Oksana Carlier/Winonan
“The number one thing that affects your credit score is paying your bills on time,” said Charlotte Roraff at an informational event about credit scores, put on by the Money Management Warriors.
Roraff of Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union was the event presenter brought in to talk about credit scores. Roraff went to Winona State University, majored in Human Resources and ended up in Finances. She explained that she loves talking to and helping people.
Rachel Pirt, a fifth-year student at Winona State University, started the Money Management Warriors program about a year ago after applying for and receiving a Warrior Grant.
Pirt defined the program as, “a free student service that is aimed at helping students with financial planning.” Concerning the future, she said, “I’m hoping that it will benefit the student community in their financial planning.”
Pirt created the program so that she and professionals whom the program brought in could inform students about topics such as budgets, loans, credit scores, and credit cards along with giving students a resume builder.
An individual’s credit score will affect him or her significantly in many ways, including loan interest rates, Roraff said.
Roraff emphasized that while credit is important, it is also a choice. People can choose what their credit score is by making good choices with their money.
Credit score, also called FICO score, is a three-digit number that lenders use to guage how trustworthy a potential borrower is. A credit score includes information on how faithfully an individual pays credit card bills.
Roraff went on to say that lower numbers make it more difficult to get a loan and that people need a credit score of at least 620 to get a loan.
“A credit score…is not only just used when you are borrowing money,” Roraff said. Landlords, insurance agents, and even employers will look at the score. “If you have a higher credit score, you are probably going to end up paying less on your insurance.”
She discouraged students from opening lots of store-specific credit accounts.
“My suggestion is pick one or two cards that you can use everywhere,” Roraff said, posing the question, “Who wants to be a slave to their credit card statements? Not me.”
Roraff suggested www.annualcreditreport.com for checking credit scores. Three different credit bureaus can give out credit scores once a year, although the score may vary a bit between them, as each bureau has a slightly different range.
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