First off, a quick update!

Many of you are finally receiving e-mail responses to messages you may have sent to me from up to a month ago — I took a couple month-long retreats and had some incredible experiences, which I will post about in the near future.

I appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding my time constraints. I enjoy and appreciate receiving e-mail, but I am not about to start taking up huge chunks of my time responding to messages.

I’m going to return to making more frequent posts soon, as I have some great information to pass on to site readers and all of you RSS subscribers!

To get back into the swing of things, I wanted begin by giving a longer response to a comment left by Scott in regards to Credit Card balance:

18% seems pretty arbitrary. Where did you get that figure? I’ve seen 50% and 75% and 90% discussed as key cutoff points on FatWallet Finance but haven’t heard anything about 18%. - Scott

The 18% figure was given to me by an Executive over at Wells Fargo Financial. A fantastic company, one of the largest banking institutions in the States, and I highly recommend you find a nearby branch or business center of their banking arm and work out getting yourself a personal business banker to assist you with all aspects of your endeavors.

Some further details from her indicate that this seemingly arbitrary number is derived from analysis of how the credit bureaus’ algorithms define what is to be considered “good or bad,” which is then used to determine an overall score when combined with all the other factors of credit (i.e. existence of any derogatory elements, such as being late on payments, etc.) The 18% number, arbitary or not, is what WFF credit consultants use when doing seminars or information briefings for mortgage brokers to assist them in taking their clients’ scores to the next level. Therefore, if a mortgage brokerage was on top of their game, they would be advising their clients to aim for this number as well.

Wells Fargo also wants consumers to know about their new program, announced on Dec. 5, called Steps To SuccessSM, the mortgage industry’s first comprehensive program aimed at helping Nonprime customers take a proactive approach to their credit and get on the right path towards their financial goals.

True financial education is something all of our schools are lacking; managing credit and debt is what young adults and even children (at some level) need to receive now more than ever. Let’s hope the readily available information on the Internet will give future generations an easy way to gain access to understanding of this important aspect of our lives!

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