Young Negotiators

What is a Credit Score?

A number that represents an analysis of the information in a credit

report.

Helps a lender predict how likely an individual is to repay a loan, or

make credit payments on time.

The number changes as payments update or new accounts can

cause your score to go up and down.

Has broad use and impact: your credit past is your credit future.

FICO Score: any credit scoring system developed by Fair, Isaac

Corporation. The Classic FICO score is one of the most recognized

credit scoring systems, varies between 350 and 850. Median score in

the US is 720. New FICO scores have scales that go to 950.

Vantage ScoreSM: new credit scoring system developed by the three credit bureaus, ranges from 501-990.

In a car-buying transaction, even the nicest, most honest car salesman has interests that are very different from yours. He’s paid to sell you what his dealership has at as large a profit as possible. The better he does that, the more he, and the dealereship, make.

You, on the other hand, want the best car you can get at the best price you can get.

Welcome to capitalism. At some point, you have to negotiate those conflicting interests. As in all negotiations, there are certain things you definitely shouldn’t let slip.

Working with Phil Reed, consumer advice editor at Edmunds.com, we boiled down the six things you least want to say when you’re shopping for a car.

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Perhaps a modest approach to runaway pay is in order - like attacking potential conflicts of interest among compensation consultants who design the lucrative packages.

Government-subsidized gasoline keeps motorists in the Gulf region from feeling the pinch at the pump, while windfall oil revenues have put deluxe cars in more people’s reach.

Producers and consumers in Jidda emphasized starkly divergent views on both the fundamental causes and possible remedies for the current energy crisis.

Perhaps a modest approach to runaway pay is in order - like attacking potential conflicts of interest among compensation consultants who design the lucrative packages.