What I’ve Learned (Feb. 5th, 2008)

In the US, in order to qualify for a home mortgage loan, you need to have “four concurrent open lines of credit” for the previous two years. That means credit cards, car/student loans, another mortgage…

So, to sum up, you need to have copious existing debt in order to qualify for more debt.

Also, if you have the inexcusable impudence to have lived and spent your money abroad for four years, your credit rating comes back saying “no credit”, effectively erasing your previous sterling credit rating and rewinding you back to the financial standing you had when you were 18 years old.

I’ve been a very, very bad consumer and now I’m being duly punished. On the plus side, during those four years abroad, I learned how to curse extravagantly in multiple foreign languages, which has been super handy skill to have lately.

[See the full “What I’ve Learned” list here. Start at the bottom and read up.]