I’ve often wondered where some of the credit misinformation I hear comes from. Seriously. So many people believe so much of the same garbage. I figured there must be some school where they teach this crud. I always ask people where they hear this stuff. Most of the time it comes from the parents. Other times the person doesn’t know where they got the misinformation. Regardless, they’re out there parroting it like it’s the truth, though. Anyhow, the mystery is finally solved. I’ve figured out where this pathetic and uninformed information comes from: Yahoo Answers.During the past week, I’ve spent a good amount of time over there. What I’ve found is very sad. People with genuine issues ask questions about credit. Some of the answers that follow are insane (and inane). Some are flat-out reckless. Other times I imagine that the person answering the question is just an ill-informed person who has never done a lick of homework. I’d venture to guess that 95% of the answers have a mistake in them. For the most part, the people answering the questions have no expertise. None at all. And yet, there they are giving answers to people who will eventually walk away thinking that they’ve received good information. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here’s an example of what I am talking about. The following question and answer is real. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. QUESTION: “Three credit cards for an 18 year old — too much?I’m almost 19, and current [sic] have 2 credit cards – A Visa student card ($250 limit), and a Discover card ($500 limit). I make sure to pay my bills in full every single month. My credit score is fantastic, and I was recently offered a 13.9% APR on a Capital One Master Card [sic] if I applied and was approved. My questions are:1) Is 3 credit cards for someone my age too much?2) Does it help or hurt my credit?Keep in mind I work two jobs and make decent money for someone my age, and have never had problems paying credit card [sic], cell phone or other bills.Any advice would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance!”The ANSWER comes from a person who goes by “Michelle S.”: “Yes pay them off now, please. Save yourself.At this rate when you are 23 you will be several thousand dollars in debt, even 10k or 15k in dept by the time you are 30.Pay them off now, and start saving money and only buy things when you can afford them. Otherwise you are looking at a life long debt.”—-Her source? She says her answer comes from “experience.” Never mind that the person asking the question pays in full every month. The person doesn’t even have credit card debt. I have a message for Michelle. You are reckless. Put the keyboard down now. Get some education; then give the Yahoo! forum a try again. What’s so scary is that some people will actually listen to her drivel. Michelle is actually called a “top contributor” on the forum. Heaven help that forum. Then there is this question from someone who wanted to know whether it was necessary to get a credit card (in general).QUESTION: “Do you really need a credit card?I know that apartment complexes will ask (for) your credit score, and if you don’t have one you have to make like 5x the monthly rent. Or you need a score to apply for loans. But I’ve seen so many anti-credit card movies and articles. Is having a credit card really necessary?”ANSWER from “Patty Ann”: “No, I don’t think they are necessary. Your credit rating isn’t based on your credit card use, but on how you pay off all bills.”—-Uh, wrong, Patty Ann. Patty Ann clearly has no business answering this kind of question. She was wrong from the get-go. Credit card usage is extremely important to credit scores. Utilization is worth 30% of the FICO score. Still haven’t had enough of this lousy information? There’s a ton of it on Yahoo! It’s actually sickening.But here’s another one for you.QUESTION: “I’m 16 and want to start getting credit is there any way?I’m 16 and want to start gaining credit so I don’t have problems ahead in life.”ANSWER from some schmoe named “Lady Shmoe”: “STOP! Whatever you do, check out Financial Peace University or Dave Ramsey’s books first!It seems to take credit to make credit and that sucks because credit cards are evil. Please be very careful before getting a credit card.”—-There was more to her answer, but it was gut-wrenchingly pathetic. The answer, of course, is that you must be 18 years old in the United States to get a credit card or secured credit card. You can be made an authorized user if you’re younger than 18, but you cannot get your own card until you’re 18. Period. End of story. Lady Shmoe decided to rant on about Dave Ramsey instead of addressing the question at hand. Lady Shmoe your name is apropos. Nice choice.Wait, there’s more. Here is another one by “Lady Shmoe.” QUESTION: “I currently have my first credit card, and I’m still a bit confused. I have $1,000 of available credit. After I pay my first months payment, or minimum payment does my credit get renewed and go back to 1,000? Or must I first completely pay off my existing balance?”ANSWER (from the Shmoester): “It is like simple math:$1,000 balanceminus $100 dollar shirt= $900 dollar balance on card$900 balance+ $50 payment= $950 balanceBe oober careful with a CC. Interest will eat you alive. Don’t go overboard either. I recommend calling the CC company and asking them to lower the balance to $200 or $300. You will still beef up your credit standing that way. Always pay more than the minimum payment each month – pay the whole amount owed if humanly possible.”Disgusting.Is this what Dave Ramsey (the all-cash guru) is teaching his disciples? Yo, Dave, you might want to put this Lady Shmoe at the head of your class. She could be one of your brighter students. What a joke. Is that Lady Shmoe a hoot or what? Seriously, this is the kind of information being passed off at Yahoo Answers. How can you not feel sorry for the poor souls in need of some real answers? Yo, Shmoe: stop answering questions. You are wrecking lives over there. Pathetic and sad. All I can do is shake my head. Oh, and by the way, Shmoe, the correct word is “limit” — not balance. You wanted the person asking the question to lower her limit — not her balance. Bawaahaaahaha. These people slay me. A user that goes by the name of “Emma F” was just as moronic — but, because this is my blog, I’m not going to highlight her garbage on my site. Instead of answering questions about credit, she should stick to what she knows best. And whatever that is, it certainly isn’t credit. It seems that Yahoo! Answers has been overrun by a bunch of ignorant fools who have no education. Seriously, some 90% of the people I saw answering questions flat-out scared me. The answers were flimsy, wrong, half-wrong, totally wrong, or misinformed. The commonality, though, was that credit is evil. Scary. Ooooh. Give me a break. It’s obvious that most of these people have never done any real thinking in their lives. They wouldn’t know what rigor meant if it was staring them in the face. Therefore, instead of educating themselves, they parrot what they’ve heard others say. As I said earlier, I hit the mother lode of credit misinformation on this one. Now, all of that said, I was able to find a few people (a guy who goes by “slimick,” for example) who knew what they were talking about. In fact, I found one woman who goes by the screen name of “latebreakfast.” I checked out several of her answers. She’s on top of her game and it’s obvious that she has done her homework. She has answered some 1,103 questions. Nearly one-third of her answers were voted “best answer.” It’s no wonder, really. She’s good. She’s sharp. She’s thoughtful. And she addresses the questions that she knows the answers to. You don’t see her winging it. She leaves that to other nut jobs on the site. Latebreakfast, if you’re out there, I just wanted to give you a tip of the cap. You’re educating people on that forum one day at a time. Nice job.As for the rest of the clowns at Yahoo Answers, don’t quit your day jobs. If I had it my way you’d all be banished from that site. You’re wreaking havoc on people who truly need answers. The Internet is a wonderful place for information. But it can also be a dangerous place as well. It’s especially dangerous when you get thousands of uninformed, uneducated people trying to pass themselves off as people who are qualified to give credit advice. To my readers: please do me a favor. At CreditMattersBlog.com we’re pretty well informed here. If you’re a daily reader, you know more than 99% of the world when it comes to credit matters. It’s now your job to teach what you have learned. I invite you to visit the Yahoo Answers area. Go to the credit section and educate these people. People are starving over there for the kind of quality information that you can provide them. Latebreakfast and Slimick, bless their hearts, cannot do it alone. You can find the site by going to Yahoo Answers>Business & Finance>Credit.
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