Many people don't really think of their credit as their buying power, but they should. When you have very little credit you'll find that you have power, but not much. When you have excellent credit you'll find that you have the ability to buy just about anything that you want.
And if you have poor standing you will find that you can buy very little, if anything, at least if you want to use it. You can build or tear down your buying capacity by using credit cards. Of course, you always want to be building your buying power!
Using Debt Cards To Build Buying Power
When a lender or financing company considers whether you are worthy of their services they are going to be looking at how you have handled borrowed money in the past and how you are handling it now.
For instance, if you go to buy a home and a credit check is done and it shows that you have never paid off any bill that has been in your name they are going to be a little bit worried about giving you any money, but if they see that you make an attempt to pay off all of your debts they'll be more comfortable lending to you. This is why keeping your borrowing in check is so important.
You can use your plastic money to build your buying power in as little as six months to a year. If you have two cards and you buy things and pay them off as you buy them you'll find that your credit score will soar.
Card companies like when you use their cards, but they don't like when they don't get paid back, so if you are constantly paying them back they are happy and they report this to the credit reporting agencies.
Every card that you have is important. Whether it is borrowing for your favorite department store, online store, or just a generic Visa or MasterCard, you need to take care to use it wisely. Every time you miss a payment it affects you negatively and every time you make a payment it affects your buying power positively. Even if you cannot pay off the card in full every month you should be sure to pay more than the minimum balance due, a this is what card companies look for in valued consumers that they would lend in the future.
When you are constantly building creditworthiness and building your buying power you'll find that there isn't much that you can't accomplish when it comes to financing. You can buy a home, buy cars, and finance just about anything because you have proven to be reliable.
You never know when you are going to need this buying potential, which is why it is so important that you work hard to build and maintain this power. Many people think that they will never need or want the ability to buy these things, but sooner or later the bad decisions will catch up with you and you'll regret the silly things you did with debt cards in the past.