Your credit score determines so much! If you are trying to get a new credit card, buy a house, or get a new car, you credit score will make a huge difference in your ability to do these things… and will determine the amounts of extra money you will be paying back in interest.
Your credit scores are supposed to tell potential creditors whether or not you will be able to pay back your bills. But under current credit scoring models, there are many important factors that aren’t taken into consideration. This leaves potential creditors with an incomplete picture of who they are working with.
Here are 5 factors that your credit scores don’t currently include (but should!).
Some credit scoring models do take into consideration these items, but most, including the FICO scoring model, do not factor in these items.
Table of Contents
1. Age
Why I think this should be considered:
I think that your FICO score should consider your age. With age comes experience, and with experience typically comes responsibility and maturity. As we get older and have more experiences, especially more experiences with managing our finances, we learn from these experiences. With this aging and learning, we become better able to manage our finances. This makes us lower risks for creditors. Many people also make more money as they grow older and progress in the workforce. Because of these two things, I think the FICO score should consider our age when determining our score.
2. Marital Status
Why I think this should be considered:
When you are married, there are usually two incomes involved. So that means double the money (but not necessarily double the bills). So, that is more money that can be used towards paying off debts. On top of that, having a spouse is like having a built-in “insurance policy” should something happen to you. If you lose your job temporarily, or suffer from an illness that prevents you from working, your spouse can step in and help out with those debts in the interim. I think your marital status should be taken into consideration when factoring your credit score. Even if you aren’t applying for credit together, married people should receive benefits with their scores. Because of the added “insurance,” or backup, that their spouse brings, they could potentially be lower risks than single people who don’t have that added support.
3. Job Title
Why I think this should be considered:
Your job title is not taken into consideration when factoring your credit scores. But I think it should be included. If you have a more prestigious job title (like a CEO, President, Vice President, CFO, etc) that could mean many things that could pertain to your ability to pay back your debts. With these distinguished job titles usually comes a higher salary, which definitely impacts your ability to pay your debts. On top of that, the more someone works their way up in a company, the more valuable they become. So these type of people aren’t usually parts of layoffs, etc.
4. Employment History
Why I think this should be considered:
Things like how much money you make, what employer you work for, your employment dates or past employment history, etc are not factors in your credit scores. But maybe some of these things should be considered, especially things like your employment history. Some potential creditors want to know your employment history when you apply for a loan with them. But most credit scoring models don’t count in your employment history. But your employment history could be a great indicator of your creditworthiness. If you have a good long, solid employment history, that probably means that you have a good, steady job. But if you have an employment history that shows you jumping from one job to another, that could show that you might not be able to keep a job long enough to be able to be dependable with paying back all of your debts.