How Your Credit Report Can Impact your Health
How are health and bad credit score connected?
Restless nights. Unhappiness. Poor heart health. Anxiety.
The four aforementioned symptoms have all been linked to poor credit scores and credit card debt, according to consumer studies. In other words, bad credit can be bad for your health – and there’s some significant research to back this claim up.
Take a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, for example. The study analyzed over 1,000 health records from birth to mid-life and found an alarming correlation between bad credit scores and heart health. Conversely, people with good credit scores were found to have had good heart health.
A separate study from Nerd Wallet discovered that more than 85 percent of surveyed Americans who have previously had or currently have credit card debt regret it. In citing reasons for regretting accumulating credit card debt, some of the answers weren’t surprising. Respondents stated reasons such as “it took too long to pay off” and “high interest rates cost me more money long term.” But there were a few other interesting reasons. For instance, stress and anxiety made the list.
Needless to say, but accumulating credit card debt can put you on the path to a poor credit score, which can thereby greatly impact your financial future. We don’t want to speak for all consumers, but that would certainly stress us out should we find ourselves unable to receive a reasonable auto loan or home mortgage.
The good news is that by enacting some credit repair strategies, you can boost your score rather significantly in a relatively short period of time. In the process, you can relieve some of that excess stress you’ve been carrying with you and possibly even improve your heart health. Here’s a closer look at some tips on how to do it:
How to Improve Your Credit Score
- If you can’t pay off your credit card balance in full each month, you should at least be making the minimum payments. Ideally, however, you should be trying to keep your credit utilization ratio at or under 30 percent. The credit utilization ratio is essentially the amount of credit card debt you owe versus your total allotment. Your credit score should increase if it’s at or less than 30 percent.
- Improve your consumer habits. If you’re in debt and can’t seem to get out of it, it’s likely time to take a closer look at your lifestyle. What things can you live without? Even the little things can add up long term and go a long way toward any debt management plan.
- Don’t miss payments. We can’t stress this one enough, as it’s the single largest individual category that goes into calculating the FICO score. Miss a payment, and it could really cost you when it comes to your credit score.
So if you won’t take it from a financial expert to improve your credit score, perhaps you’ll take it from a doctor. After all, studies say it’s bad for your health. Doctor’s orders!
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