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

Introduction to the Updated Edition

“In recent years, a simple three-digit number has become critical to your financial life.”

That is the sentence that opens Chapter 1 of this book. In previous editions, the statement was a surprise to many readers.

Although most people had heard of credit scores, I’d found relatively few really understood the pervasive impact these numbers have in our financial systems and our day-to-day lives.

Now, their impact is obvious, thanks to the financial crisis that began in 2008.

In the years leading up to the implosion, lenders that had once used credit scores as a factor in their decisions started to rely on them almost exclusively, ignoring other important details such as the borrower’s income, assets, ...