Your Score

An Insider's Secrets to Understanding, Controlling, and Protecting Your Credit Score

Anthony Davenport, Matthew Rudy

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781328694652
• Topic: Desarrollo personal
• Subtopic: Finanzas personales

"Does a phenomenal job of pulling back the curtain and giving you a first-hand peek inside the hidden, often frustrating, world of credit scoring."— Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, New York Times bestselling author of Zero Debt A healthy credit score is essential for a healthy financial life. But the precise mechanisms used to determine our credit scores are shrouded in mystery. Consumers aren't usually told how their score is being used by all kinds of companies and banks to dictate financial terms that will strongly affect their daily lives. So when consumers interact with the world of credit, they do so from a position of weakness. With this revelatory guide, Anthony Davenport aims to change that. Finally, here is a consumer-friendly road map for understanding and navigating the secretive world of consumer credit. Davenport reveals where your credit score comes from, how to improve, maintain, or rescue it, and how to avoid hidden credit pitfalls. Your Score is an accessible manual designed to help you take control of your credit score and better navigate all the important financial decisions in your life. "Anthony Davenport not only understands credit, but truly believes everyone should be empowered to understand it for themselves. You won't find this level of honest information anywhere else."—Tiki Barber, cohost of Tiki & Tierney and former NFL running back "This is a masterful work... The time it takes to read this book will produce extraordinary returns."—Mark Gerson, chairman, Gerson Lehrman Group "Davenport offers a handy, one-stop guide to understanding—and fixing—your credit score... A clearheaded, must-read guide for anyone looking to decode the most influential number of them all."— Publishers Weekly

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

abusive relationships, 107

action plan for credit problems, 64–65

age and credit profile, 36

aggravated identity theft, 113

American Express (Amex)

bankruptcy and, 181

Centurion (black) card, 25, 99, 100, 146–47

credit scores and, 5, 6, 99, 100

delinquency or default and, 61, 105

divorce and credit accounts with, 168

penalty rate reviews, 102

Platinum card, 99, 100, 144, 146–47

amounts owed and credit scores, 19–21

annual percentage rate (APR), 98, 99–100

anti-virus software, 125

authorized users on credit accounts, 141–43, 145, 146, 167, 174–75, 176, 181

auto lenders, 2

B

Bank of America, xii–xiii, 82, 118

bankruptcy

car and life insurance and, 11–12

credit card spiral and, 105

as credit crisis, 165

credit profiles and, 39–40

on credit reports, 12, 28

credit score recovery after, 71

debts that can’t be discharged in, 9, 41, 42–43, 152, 178

exemption rules, 179

financial crisis of late 2000s and, 163–64

medical debt and, 121

potential, professional help for, 66

recovering from, 177–83

revolving accounts and, 42

settlement agreements vs., 58

student loans and, 152

C

Capitol One

Platinum card, 110

secured card, 143–44, 174

Venture Rewards, 110

car insurance, 11–12, 146

car loans

bankruptcy and, 181–82

in credit account hierarchy, 41, 43

credit history and, 19

credit profile and, 47–48

credit reports...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Introduction: A Cautionary Tale
• What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
• What’s in Your Score?
• Building the Perfect Credit Profile
• Gaming the System
• The Five Biggest Credit Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Preparing Your Credit Score for a New Home Purchase
• The Care and Feeding of Credit Cards
• Protecting Your Credit Score from Identity Theft
• The “Newbie”: Establishing Credit for the First Time
• Higher Education: Navigating the School Loan Landscape
• Disaster Relief: Surviving Divorce, Foreclosure, and Bankruptcy
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author
• Connect with HMH
• Footnotes