Why your credit score matters ... and how troops, veterans and families can up their numbers

[hegemony]

https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/mil-money/2018/04/17/why-your-credit-score-matters-and-how-troops-veterans-and-families-can-up-their-numbers/

[PotO]

They can up their numbers the same way everybody else does ...

 

Math and common sense is your friend.

 

The problem is that DoD has rightly to cater to the high-testosterone teenage club where adult living tools, many aspects of common sense, personal restraint and math skills are in short supply. What is needed is a military version of CB to get folks on the right path. But it ain't gonna happen.

[breeze]

They buy the jazziest car or pickup truck, drive it too fast and get tickets, suspended licenses. So much so that the navy has someone looking out for their young enlisted guys here. I used to write the Virginia assigned risk plan for dealerships. More than once, we had the dealer forced to take back the vehicle and the insurance unwound. Merchants will sell them anything as long as they sign to have their pay deducted.

 

Then there's the Star card and the exchange.

 

I had a young married couple with a baby living next door when I had my condo (I sold it because it had become almost all rentals). These kids needed a washer and dryer, so instead of planning on that, and then buying used when she got pregnant, he got a new truck. Then they rented the washer and dryer from one of those rent centers. It wasn't long before the guys arrived with a truck to pick up the rental stuff for non-payment. The little girl with the baby was at my place, crying on my Mom's shoulder while I was at work. I did not offer to let her do her laundry at my place, but we did offer to keep the baby while she went to the laundromat. She didn't have money for the laundromat. They're just teenagers, needing to grow up. She went home to her mother, he deployed.

 

I think if they get a good start and begin to think "career" their attitudes change and they begin to shape up. By then they have a mentor who sees their potential and things change. Then there are always the pilots and the seals - the hotshots who can get away with anything.

 

Just my observations from growing up in a Navy town.

[PotO]

They buy the jazziest car or pickup truck, drive it too fast and get tickets, suspended licenses. So much so that the navy has someone looking out for their young enlisted guys here. I used to write the Virginia assigned risk plan for dealerships. More than once, we had the dealer forced to take back the vehicle and the insurance unwound. Merchants will sell them anything as long as they sign to have their pay deducted.

 

Then there's the Star card and the exchange.

 

I had a young married couple with a baby living next door when I had my condo (I sold it because it had become almost all rentals). These kids needed a washer and dryer, so instead of planning on that, and then buying used when she got pregnant, he got a new truck. Then they rented the washer and dryer from one of those rent centers. It wasn't long before the guys arrived with a truck to pick up the rental stuff for non-payment. The little girl with the baby was at my place, crying on my Mom's shoulder while I was at work. I did not offer to let her do her laundry at my place, but we did offer to keep the baby while she went to the laundromat. She didn't have money for the laundromat. They're just teenagers, needing to grow up. She went home to her mother, he deployed.

 

I think if they get a good start and begin to think "career" their attitudes change and they begin to shape up. By then they have a mentor who sees their potential and things change. Then there are always the pilots and the seals - the hotshots who can get away with anything.

 

Just my observations from growing up in a Navy town.

Very accurate observations, Mom. Unfortunately, it's but the tip of the iceberg and, in spite of rising sea temperatures, this iceberg ain't melting. Ever.

 

Just because the law says someone is an adult at 18 (or even 21) doesn't make it so ... or at least not in every aspect. No branch of the military has the time or the resources to bring these critters up to speed in spite of the negative effects on operational readiness. Prior to the latest DoD "solution" for handling financial basket cases, I'd spend 10% of my time that I don't really have dealing with about 500 assorted financial fukk-ups a year. Then since DoD came out with their financial version of DADT, I only spend 15% of my time dealing with 50 financial shitnamis a year.

 

To be fair, though, there is no solution. Never will be. It's the nature of the beast.

[breeze]

It's the same thing that happens to a lot of kids who go away to college. Away from home, gonna be a lawyer or a doctor, the credit card companies beg them to get the card and charge it up. Instead of payroll deduction, they know Mom and Dad will bail the kids out. What everyone needs is a personal finance class while they're in high school.

 

There are a lot of other credit problems with being military though, even for responsible people. Long deployments with no internet access in some cases. The young wife or GF or friend who doesn't pay the bills when they promised they would take care of it, the ID theft. It's got it's built-in problems for credit, but often they don't know what to do about it when they finally get home. Some land here or other credit forums, hopefully they spread the word, and share the knowledge.

 

Then there was the CBer who repaired his credit from Afghanistan during his deployment. Never say it can't be done.

[PotO]

It's the same thing that happens to a lot of kids who go away to college. Away from home, gonna be a lawyer or a doctor, the credit card companies beg them to get the card and charge it up. Instead of payroll deduction, they know Mom and Dad will bail the kids out. What everyone needs is a personal finance class while they're in high school.

 

There are a lot of other credit problems with being military though, even for responsible people. Long deployments with no internet access in some cases. The young wife or GF or friend who doesn't pay the bills when they promised they would take care of it, the ID theft. It's got it's built-in problems for credit, but often they don't know what to do about it when they finally get home. Some land here or other credit forums, hopefully they spread the word, and share the knowledge.

 

Then there was the CBer who repaired his credit from Afghanistan during his deployment. Never say it can't be done.

 

Definitely can be done, but what cannot be done is preventing the initial screw-ups 100%.

 

Mom, you are absolutely correct in that being military in and of itself presents obstacles, even for old-farts. I've seen a zillion cases of career personnel getting settled in one place and buying a house only to get an early reassignment to the other side of the country. Some are lucky and can break even, others end up totally FUBAR because they can't afford to maintain to houses and / or are underwater on their first mortgage. The pressure can be intense. Then you add creditors calling day and night both at home and at work (don't believe that crock of chocolate about how they are not able to hound you at work).

 

A personal finance class or two in high school would be a nice start, but it's said that schools are already overburdened -- or at least that's what they say. There was a time that DoD was trying to implement personal finance training for new service members and even for older ones who were having issues. The pushback from unit commanders was overwhelming. "They already learned math and how to read in high school! We barely have time now as it is to train them to stay alive while killing the enemy and now you expect us to further erode unit readiness by revisiting math and reading?" Catch 22.

[breeze]

Doh. Readiness requires the ability to concentrate on current surroundings. I guess being shot at would focus one's attention though.