Playing the Game Means Keeping Score

One of the things I battle as part of the natural course of aging is staying aware of the speed of change. And with all things associated with getting older, speed keeps getting faster.

So too with the today’s world of credit. So here we are, in a fairly significant recession, and I’m thinking things will be like they were during the last significant recession in the early 90’s. Not so fast old man.

Today’s lending is credit score-driven. There has been too much investment in technologies and innovation to go back to the days of lenders considering the “character” of the old three “C’s of Credit.”

Nope – it’s all about the score. As people react to the recession by curtailing impulse buying and other spending, we need to be careful that our effort to cut spending doesn’t adversely affect our credit standing at the same time. To emphasize the different financial world we’re in these days, setting your credit cards aside and paying only with cash may be a great way to help rein in spending, but it can actually hurt your credit scores.

Read this interview of a pal, Liz Pulliam Weston, who is one of my favorite experts on credit scoring.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30074146