WEBVTT - Friday Flight - Degree Downsides, Credit Bureau Blunders, & Fluctuating Fast Food #795 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.200 Welcome to Head of Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt, 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:07.480 and today we're talking degree downsides, credit bureau blunders, and 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:29.440 fluctuating fast food. You know what, buddy, this is our 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:30.240 Friday flight. 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.960 We're gonna share a sampling of the top personal finance 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.600 stories that we think you need to be paying attention from, 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:39.440 not just this past week, the past two weeks. 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:40.760 We were able to take a little bit of time 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.120 off there at the end of last. 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:45.440 Week, which means we weren't able to get around to 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:49.960 sharing some of the newsletter referral shout outs. Yeah, we 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.480 recently lowered some of some of the bars, the threshold 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.280 that was required in order to receive some of the 0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:59.360 different rewards that are available. 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:02.160 To much literally cash money sent to you Vivenmo for real, 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:04.759 no scam. It's a beer on us, a beer on us. 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:07.560 And then the covetedt had the money. Socks those are 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:10.319 that's what people really want. It only takes twenty referrals. 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.200 Did we have it at like thirty thirty five? It 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:16.200 was too high of a bar to achieve. 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:17.959 And you know what, We've got a whole box of 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:20.760 these socks sitting there wrapped in They're soft, fancy, little 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:22.600 plastic and we want to get some of those out 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:25.760 to folks we haven't even gotten well, I think there's 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:27.520 a couple folks who have gotten pretty close to this. 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.160 But a virtual beer hang I'm looking forward to the 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:32.120 first one. We do pretty sure Brendan is gonna be 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:32.880 the first time to get there. 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:35.399 He's so close. Someone's gonna get there at some point. Yeah, Well, 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:36.880 to hang out with you for a little. 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:38.800 Bit and have a beer exactly a little zoom beer, 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:40.280 you know, like sort of like it was like back 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:41.080 in the pandemic days. 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.200 It was like a virtual happy hour. Unless you actually 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:44.280 want to fly in here, we'll do in person. 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:46.720 I guess, hey, if you do that, beers are definitely 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:48.960 on us. But we want to make sure that we 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.000 share a few folks who shared the newsletter with their friends, 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:56.160 and a big thanks to Emmy's mom, Austin M. V. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.280 Mooney, Kyle M. Eighty eight and Hassan. Yeah, we all 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.120 shared it with at least two folks, which means you're committed. 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:05.480 And by the way, how to Money Yeah host letter 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.240 podcast and we are so close to crossing ten thousand 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:10.400 subscribers to the How Money newsletter, So if you've been 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:12.640 reading it, you've been getting value. Share it with somebody, 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:14.280 you might get a shout out, you might even get 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:16.519 free money. But also you'll be helping us, you know, 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:20.200 cross that coveted five figure mark of people reading the newsletter. 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.960 So it's our goal to send out helpful information every Tuesday. 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:24.400 You can sign up at how to money dot com 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:26.480 slash newsletter. But Matt, let's move on. Let's get to 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:28.720 the Friday flight. Let's get to the stories, the sampling 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:30.480 of stories we found interesting this week in the personal 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:32.680 finance space. And like you said, we were out of 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:34.360 town last week. We didn't have a chance to comment 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:36.560 on what was kind of a big story in the 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:39.920 financial space, like in like the stodgy financial space, the 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:43.359 banking space, the Capital One, the big bank space, takeover 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.919 of Discover, that potential merger. Right, And you might think, actually, 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:50.919 when we talk about our favorite online banks, Discover and 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:53.040 Capital One both come up. Yeah, we like them both. 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:55.080 They're both too, they're two of the best online banks 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.080 you can choose. And so two of our favorite online 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:59.239 banks coming together. This is a love story, a match 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:01.880 made in heaven. Right, We're we're super enthusiastic about this 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.920 maybe maybe not though, So there's a few things to 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:09.000 really talk about here. One is going to reduce competition 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.720 in the banking sector, right Economics one oh one tells 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:15.480 us that reduce competition isn't great for consumers. And the 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.320 bigger banks seem to come with smaller brains, kind of 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.120 like dinosaurs, Matt, you know, the biggest dinosaurs, the bigger. 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:24.679 It's true. We talked about like the big three or 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:28.160 four banks that they have a massive percentage of deposits 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:31.760 in this country, and they are tree consumers the worst. 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:35.119 It's the smaller, medium sized banks that do a lot 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.760 better by their customers. And so, yeah, I don't love 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.920 reducing competition and taking two great banks and maybe making 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.560 it into one mediocre bank. So yeah, at least on 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.240 the consumer banking side, this probably isn't a great thing 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:49.840 for the American public. But there's even more of the 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:50.800 deal than that, I will. 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:53.080 Say, though, Capital One they did pinky promise to maintain 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.880 the Discover credit cards, so at least from a credit 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.360 if you're a huge fan of your what is it 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:01.440 the discover it card or literally I think Discover was 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:03.480 my first credit card when I was a teenager. This 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.400 is back when you could get your own credit card 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:07.520 as a don't even have to be eighteen years old. 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.400 Well, Discovery is actually the only We've talked about this before. 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:13.680 They're the only bank that has a cash back debit card. 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:15.920 Usually you don't get paid anything spending with your debit card, 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:17.920 but True Discovers the only one that makes that possible. 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.440 But then the other side of the coin is that 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.960 the merger could actually create more competition on the credit 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:28.200 card payments front, posing a potential threat to the duopoly 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:29.600 of Visa and Master. 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:31.359 Can I want to explain maybe what a duopoly is. 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:35.880 Everyone knows what monopoly. Duopoly to competing against each other, 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:37.960 Matt doesn't have the same impact of driving down prices. 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.640 Well, just the fact that they can go into cahoots 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.640 and basically agree without agreeing. Yeah, it's a week week, 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.440 not situation. So what it is they're going to charge folks? 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:48.480 And these banks make a ton of money on the 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:53.880 transaction fees that they charge different small businesses. 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:57.400 And that is large. It contributes to a greater expense. 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:00.240 For everyone, especially yeah, especially for We heard a lot 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.080 about this when it came to restaurants, which is why 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:05.520 so many small businesses, especially restaurants, are charging much less 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:09.160 if you skip credit cards altogether, and this could potentially 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:12.520 result in lower swipe fees faced by businesses, which would 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:16.280 end up helping us consumers. So it's tough to know 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:18.680 which way the cookie is going to crumble. It makes 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:22.039 the domino effect of this deal harder to decipher and 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.240 to sort of look into the tea leaves and figure 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:25.520 out what's actually going to happen. 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:26.120 We don't know. 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:28.880 But plus, there's a solid chance that this deal doesn't 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.960 even actually come to fruition because of the political. 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:34.600 Climate right now. It's not all that open to big 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.719 deals like this happening, to these deals taking place in 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:38.240 the first place. 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:40.720 Yeah, so we wanted to cover it because they're two 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:43.880 huge names. They're companies that we both do business with, 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.719 companies that we even recommend. But we'll see if this 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:47.640 actually comes to fruition. 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.039 Yeah, it is interesting that the political climate might not 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.320 favor this deal going through it. And it's also kind 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:54.560 of fascinating that in one sense they might be less 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:56.960 competition in the retail banking space, but in the other sense, 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.400 in the payment processing space, there could be more petition. 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:02.400 So is it a win for zoomers, is it not. 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.480 That's like the regulars are going to weigh in on that, 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:07.240 But I think it could be a bit of both, 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:09.800 which makes us a tough one to figure out exactly exactly. 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.520 All right, man, let's talk about careers and college for 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:14.960 a second. A new study of more than ten million people, 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.520 so it's really throwing not like a thousand people it 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.039 questioned on just a quick phone call. It found that 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.000 roughly fifty percent of college graduates end up in a 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:25.600 job that didn't require the degree that they worked really 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:28.279 hard to get. And I feel like this reveals a lot. 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:30.560 You know, one of the most important things that reveals 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.279 is just how important your first job is. Right, it 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:35.480 doesn't have to pay a bundle, but if it's outside 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:37.880 of your intended career path, it could have long lasting 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:39.760 effects on where you end up. This piece in the 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.800 Wall Street Journal talking about this new study revealed a 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:44.880 lot of individuals who were like, Oh, I took the 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:46.800 first job because I couldn't find something in my career, 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:48.640 and then it just I just kind of ended up 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.000 staying in that place, or it took me off of 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:53.080 that career path I was hoping to get on. This 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:56.200 reduces pay and job satisfaction for a whole lot of 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:59.160 folks too. And I would say this, like, the biggest 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.440 finding from the study that I found most asking is 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:03.359 it to help ensure that you end up working in 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:05.880 your chosen field. The biggest way to do that is 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.440 to get an internship, even if that internship I love internships. Yeah, 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.440 Like this is like we say great things about internships 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:14.880 all the time, even and I know some people really 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:18.560 hate the idea of an unpaid internship. And I would 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.960 say go for the unpaid internship even too, because that 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:23.360 is actually what's going to lead to the connections, the 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.000 job history. It's essentially as the pathway the connection and 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.200 the experience you may need to get in the front door. Matt. 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.880 I had an internship in a completely unpaid internship for 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.040 months when I was a senior in college. But it 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.760 led to me being in getting the kind of job 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:37.680 that I wanted to get, and so I had that 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:39.920 first right job. Even if it's starting on the bottom 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.480 of the tone pole, it's crucial to future decades of 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:44.760 success for so many people. I think these are kind 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.240 of sobering statistics about how a lot of people getting 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:49.600 a college degree don't end up using that college degree, 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:50.880 but I think there are ways not to be on 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:52.040 the downside of the statistic. 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:54.360 Sure, sure, yeah, I guess The one thing I didn't 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:56.040 like about the article is that they seem to focus 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:58.960 on a few specific anecdotes about folks who got stuck 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:00.640 in a job, like the first job that they took 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.320 out of college, basically because I think that there is 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.320 totally a way to get out of a job that 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.880 you find yourself in and you're just kind of like, eh, 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.400 not really loving this or actually this, I am not 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:12.320 using my degree. 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:13.840 You're less stuck than you think you are. 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.280 You are like, we have more control as individuals than 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:18.640 I think folks give themselves credit for. 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:19.840 And it's going to take a. 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:21.640 Little bit of like creativity, it's going to take a 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.640 little bit of initiative. It's going to take looking at 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.480 problems differently. That's the kind of person that you're going 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:29.760 to hire, even though they don't have the experience, even 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:31.640 though their first job was, oh, what's this thing that 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:35.320 you were in Walgreens pharmacy? No, No, I was actually 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:36.440 just like working the register. 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:36.760 Yeah. 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:38.800 I think that's totally fine, but it might just take 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:42.080 a little bit of legwork. You can't just you. You 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.840 can't just like follow everyone else. And like speaking to 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:46.760 the fact of whether or not you're going to get 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:48.719 land a great job straight out of college, I think 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.560 that's another huge takeaway other than like the first job 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.800 is thinking through that and it's just identifying and knowing 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:57.280 that just because you go to college and get a degree, 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:00.680 get good grades, more knowledge, that doesn't necessarily mean you're 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.840 going to land that amazingly paying job in the industry 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.720 that you want. Like it's just the standard default option. 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:09.720 It's not like this conveyor belt. It's not like a 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:12.839 like a moving sidewalk out of airport and it's just 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:14.760 gonna boo spit you out where you want to be 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:17.680 perfectly and all magically. Like, there are different things that 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:19.400 you have to do to stand out, And like you said, 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.000 I think internships are a huge way to do that, 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.280 and it's great for multiple reasons because it helps you 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:26.720 to get a taste, like a sampling of the work 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:28.920 that you might be doing. So for you as an individual, 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:31.800 you're like, oh, well, maybe I didn't like that work. Well, 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.080 what better way to get a feel for that than 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:38.280 actually having gotten multiple years of schooling paying for a degree, 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:39.600 and then you're kind of like, well, shoot, I don't 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:41.360 want to do this anymore. Yeah, like the sooner the better. 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.080 Just to figure that out, that the advanced degree is 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:46.040 gonna equate to more money, and that's not always a case. 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:47.240 You need to look into that on the front end. 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:49.760 I've known multiple people who go through and get like 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:51.719 at their master's degree and then oh, wait, a say, 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:53.520 I don't know, I'm not getting paid much more for this. 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:55.080 I thought I thought was going to result in like 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.240 significant income increases. Maybe maybe not right. 0:09:58.280 --> 0:09:59.560 And that's one of the things you can learn with 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:01.480 an INTERNI as you're there around other folks who are 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:03.960 in the industry and you're like, oh, it might take 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:05.920 a little bit to get up to this conversational point 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.280 to say, hell, how much are you making? But I 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.680 love that it allows students college hopefully soon to be 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.319 college grads, the ability to get a taste of that work. 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.600 But then obviously you got the head start advantage of 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.240 an internship as well, because if you are in a 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:21.800 field that you want to be in, man, what a 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.679 great way just to basically get your foot in the door. 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:25.920 I think what you're saying too, is to be able 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:30.040 to bob and weave in kind of today's work climates. 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:32.920 And everyone knows this, right that people the jobs don't 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:35.079 last as long you're not necessarily employed by the same 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.160 employer for ten, twenty thirty years, and so. 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.040 It's going to require some of that resiliency in some 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:42.480 of that creativity that comes with not only switching jobs, 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:44.360 but switching even careers in industries. 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:46.719 Yeah, exactly. Yeah, And I think this also calls into 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:48.600 the question, and we've talked about this at different times 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:50.839 on the podcast too, the value of a college degree. 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.040 Has the value of a college degree diminished? I think 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.199 it's a nuanced conversation. But when you look at the 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.800 overall stats, the average college grad makes a million dollars 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:01.800 or over the course of a lifetime than the average 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:03.920 hig school grads a lot of money. That is telling, right, 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.760 but that also diminishes if you end up with the 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.240 wrong degree for the career that you want. But the 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:10.920 stats also bear out that even if you end up 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.760 underemployed with a college degree, you'll still earn twenty five 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.600 percent more than the average highchool graduate. Still, we would 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:20.319 say maybe not a full mill that's pretty good yeah, 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:22.800 as premium. So much of the value proposition depends on 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.240 what you study and what career path you want to take, 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.120 and then how much time and money you spend acquiring 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.439 that degree, because there are a lot of degrees that 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.040 people are spending six figures matt to get and those 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.479 degrees just don't pan out in terms of a significantly 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:38.160 higher salary. And then there are other people who are 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:42.200 just cut out for trade school, for entrepreneurship, for other things, 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.400 where college just isn't going to be as much of 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:45.800 a boon to their ultimate earnings. 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:49.040 Totally, I think it depends too on who you're asking, 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.880 or like where that person is, like what stage of 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:53.240 life that person is in, because I would like I 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:55.600 would have said in my twenties and early thirties, oh 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:57.960 my gosh, yeah, college total waste of time. I'm not 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:00.000 doing something that I studied in school. 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:02.280 But I don't know. 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:04.320 The older you get, you kind of realize, oh, there's 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:09.000 a more general knowledge. There's more formation taking place in 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:11.360 college than I think you give yourself credit for, Like 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:13.959 when you are in your twenties and now that I've 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.280 gotten older, I'm like, oh no, that was actually really 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:16.680 good for me. 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:18.120 To be there. 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.440 So I think a lot of it as to your 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:22.680 opinion and how you feel and how you think about 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.240 your degree. Aside from the numbers, it also I think 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.640 matters where you are in life, and that changes over time. Yeah, 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.560 but dude, let's talk about the credit bureaus credit scores 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.079 in particular, because for the past three years, the number 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:39.520 one complaint that the CFPB gets is credit report mistakes, 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.920 and the problem has gotten pretty bad. Complaints they have 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:47.440 tripled in just two years. Five hundred thousand folks they 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.559 have filed a complaint just last year, and there are 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:54.400 tens of millions more who are being impacted by faulty 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:57.200 incorrect information on their reports, but they just haven't filed 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:00.360 a complaint, or they're just completely unaware because they're just 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:02.280 cruising along, living life, doing their thing. 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:05.040 Yeah, it's amazing to think how how much complaints of skyrocketed, 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:06.600 and yet there's still a lot of people who don't 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:07.880 pay a take on the credit store. They don't know 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:09.120 what's on their credit report exactly. 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:12.679 Yeah, So basically, something is on your credit report that 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:16.199 shouldn't be experienced. They settled a class action lawsuit late 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.360 last year for twenty two million dollars for ruining the 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.760 credit report of a ton of their customers. But of 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.960 course this is a settlement, which means they admitted to 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:29.280 no wrongdoing, which is pretty classic and this problem that's just. 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:31.000 When people pay money and then they're like, but we 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.360 don't we didn't do anything wrong, no admission of guilt. 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:34.840 Then why did you pay the twenty two mel If 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:36.280 you don't feel like you did anything wrong. That's how 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:36.840 our justice is. 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:40.120 But the problem has gotten out of hand because of 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.080 the way the credit bureaus approach any sort of complaint 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:44.920 is kind of like poor. 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:45.480 Salt in the wound. 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.400 They now have an automated system that handles the first 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:51.200 round of disputes that get filed, and of course it 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.280 finds that your dispute has no merit. 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:55.760 E basically every time, even though it actually does. The 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:56.360 tree is. 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.880 Roughly twenty five percent of credit reports contain an air, 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.679 So we think this is worth putting on your putting 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:06.319 on your radar. And the big three bureaus, they're really 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:09.080 bad at their jobs. Personally, I don't think that any 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:13.079 additional government oversight or any additional regulation is going to 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:14.520 bring much result. 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:15.079 I feel like the. 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:17.560 Government can barely keep the lights on without passing short 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:19.920 term spending bills, and they're just kicking the can down 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:22.480 their road, which makes me think, well, okay, well, like, 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.640 what are the actual alternatives. This isn't something we talk 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:31.200 much about, but having loans, like specifically mortgages manually underwritten 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:35.640 is totally an alternative option. I had my very first 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:39.880 mortgage manually underwritten, and honestly, pretty much every mortgage like 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:42.320 for investment properties as well, because I'm self employed and 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.320 you know, if you have irregular sources of income, they 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:47.600 want to know all the information on you before they're like, 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:49.800 oh yeah, yeahh we'll give you, We'll give you a loan. 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.120 But this is something that the folks over at Ramsey 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.600 they talk about this all the time, and I think 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:58.160 I'm going to find myself kind of barking up this 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.840 tree a lot more because it is an alternative option, 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:02.880 and it's honestly the one that seems the most viable 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:05.960 as opposed to waving a magical wand and fixing the 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:09.360 system that seems to be broken and does not seem 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:11.760 like there is anybody that's going to hold them accountable. 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:13.720 Yeah, it's a shame. I mean that's what the CFPB 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:15.800 is supposed to be. They're supposed to be there to 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.960 kind of help consumers and keep these financial institutions hold 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:20.680 them accountable. I have less and less hope of that 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.160 actually happened. Yeah, that's that's my problem. In an ideal world, 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.200 the credit score and the credit report would be a 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:30.280 reflection of our financial prowess and kind of how we've 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:34.520 done handling debt, because that helps lenders understand pretty quickly 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.520 how we're going to handle alone that they might give 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:40.120 us right Totally, that can help a mortgage lender feel 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:42.880 really comfortable. I'm surprised that these businesses that are buying 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.360 credit scores from these bureaus aren't pushing back and saying, 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:48.360 what you guys are selling us completely inaccurate information that 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:50.720 you would think that would be frustrating for them because 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.040 it's harder to verify when something like twenty twenty five 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:55.360 percent of these credit bureaus contain a mistake. Totally, the 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:57.880 bureaus aren't doing the job for the businesses they're supposed 0:15:57.880 --> 0:15:59.520 to serve. That's a crappy product, and who ends up 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:01.040 in the who ens up getting screwed in the middle. 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.880 It's every single consumer out there who has who's impacted 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:06.880 by credit reports that aren't accurate. 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.880 Hey, here's a here's a potential silver lining. Maybe this 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.640 is where buy now, Pay later comes to the rescue 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:17.520 of consumers, the ability to provide perhaps better information as 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:21.120 they're maybe creating their own databases. Yeah maybe you never know. 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:21.400 I'm not. 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:25.040 I'm also not counting on that actually coming to fruition. Yeah, yeah, 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:26.960 I know. It's it's just tough and I think like 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.000 the well, the other thing to do is to keep 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:31.000 an eye on your credit report and on your credit score. 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:33.720 And your score is a reflection essentially of what's on 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:35.960 your report. So if you see your score drop thirty 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:37.560 forty points and you're like, wait a second, I paid 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:39.520 everything on time, nothing changed, Well that's going on there. 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:41.240 Dig into your credit report. You can find it for 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.440 free at annual credit report dot com. If you keep 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:47.920 tabs on that, you have the ability then to file 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:49.880 a dispute, to ramp things up, to file a complaint 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:53.760 with the CFPB. Then if the credit utters don't respond 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.360 in a helpful way once you file that complaint, which 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.160 they probably won't. So but this is this is it 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:01.000 sucks that this is burden that we take on us 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:02.680 because they're really bad at their jobs. But it is 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:04.680 kind of the burden that we bear because the credit 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.440 score and the credit report are so integral to how 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:11.520 we function in the modern era. I'm sinking at manual underwriting. Yeah, 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:13.760 but what if your credit score gets screwed by forty 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:15.640 points and you're a renter and you're trying to apply 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:17.520 to rent a new place, Well, then you have the 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:20.199