06 Mar 2019

What Does the Government Shutdown Have to Do with Credit?

 

How to Utilize Tradelines in case of Emergency

Even if you don’t work for the government, you may still feel the effects of the shutdown either now, soon, or in the future. At the moment only 57% of the IRS workforce is up and running, with more and more calling in sick in protest, and according to the Washington Post, hundreds of employees have been granted absences due to financial hardship. This all gets translated to: your tax refund may be delayed, by a lot. So what? You still aren’t that affected, but that’s now. With much more time being shutdown, the EPA isn’t inspecting food like they should be. TSA is understaffed and will lead to airport deala

On Friday of this week, if the government remains shut down, then that means it will be the second pay period where 800,000 federal workers don’t get paid. The standard response is, so what? These people get paid well by the government, don’t they have any savings? The truth is that median family savings per household in the U.S. is $11,700, and 29 percent of households have less than $1,000 in savings. It’s easy to judge whole swaths of the population–those cushy government jobs, no sympathy–right? But in a recent video a government worker said he was worried about being able to pay rent, credit card payments, electric bill, phone bill, medication, whether or not he can “get food.” Usually we talk about buying tradelines for credit repair on Boost Credit 101, but if you’re in a position where you need to make payments, and your paycheck isn’t showing up because of a stalemate held by rich old white people holding a million people hostage, well then it might be too late for credit repair tradelines to do you any good whatsoever.

HOW TO NOT WASTE ANYONE’S TIME WITH TRADELINES

Better to have tradelines for credit and not use, than need and not have

It’s the standard analogy, if you find yourself in a situation, say a dark alley (for whatever reason) and you are accosted by one, or several, people who don’t have your best interests in mind, it’s better to have a gun (or taser if you’re into the whole non-lethal thing) than not have one. If the whole world goes nuts or the zombie apocalypse that Hollywood has been tirelessly preparing us for happens, are you going to be happier, or unhappier, if you’ve got a twelve gauge pump-action with plenty of shells stocked up? Credit is exactly the same. Let’s say you haven’t saved much, but, you’ve got a few credit cards up your sleeve that you don’t use much. If you must use them to stay afloat while an emergency happens. It’s much better to have them, than not have them. You might not even need tradelines for a credit boost and are sitting atop a pretty nifty score. That’s good! If that is the case, then this is what we would recommend for you.

Stacking 0% Credit Trade Lines

If you’re a smart person who has good credit, then you should always have at least one card with 0% available to you at all times. Why? Because you should always be taking advantage of awesome credit card offers because you’re able to get them with great credit! Once you’ve engaged in tradeline credit repair, got your boost, and gotten your scores where you want them, then it’s time for you to keep building your credit. And the best way to do that is to have multiple cards, so once a year you should be looking at what the best deals are for new credit card offers. Most of the time this includes a 0% option. There are cards with twelve months no APR, and there are even cards with fifteen, or even eighteen month no-APR periods. A lot of these credit card offers also come with bonus cash offers, like $150 if you spend $500 in three months, or 50,000 points (equivalent to $500 when used for travel).

So there you have it, a way for you to always have an interest free loan just in case things go bad and you absolutely must utilize your credit in case of emergency.