obligations? That, after all, is what creditors are really afraid of. As you point out, they might actually enjoy being able to tag you for a bunch of extra late fees, etc.
July 11th, 2005 at 9:48 pm
A debt is a debt … a quarter to your co-worker when you’re short at lunch is a debt, and it should be repaid just like your parking tickets or your mortgage. Intentional or not, forgetting to repay something that is owed indicates a higher risk of default, which is what the credit score measures.