A few years ago, I was talking to a client (Let’s call her Mary) whose home I had financed. We were just catching up with each other and she mentioned she was thinking about buying a new car. I offered to help her look at her finances before she made her decision, and she was thrilled.
It turned out her credit score had dropped some (largely due to the way credit is reported that she was not aware of), and I made some suggestions that helped Mary & her partner John get it back up over 800 again.
You never know when you might be considering a large investment or purchase – whether it be real estate, a car, or a new kitchen. How you manage that decision financially can make a big difference in your net worth 10 years from now.
Mary ended up refinancing their home with me, where I was able to structure a loan for them that paid off a few thousand dollars of credit card debt they’d been carrying, and enough to pay cash for a new used car in excellent condition with low mileage. We were able to do this while rates were low, so their new monthly mortgage payment was actually lower than their old payment had been.
(I also showed my clients how much interest they had paid on those credit cards over a 3-year period. That convinced them to watch their credit cards more and to monitor the balance to limit ratio..)
I do credit coaching as a courtesy for my clients’ and their friends and family*.
Often the goal is for long term planning to work on credit so they will be prepared for future needs that might require financing. (Typically, the better your credit is when you apply for any kind of financing, the more options you have and the lower your financing costs can be). And it doesn’t hurt that insurance rates tend to go down as well as your credit score rises.
It often takes literally a few minutes to do things that improve credit scores over time –
(I offer that to my clients because I enjoy it) — so just call me if you’d like to have a joint phone chat sometime – even if you have no specific plans to do any financing in the near future.
