True Cost Of A Bad Credit Score
Have you taken the time to investigate the true cost of having a bad credit score?
Often times people believe that having a bad credit score will only result in less attractive credit card offers or slightly higher interest rates on their credit cards.
However, having a poor credit score can impact you in many other financial situations such as when trying to secure a loan for a new vehicle or a mortgage on a new house. With a poor credit score, you will likely still receive approval for your loan but it will come at a much higher cost than if you had a good credit score.
Impact of Bad Credit Score
To see the impact that a bad credit score can have on the cost of a mortgage, consider the following example with two couples that are looking to buy their first home.
For purposes of this example, let’s assume that both couples are looking at a 30-year, fixed rate $150,000 mortgage.
- Mr. and Mrs. Good Credit have a credit score of 730. Due to their good credit, they qualify for a rate of 6.0%, with monthly principal and interest payments of $899.93.
- Mr. and Mrs. Bad Credit have a credit score of 560. As a result of their poor credit score, they are only able to obtain a loan with an interest rate of 8.5%, making their monthly principal and interest payments $1,153.37.
Due to their poor credit score, Mr. and Mrs. Bad Credit will be paying more than $250 extra per month than Mr. and Mrs. Good Credit. In this example, having a bad credit score would cost you over $3,000 more per year than someone with a good credit score for the same loan amount.
Using the numbers in this example, that would translate to a difference of $91,456.00 over the full term of the mortgage. That is a very high price to pay for mismanaging your credit and is one that many people with poor credit do not take the time to understand.
What You Can Do
If you find yourself resembling Mr. and Mrs. Bad Credit more so than Mr. and Mrs. Good Credit, it is not too late to begin working on improving your credit score.
For more suggestions on what you can do to improve your credit score, please take a look at the following:
- 5 Steps To Improve Your Credit Score
- Should I Close My Credit Card After Paying the Balance?
- Credit Score and the Importance of Payment History
- Use Low-Rate Balance Transfers to Your Advantage
Please feel free to ask any questions you have regarding the steps needed to improve your credit score.
Bad credit sure can hurt people. By having good credit you can save thousands upon thousands over your life.
Don’t fall into the rut of bad credit it can be tough to climb out.
Get another job and dig yourself out if you are buried.
You’re absolutely correct. We have been so happy and made such progress on saving for retirement and other goals ever since we stopped paying interest to the credit card companies.
When you are battling debt, you should try to do whatever you can to increase your income. Whether that be a 2nd job or selling old stuff on eBay or something else, just apply that extra income to the debt.
You know, this website makes it sound as if anyone who has a bad credit score just made poor decisions. Not so- there are many, many circumstances that can lead to that situation. What these people need are solutions, not condemnation. I’m sure that they “understand” what a bad credit score can do- they deal with the harsh reality of that fact every day. Stick with the advice, and drop the judgments.
Robert, thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
You’re absolutely correct that there are many scenarios that can lead to someone having a poor credit score. Thank you for pointing that out.
As for the solutions, I’ve suggested a few additional articles for anyone that is looking to improve their credit score and I think that is a good starting point for a solution. What do you think?
Wow, it is always shocking to see the numbers put in black and white like that. Mr. and Mrs. Bad Credit could have bought a whole other small house with the extra money they spent in interest.
And they could have rented that smaller house to begin earning a passive income and further set themselves up for an early retirement.