How to Overcome 3 Top Credit Score Myths

In the back of the house, Julian watches the restaurant filling up. He should be focusing on the Friday night dinner rush, but he’s been on his feet all day, so he’s thinking more about getting home. He’s also wondering where all of this work will lead him. He’s grateful for the hours—as a recent college graduate, he needs the wages to pay his student loan debt, car payment, and all his other essential bills—but he’s ready to do more with his money, like improve his credit score to open up new opportunities in the future, like getting a mortgage to buy his first home.

“Yeah, right,” he thinks, wiping down the grill top. “I’m too young, too broke, and too ignorant to even think about establishing good credit.”

But is he?

Are you?

Maybe, like Julian, you find yourself wondering how the fabled “good credit score” is achieved. You’re not alone. In a recent survey, one-third of respondents said they didn’t know what level of credit score they would need to get a mortgage, an auto loan, a personal loan, or a rewards credit card.[1]

PayActiv, the leading provider of Earned Wage Access (EWA), and an advocate for financial wellness and freedom for workers, wants to help you pursue a healthy relationship with credit. It starts by understanding—and debunking—three common credit score myths.

Myth 1: You need a high income to have a good credit score.

False! Believe it or not, credit bureaus don’t actually look at your income when determining your score.[2] They consider other variables such as payment history, amounts owed, and new credit acquired—those are the things that have an impact on your credit score, not your income.

Low-income workers can maintain a good credit score by making continuous on-time payments. Having immediate access to wages as the bills come due makes that possible. PayActiv partners with over one thousand companies across the nation to provide EWA, enabling workers like you to access a portion of your earned wages when you need it, so you can make payments without waiting until the end of the pay period. Every one of those on-time payments contributes to a good credit score.

Myth 2: You are too young to worry about your credit score.

False! You can start building toward a good credit score no matter your age. You may have student loan debt—two-thirds of young adult job seekers have over $30,000 in school loans—so you can start there, by making timely payments on that debt to establish good credit early on. For young hourly workers, having immediate access to wages through EWA makes it possible to pay student loans on time, along with car loans, mortgages, medical bills, and utilities, all of which can have an impact on your credit score.

To get started, it helps to have some budgeting and savings tools at your disposal. Backed by a holistic financial wellness platform, PayActiv offers a suite of such services catering to all ages. For instance, programs like TimelyTips, which allows workers to have immediate access to their tips, means you can access a portion of your wages as you earn them. Combine that access with the financial wellness tools available to help you budget and save, and you’ll be able to make payments on time.

Myth 3: You need to pay a credit repair service to improve your poor credit score.

False! It’s never too late to improve your credit score, but beware of any claims by a credit repair service that they can boost your accurate credit score for a price. These are false promises. Only managing your credit over time and making regular timely payments will make negative information disappear from your credit score reports. There is no “quick fix,” no matter what that repair service ad says.

Fortunately, along with EWA, PayActiv provides free access to one-on-one financial counseling with trained coaches to help users develop beneficial financial habits and implement important saving strategies. Using PayActiv’s financial wellness platform doesn’t affect your credit score but rather arms you with the tools and freedom of choice needed to maintain a healthy relationship with your financial situation.

Like Julian, many American workers need to buoy their relationship with credit and can do so with the help of these financial wellness tools. When you have the knowledge you need, coupled with immediate access to wages, you gain access to a healthier way of managing debt and payments and, ultimately, pumping up that credit score.

With PayActiv, you can actively manage your relationship with credit, no matter your situation.

Isn’t it time you live the life you’ve earned?

[1] Joel Anderson, “Survey: Nearly 40% of Americans Don’t Know Their Credit Score—Do You?” GoBankingRates, November 13, 2019, https://www.gobankingrates.com/credit/credit-score/nearly-40-percent-americans-dont-know-credit-score/?utm_campaign=895055&utm_source=yahoo.com&utm_content=7.

[2] “5 Credit Score Myths That You Shouldn’t Believe (and 3 Truths You Should),” National Debt Relief, March 8, 2019, https://www.nationaldebtrelief.com/credit-score-myths/.