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Your Credit Score, Your Money & What's at Stake (Updated Edition): How to Improve the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future

Your Credit Score, Your Money & What's at Stake (Updated Edition): How to Improve the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial FutureAuthor: Liz Pulliam Weston
Publisher: FT Press
Category: Book

List Price: $18.99
Buy New: $8.98
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Seller: pink_terrace
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 50 reviews
Sales Rank: 36800

Media: Paperback
Edition: Updated
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7

ISBN: 0137016611
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.743
EAN: 9780137016617
ASIN: 0137016611

Publication Date: February 19, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Features:
  • ISBN13: 9780137016617
  • Condition: New
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  • Kindle Edition - Your Credit Score, Your Money & What's at Stake (Updated Edition): How to Improve the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future
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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description

“A great credit score can help you finish rich! Liz Pulliam Weston gives solid, easy-to-understand advice about how to improve your credit fast. Read this book and prosper.”

David Bach, bestselling author of The Automatic Millionaire and The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner

“Excellent book! Insightful, well written, and surprisingly interesting. Liz Pulliam Weston has done an outstanding job demystifying an often intimidating and frustrating topic for the benefit of all consumers.”

Eric Tyson, syndicated columnist and bestselling author of Personal Finance for Dummies

“No one makes complex financial information easy to understand like Liz Pulliam Weston. Her straight-talk and wise advice are invaluable to anyone with a credit card or check book–and that’s just about all of us.”

Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D., author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office and Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich

“In a country where consumers increasingly pay more when they have bad credit, Liz Pulliam Weston’s book provides excellent tips and advice on ways to improve your credit history and raise your credit score. If you just apply one or two of her insightful suggestions, you’ll save many times the cost of this book.”

Ilyce R. Glink, financial reporter, talk show host, and bestselling author of 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask

“Your credit score can save you money or cost you money–sometimes a lot of money. Yet, most people don’t even know their scores, much less know how to make them better. Liz Pulliam Weston can help you fix that. In this easy-to-understand guide you’ll learn how to make sure your score helps you get the best deal on loans and insurance. You can’t afford not to read it.”

Gerri Detweiler, consumer advocate and founder of UltimateCredit.com

The #1 Best-Selling Guide to Improving Your Credit Score...

Now Thoroughly Updated for the Financial Crisis!

In post-crash America, it’s tough to get credit...and even tougher to get rates and terms you can afford. That makes your credit score more important than ever before. Now, MSN Money/L.A. Times personal finance columnist Liz Pulliam Weston has updated her best-selling book on credit scores to show how you can maximize your score right now–and save yourself a fortune!

Weston reveals the tough new realities of borrowing and credit scoring, and shows why they aren’t going to change any time soon. She rips away the mystery surrounding credit scoring, including the FICO 08 overhaul, and tells you exactly how to use the new system to maximize your score.

You’ll learn how to fight back against lenders who want to lower your limits or raise your rates...bounce back from bad credit and bankruptcy...choose the right credit solutions and avoid options that only make things worse. One step at a time, Weston will help you build (or rebuild) your credit score–so you can get the credit you need and deserve!

Survive a credit crisis, one step at a time

How to protect or rebuild your credit score after a major financial setback

Fix your credit score in as little as 72 hours

Rapid rescoring: what it can fix, what it can’t fix, and how to use it

Don’t let the myths of credit scoring cost you a fortune!

What you’ve been told just isn’t true: how credit scores really work

What drives your score–and what doesn’t

The real impact of credit cards, loans, late payments, inquiries, credit counseling, and more



Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 50
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5 out of 5 stars Valuable book scores in more ways than one   May 30, 2009
R. Walker (Houston, TX)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

This updated edition (there's an updated Introduction, several references to the current credit and banking crisis, and an explanation of FICO 08, the new version of FICO) of YOUR CREDIT SCORE, YOUR MONEY & WHAT'S AT STAKE turned out to be a lot more valuable to me than I thought. I had a good idea of what went into making one's FICO credit score, but this book debunked a few important myths I believed. As Liz Pulliam Weston explains in the first chapter, "Why Your Credit Score Matters," even a little ignorance about how to make your score higher can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in higher interest payments over the course of a lifetime.

For example, paying your credit card balances in full each month, while a money-saving good idea, has no bearing on your score. What matters is how close your balance is to your credit limit, regardless of whether you pay it in full or not. The biggest myth? That closing accounts will help raise your score. According to Weston, closing accounts will never raise your score and can frequently lower it. There are several other tidbits where those came from!

At the time of this review, the "Search Inside this Book" function is unavailable, so I think it might be helpful to include the chapter listings:

1 - Why Your Credit Score Matters
2 - How Credit Scoring Works
3 - VantageScore - A Revolution or Just More of the Same?
4 - Improving Your Score - The Right Way
5 - Credit-Scoring Myths
6 - Coping with a Credit Crisis
7 - Rebuilding Your Score After a Credit Disaster
8 - Identify Theft and Your Credit
9 - Emergency! Fixing Your Credit Score Fast
10 - Insurance and Your Credit Score
11 - Keeping Your Score Healthy

While not all of the chapters were useful to my situation, and a lot of the information was known to me, I learned something useful in almost every one. I found the chapter about Insurance (how and why insurers base rates on your credit score) to be especially educational.

I got a LOT of use out of this book. It is clearly written and a quick read. It's hard to overestimate how important a person's credit score is to his or her financial life. Highly recommended.


5 out of 5 stars A clear and compact credit roadmap   June 11, 2009
ck (Hawaii nei)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

Every week, it seems, a new wrinkle in the country's economic condition comes to light. Local governments, banks and industry are facing shortfalls, and the effects of their reactions are having a deeper impact than ever on individuals' financial situations.

The current situation reminds me of some odd cross between rush-hour gridlock and the scene at a major airport hub when the next-to-the-last flight of the day is on indeterminate delay because of a mechanical.

In all three situations, we as individuals probably contributed little if anything to the problem. Choosing and implementing the major resolutions likewise is out of our hands. However, that doesn't mean we can't get off the clogged artery onto a smoother feeder street, hit the speed dial on a cellphone to get protected on an alternate flight, or manage our financial history and future choices in a way that gives us the best array of choices on anything from loans to insurance coverage.

In her newly updated "Your Credit Score" Your Credit Score, Your Money & What's at Stake (Updated Edition): How to Improve the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future, Liz Pulliam Weston starts with the home truths of credit and financial management. She presents information clearly but not preachily, in a manner that is useful to high schoolers who are evaluating college financial-aid offers and young adults looking to build or rehabilitate a credit history.

However, this is not just a beginner's book. With the recent rockiness of the credit market, many Americans who've got healthy, long-term credit histories are receiving unwelcome word from lenders about rate hikes, fee changes and decreases in credit lines. Others are coping with having been laid off or preparing for possible downsizing at work. Weston provides specific steps to use in evaluating how to deal with a personal credit crisis. Sections of the book dealing with identity theft and improving your credit score are clear roadmaps helping you get to the place you want to be with the fewest detours, slowdowns and roadblocks.

One of the best elements of this book, in my opinion, is that Weston works strictly with facts -- and presents them clearly and in way so that readers can take action. For example, she devotes one chapter to debunking 10 credit-scoring myths; heeding her advice here and throughout the book could easily save you a painful occurrence. Fully aware that knowledge is power, she starts readers off with a nine-page contents section suited for quick reference as well as for margin scribbling or sticky-noting.

She's researched the secretive and lucrative world of the credit-reporting firms and provides specific explanations of how data is gathered and evaluated. Her data and analysis of credit scoring and Fair Isaac's FICO 08 overhaul are particularly valuable. Throughout, she provides suggested tactics individuals can use to make choices that are in their own best interest. She explains how to verify whether the information in the credit marketplace about you is correct; how and whether to fix it if it's not; and how to evaluate choices that you face moving forward.

Since I believe she deserves every penny of the price of this book, the only specific tip of hers I'll mention is that the more recent an event (whether good or bad), the greater its impact. That said, now's the time to make the most informed decisions you can. The cost of this book and the time you spend implementing the parts that best apply to your situation will pay back your investment many times over.



5 out of 5 stars Lots of VERY useful tips   July 19, 2009
Juniorverse1
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I thought I knew a good deal about credit and what makes up my credit score, but with the recent downturn in the credit market and some of the games the credit card companies have been playing with my credit lately, I thought it would be a good idea to read this book. I'm glad I did.

Out of respect for the authors and the publishing company, I won't rehash any of the information here. But this book has a lot more very helpful information than just info about how credit scores are calculated. This book has some great information about the different types of bankruptcy, the best ways and places to borrow money from, tips on credit counseling and debt management, and the best ways to repair your credit if you need to.

It's a great book for everyone, especially during these difficult financial times!


5 out of 5 stars Everyone Needs to Read it   June 4, 2010
Bojan Tunguz (Greencastle, IN USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

For anyone living today in the US their credit score is one of the most important pieces of financial information that they can have. And yet, until just under a decade ago most regular consumers did not have an access to it. Even today this score is not easy to obtain and one must go through one of a few specialized agencies that provide it. However, since so much of your financial well being depends on having good credit, everyone should go through the effort of obtaining their credit score. Even if you don't use any credit cards and like to buy everything with cash, your credit score influences the kind of credit that you can get for your mortgage or car insurance.

This book helps you make sense of your credit score. It tells you where and how to obtain it, and what different numerical values of that score mean in practical terms. The book will also help you with a lot of good and useful advice on how to improve your credit rating. It will also dispel many myths that have become part of popular lore about how to improve your credit score, such as by closing several of your credit card accounts. It turns out that most of the time such action will have an adverse impact on your credit score.

The book also discusses such issues as personal bankruptcy - whether it is a right decision for you, what kind may make the most sense for your personal circumstances, and what sort of impact it will have on your credit rating in the long run.

You can also read here about how to deal with creditors, what your rights are as a consumer, and when it makes the most sense to pay off your debts even if they may be disputed.

The book is extremely readable and eminently practical. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about their credit rating.


5 out of 5 stars Great Information and up-to-date   June 13, 2009
Michael (Fairfax County, Virginia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This was a great source of information. While I knew many of the items mentioned by the author regarding various myths and things to help your credit score, I found out a few I didn't. And the info was current.

It was an easy read and I learned things just about in most of the chapters. I now have to go back to the pages I marked up and follow up on the info.

It's amazing the little 'changes' that credit card issuers do to ultimately effect your credit score. This book helped me understand those 'changes' a bit better. I remember years ago one of the card holders lowered my credit limit to just above what I owed them (at an attractive for life rate). Prior to that change my use of the available credit was less than 50%. After, it was 95%. So, my credit score changed. Thanks credit card bank. When I pay it off I will not be using that card again except once every six months to keep it active. I don't want the bank canceling it for lack of use, which has happened to me. And guess what -- when they do that down goes my available credit. Another ploy to change my score.

I highly recommend this book. Read it (it's a quick read) and come back from time to time to refresh your memory.

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