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Be ye perfect

Scripture does urge us to "aim for perfection," but I don't think this is what the apostle Paul had in mind.

From Money Magazine (via CNN):

Chris Peplinski is pursuing his own brand of flawlessness: an 850 credit score.

The 37-year-old stay-at-home dad from Rogers, Ark., has already nabbed 813 on the FICO scale, the credit scoring system most lenders use in sizing up potential borrowers....

Nevertheless, Peplinski won't be satisfied until he hits the maximum: 850. Why? "Your credit score tells a lot about you," Peplinski explains. "A high score means you're responsible and in control of your life. You're trustworthy."

To reach his goal, Peplinski...tweaks his behavior to eke out every possible additional point. Two years ago, he took out a car loan even though he and his wife, Chrissy, had the cash to buy their wheels outright.... He did it because FICO favors those with a variety of credit types, such as mortgage, credit cards, and auto loans.

"I probably paid $100 in interest," he says. "But it was worth it because we raised our credit scores by 15 points."

Money rightly notes that Peplinksi (and others like him also quoted in the story) are "obsessed."

Of the score strivers MONEY interviewed, most check their score obsessively, at least every few months — at a cost of $50 or more a year. They also fixate on their credit reports, upon which the scores are based.

There is, of course, no need for any of this. Sure, it's a good idea to check your credit reports every so often for errors (once a year is plenty and doing so is free). And, as noted in SMI's August-issue article, Know the Score (subscribers' link), it's also good idea to also check your credit scores once in a while.

But there's no reason to be obsessed about any of this. If you simply live within your means and pay your bills on time, you'll be fine.

Peplinkski makes his case below:

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