If everyone's credit score falls, aren't we all set?
Or is every single service in the USA that depends on credit score all going to tank at the same time?
this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2025
109 points (93.6% liked)
News
31115 readers
3123 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.
Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
7. No duplicate posts.
If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners.
The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Joke's on them, my credit score already sucks. I love it when some bill collector threatens to ruin my credit. Good luck, loser.
"You have until 5pm today to take a 20% off discount on your settlement payback. If you don't respond it may reduce your credit score." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What do you mean by soon?…mines been nonexistent for years, decades now!
Not the arbitrary made up numbers that some how go down every time I pay off a car loan!!!
I remember paying off my car loan years ago and it dropping. I'm like.. wait a minute!
It's crazy to me. I just focus on my personal debts and pay off timelines and ignore my credit score these days.
Banks were willing to give me mortgages a couple of months ago that I in no way could afford based off my score (it's actually good). None of this is grounded in reality; prior to 2020 those same fucks wouldn't even pick up the phone for me.
Credit scores could end up being 20 or more points lower, according to financial experts
This, uh.. doesn't sound terribly impactful? My score fluctuates +-50 points just from regular credit utilization, idk what throwing 60k in student loans onto the report would do but - 20 points sounds very optimistic.
Not only is a 20 point drop nothing but if everyone’s score drops 20, nothing has changed.
A 50pt fluctuation is wild, like honestly you should look into why. Getting a mortgage didn't affect my score by 50pts...
The -20 probably assumes you're still making the loan payments.
So I checked my history and you're right, over the last 2 years the wildest swings I've had have been +-20, but I also haven't spent wildly on the cards like I used to, not exceeding 50% utilized in this timeframe.
But I think a mortage being a secured loan probably reduces impact too.
(I'm not a banker or finance person, just someone who's watched their score rollercoaster on apps in my less responsible youth lol)
50% utilization is still enormous. Mine rarely goes above a few % pts
load more comments
(3 replies)
Credit reporting is an evil practise. It needs to end.
Before credit reporting credit decisions were literally determined based on vibes, which of course means rampant discrimination. While I can think of additional protections and reforms to credit reporting, I'm not sure there is a better option for determining credit risk than a centralized credit reporting mechanism like we have now
I don't have a specific policy proposal for you. Needing a long term loan to have access to transportation or a place to live is already a pretty grim situation, but building a punitive and dystopic privacy nightmare on top of that doesn't really meet my criteria for "unpleasant but necessary facts of life, might as well accept it".
We're miles away from a sane reality, and all I'm doing is pointing that out - we're not going to have a good time whether we decide to accept it and let things get worse or start fighting our way back. It's all a nightmare.
Needing a long term loan to have access to transportation or a place to live is already a pretty grim situation
Honestly it wouldn't be such a concern if cost of living was better balanced and a much more robust social safety net was in place. For a money-based society heavily regulated credit scores are probably the best solution to the challenges of fair lending.
I'd even hazard to say the current credit system doesn't require significant reform. There's a lot of consumer protections still on the books unlike other systems in the US that badly need reform. There's predatory credit products that need to be regulated out of existence for sure, and some of the scaled back protections need to be put back, and I can think of a few minor improvements, but it's one system that I honestly think is not far off from its ideal form.
load more comments
(17 replies)
My credit score has consistently been around 750 for a long time and it never helped me in any way at all, anyway.
Mine's been consistently 800+ for years... and it has helped me considerably... repeatedly.
I have one single credit card that I use and pay back regularly. I have no other debt - school loans are paid off, cars are paid off, never late on bills, rent paid on time (they report it to credit bureaus)... I don't even have medical debt.
And yet my credit is mid 600s.
Make it make sense.
One card at $5k limit (making this number up, only you know what you're approved for on your card) doesn't necessarily show worthiness for holding more debt. I have 4 active cards... aggregating about $40k of revolving limits. Of course rarely ever use them and pay them down.
Holding no non-revolving debts can actually hurt you. If you haven't had a car note or mortgage in a long time, they don't know if you're capable of holding such debt effectively anymore. Before we bought a house, I specifically held onto the car notes and only paid the second car off after we secured the mortgage. Of course with a mortgage, I'll be sitting on "debt" (really building equity in the house) for a while. but meeting the terms of that debt monthly only strengthens evidence that I can manage debt correctly, increasing score.
Edit: For you, try to increase your limits on your card. If not take out another card and make a purchase every few months on it to keep it active. As you increase the "allowances" you have, and keep that in check... you'll find your number goes up quite quickly. As far as non-revolving debt, don't take out a loan if you don't need it, but think about sitting on a loan for your next purchase even if you have the cash on hand to build the credit up.
I paid off my last car in 2021. I have no plans for another car payment. 10 years over 2 cars was long enough. I'm nearly 40, married with kids, neither of us have any debt, and we pay our bills on time. And yet my fucking RENTAL still required me to have a fucking COSIGNER. That's an absolute embarrassment.
Holding no non-revolving debts can actually hurt you.
IDK about you, but I'm sick of this game. This is bullshit, the system is clearly stacked against "the poors". There is no light at the end of the tunnel. My only source for any sort of actual savings is bonuses and bi-annual "3 paycheck" months.
I'm lucky enough to be able to put 3% of my gross pay into a 401k.
I mean fair enough on the sentiment. I'm not particularly rich. But I do well off for myself and we live comfortably within our means.
But if you don't "play the game" don't be mad when you don't score well? I know it sounds harsh, but it sounds to me like you don't actually need credit access... so why do you care then?
I think you misunderstand. I had to have someone cosign for my RENTAL. The rental I'm living in right now. DESPITE the fact that I played the game for years. DESPITE the fact that I pay all of my bills on time. DESPITE the fact that my debts were paid on time.
"Playing the game" has clearly put me in an arguably worse spot than I was when I started. I didn't need a fucking cosigner for a fucking rental apartment when I was 20 with zero credit history.
I didn't misunderstand. You can't claim you're playing the credit game and only have one credit card and no non-revolving debts for years.
And no it hasn't put you in a worse spot. "No credit" is effectively equivalent to "shitty score". You didn't need a cosigner when you were 20 because that was probably decades ago when credit score wasn't used as a metric.
Has it though? I wonder how the deals you got compared to the person who posted above you? You really wouldn't know. Maybe you got the same deal but you are happy with it and they are not. There is no transparency.
My score never really seemed to make a difference when I financed things. I have had good and bad scores over the years. For me it's usually based on what I am buying and how much I am willing to put down.
Generally 750 and above are considered the same, but even if they weren't, it's not about getting a "deal" in terms of a cheap purchase price on a car but rather cheap interest rates along with all the other crap they've tied to it lately like jobs and housing. With loans, you can see what the prime interest rate is for a specific type of loan and you should be getting close to that if you're in the market for one. You're not simply reliant on what some car salesman tells you that you qualify for (in fact this is a good way to get a terrible rate) but you can shop around yourself at banks and CUs to get the best rate for example.
Has it though?
Yes it has... because I've attempted to take loans primarily under my wife who doesn't hold as high a score as I do for a myriad of reasons. Same shared incomes... same shared assets. Only difference is my score is higher as far as they're concerned.
What's all this about buying now and paying later?
Don't do that.
I haven't given a thought to my "credit score" in decades. I hope that means that it's tanked due to the unimaginable, unearthly, inhuman crime of not routinely borrowing money.
Just remember, the rich are rich because they borrow other peoples money. You just need to know how to take advantage of it to work for you.
Build credit by never paying any minimum late > gain credit above 700 (ideally 750+) usually within 2-5 years > get great rates > 0% for X months starts showing up > Use their money to keep credit high, gain rewards/miles, etc.
It really just takes organizing and consistency. It’s not that hard once you’ve built the habit. In fact, my wife and I don’t even put brain power into it anymore. Credit fluctuates between high 700s / lower 800s and we get 0% financing offers constantly. Once you’re a sure bet everyone wants you to finance/get credit with them. This absolutely pays off over time. When someone else is stuck buying a car with a higher APR, I’m getting close to fed rates, same with mortgages.
Is the system perfect? No, but it’s what we all have so you may as well take advantage of its potential benefits.
When someone else is stuck buying a car with a higher APR, I’m getting close to fed rates
One of the tactics I picked up in a book on financial management was to start paying myself some kind of money as a monthly payment instead. You do that by...either lucking out and having parents that bought you a car and drive that for as long as possible, or you (like me) buy some total shitbox, either paying off the entire thing at sale or nearly immediately, and keep that on the road for as long as and cheaply as possible, all while making "payments" on my next car. Trust me, that first car especially will not be glamorous.
Then, with the money you paid yourself for whatever time - use that to buy the next car. I haven't had a car loan in years as a consequence of this.
Paying for everything in cash isn't always the smart financial decision. Would you rather take a 2% loan on a car and put $30k into the market earning 15% or take that $30k and earn 2% by paying for a car in cash? This isn't true all the time especially right now, but that was the smart move just a few years ago. Think about all the people with 2.5% mortgages right now who didnt wait to buy with our current 6%+ mortgage rates.
Yep. These are all tradeoffs to be weighed. Part of the equation for me is knowing the market volatility for jobs tends to fluctuate wildly, too. It'd be one thing if a job was virtually guaranteed over the course of a loan, etc.
I don't mind having debt for something like a house - I have no real alternative anyway and it tends to appreciate in value besides. I did a refi in 2021 and locked in an absurdly low rate for instance.
Lastly - earning 15% in the market? Returns like that are not necessarily guaranteed. I sure wish they were!
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
“There are 45 million people with student loan debt and 15 million with medical debt. It’s highly likely that there is some overlap there,” said Adam Rust, director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America. “People are really facing a perfect storm here.”
Jokes on them cause I don't even have credit.
view more: next ›