Everyone knows that having good credit is a wonderful thing to have, especially in this day and time, and everyone also knows that having the black marks of bad credit against you will give you a lot of needless headaches and worry. So why is it such a bad thing when an individual does not have any credit at all? It seems like having no credit would be a good thing, especially since it isn’t like you have any bad credit on your credit report…right? … Wrong!

Have you come to the point in your life where you are comfortable with your lifestyle, and you feel like you have plenty of extra money coming in each month that you think you should be able to afford a new car payment? Or, perhaps you are thinking about buying that new dream home for your family that you have dreamed about being able to buy for so many years. Then, all of the sudden you come to find out, that there is something that is standing in the way of being able to do either of these things.

Having no credit at all is normally just as frustrating as having bad credit can be. The reason for this is, a bank or a lending institution, a credit card company, automobile dealership, mortgage company, or any other type of business that you are trying to borrow money from will want to be able to see a past credit history of some type. If these companies are able to see a good credit history on your credit report, then they are able to use your credit information to determine the bill paying practices that you have kept, and are keeping.

If you have bad credit, they can look at your credit report and determine what has caused your credit to be bad. Sometimes a person might have had a good credit history, then all of the sudden, an unexpected accident of some sort might have occurred. If lenders are able to see that you had good bill paying practices up until this point, then sometimes your loan can get approved under these circumstances.

If you have no credit at all, there is absolutely no way that any type of lending institution or company will have any type of information that they can base a determination on previous bill paying practices. It is important for them to be able to determine what level of risk a client will, or will not be.

The way various companies can determine someone’s past credit history and bill-paying practices is by looking at your FICO score. The FICO score is simply a means of being able to condense the credit information that is supplied on the credit report into a more easily understood three-digit number. These numbers can range anywhere between the numbers of 300 and 850. A score that is above 750 is considered to be excellent, and a score that is less than 620 is considered to be risky.

There are several different factors that are used in the formula to calculate a persons FICO score.
• 35% – determined by your past payment history
• 30% – determined by the current amount of money you still owe lenders
• 15% – determined by how long your credit history is
• 10% – determined by the amount of credit accounts that are new, that you have either opened, or applied for
• 10% – determined by a mix of the credit accounts that you currently have, such as credit cards, mortgages, etc.

To ensure that you are able to enjoy the benefits from having good credit, instead of having no credit at all, pay careful attention to the management of your finances and your bill paying practices.

There are some very common and unique financial situations that the unmarried couples will face every single year, and this already large number seems to grow even larger year after year.

Unmarried couples and the tax situation that they face
When you consider the unmarried couple that is living together, and the federal income tax, you will notice that they actually seem to end up doing quite a bit better20than the couples who are married and living together. This is because the unmarried couples that are living together, are able to avoid having to pay the tax penalty that is known as the ‘marriage tax penalty’. This alone can save unmarried couples a considerable amount of money every single year, when the often-dreaded tax season rolls around.

Another benefit that a large number of unmarried couples who are living together will benefit in taking advantage of, is the fact that while you are living with your partner who is also single, you are able to also take advantage of filing ‘head of household’ on your tax return. As long as you qualify under a few guidelines, then you are able to file in this manner. As long as you have a dependent that you support, thus allowing you the ability of being able to claim the earned income credit – Providing that the income that you bring into the household is under the threshold, and you are able to take dependent and child care credits, are what qualifies you for being able to claim the20earned income credit. If you and your unmarried partner combine responsibility for the expenses of the household, this will normally be considered as a non-taxable sharing of the resources.

Financial and Health Issues the unmarried couple should consider
If you are in the situation where you are unmarried but living with a partner, you need to consider a will that will provide for your partner in the event of your unexpected death.

It could also be beneficial for you to make a durable power of attorney. This can help you in a couple of different ways. You can see that it will allow your partner to decide on important medical decisions for you, in the event that there has been some type of unexpected accident, and you are incapacitated. It can also give your partner the ability to make your financial decisions for you, when you are unable to yourself.

Financial Dependency
This can be a very big problem for individuals who have become so dependent financially on their partner, that if for whatever reason the partnership were to end, this could cause them a great deal of devastation financially. This is a common problem that can cause a large amount of concern for the unmarried couple.

No matter if you are a married couple, or a unmarried couple who lives together, it is very important to consider all areas of your finances to ensure that each partner will be protected in the event of a death, or if an unexpected break-up were to occur.