Attn Recent Grads: Manage Your Credit To Better Your Life

Written by Alex Bach

By this point Millennials have gotten the gist as to how hard it can be to find a good job after graduating college. Many are forced to move back in with their parents and take jobs at low or even minimal wages. But just because times are financially hard doesn’t mean you should slack off on your credit–in fact, keeping up on your payments might just be the best thing you can do for finding that better job.

And if in the course of your post-grad financial woes you find yourself berated by shady debt collectors, don’t let them get away with it.  If you feel you’re being unfairly or illegally harassed, take steps to report them.  We can help.

Employment:

Unfortunately, many companies are now including credit checks as part of the preliminary background checks for employment. This means that if you’ve missed a couple student loan repayments after graduating (or any other payments), your score will be lower and the company might take you for a liability. While this seems monstrously unfair to the throngs of the unemployed, it is unfortunately a reality. Most well-paying jobs out there are already insanely competitive, and you’ve got to be as prime a candidate as possible–and that means having solid credit.

Housing:

So you’ve finally got a solid enough income to move out of your parents home and into your very own apartment? “Fine, we’ll just have to do a credit check first.  Uh-oh, your credit score falls below our standards and we won’t be able to rent to you.” Sadly, this is an all-too common conversation for many young people out there. You want to be independent but you can’t, or else you can only if your parents cosign–in which case you’re still not seeing the independence you desire. You need to pay your bills on time and build your credit if you want to leave the basement.

New Car:

Ditto.  Outside of housing, car financing is likely the most popular financing for young people–after all, most need a car to get to their job. Unfortunately, car financing is subject to the same rules as the above.  Your poor credit could either get you turned down from a purchase or, worse, lead to extremely high monthly payments and interest rates.

The moral: good credit is the golden shovel for digging yourself out of post-grad financial woes.