I recently ran into a financial problem having lost two regular customers who were good for about 1/4 - 1/3 of my annual income. I also have some much needed home and shop repairs and improvements that should be done yet this fall as well.
I went in last week and talked to my bank about the very low interest rate home equity loans they are offering right now. What I got in return for asking was what I feel is rather odd and possibly bad financial advice.
Heres what happened and what was recommended.
I have a fair but not great credit rating. I had a student loan with another bank thats been horribly screwed up for some time and when ever I think it has been cleared up it seems to just developed a new problem.
That dropped my credit score a fair amount but whats really got me confused is that I also was docked considerable credit points because I have not had a credit card in over 8 years and I have rarely taken out loans for anything. And when I have taken a loan I paid it off far faster than the length time it was written for.
To help my credit score this advice was given to me.
Sign up for several credit cards and run them up to near the upper limits and just pay off the minimum due for around a year or so.
To me that seem absolutely irresponsible and just stupid. I live within my means and budget my money fairly well. I dont use credit cards and loans because I dont like owing money. I was basically made to feel that by being financially responsible and living within my present means makes me a bad person by banking standards. WTF?
If I am in debt over my head and have no real way of paying it off I am qualified for a very low interest loan but if I dont owe anything to anybody and haven't for many years and typically pay things off as needed I am only qualified for a very high interest loan.
Does any one else find this odd or is this actually whats considered normal personal financial management practices now and are encouraged by banks everywhere?
I went in last week and talked to my bank about the very low interest rate home equity loans they are offering right now. What I got in return for asking was what I feel is rather odd and possibly bad financial advice.
Heres what happened and what was recommended.
I have a fair but not great credit rating. I had a student loan with another bank thats been horribly screwed up for some time and when ever I think it has been cleared up it seems to just developed a new problem.
That dropped my credit score a fair amount but whats really got me confused is that I also was docked considerable credit points because I have not had a credit card in over 8 years and I have rarely taken out loans for anything. And when I have taken a loan I paid it off far faster than the length time it was written for.
To help my credit score this advice was given to me.
Sign up for several credit cards and run them up to near the upper limits and just pay off the minimum due for around a year or so.
To me that seem absolutely irresponsible and just stupid. I live within my means and budget my money fairly well. I dont use credit cards and loans because I dont like owing money. I was basically made to feel that by being financially responsible and living within my present means makes me a bad person by banking standards. WTF?
If I am in debt over my head and have no real way of paying it off I am qualified for a very low interest loan but if I dont owe anything to anybody and haven't for many years and typically pay things off as needed I am only qualified for a very high interest loan.
Does any one else find this odd or is this actually whats considered normal personal financial management practices now and are encouraged by banks everywhere?