So why are we (the average consumer) brainwashed into taking on debt and maintaining credit cards to keep our FICO scores high?

Simple. We have been taught to buy first, and worry about how to pay later.

A high FICO/credit score can only guide you down the path to crushing debt. Living beyond your means is the American Way. Here are 5 reasons to take a different approach and to tear up your credit report:

1. FICO Does Not Cover Your Expenses.

Credit is worthless if your bills are covered by your income each month. If your income falls short, you have bigger problems than a low FICO score.

2. No Control.

Trying to raise your credit score, as the countless credit repair books will teach you, is a thankless task. At any time, the credit bureaus can alter their algorithms and change their emphasis to change your score – all beyond your control.

Not all bills are created equal. The credit score might improve if you pay certain bills on time, such as a POTS line phone (Plain Old Telephone Service – it’s a real term), mortgage, gas, electric, and other utilities. But let your debt-to-credit ratio get too high on your credit cards and you can get slammed no matter how current your payments are.

3. Inaccurate and Incomplete.

Credit bureaus are not human, but boy can they make mistakes. And usually not in your favor.

What’s missing? Your income. Someone who just landed a big paying job gets no higher FICO score. Someone who pays cash (credit ghost) who has no debt is treated like a leper. Mistakes also happen. Credit bureaus are notorious for confusing similar names and keeping bad information on file even after notification by effected consumers.

4. Too Much Debt.

A high FICO paves the way to take on and use more debt. No one who pays their bills each month with a couple of dollars left over has any need for credit. A high credit score is meaningless for the wealthy and the modest.

If you have a high credit scores, banks will flood your mailbox with offers to give you more credit.

Lose your job, suffer an illness, or don’t pay on time, and you will wonder how the word easy was ever attached to credit.

5. No Legacy.

When your eulogy is read at your funeral, trust me, your FICO score will not be mentioned.

Wealth matters. Your credit score does not.

Eat well. Get a full night’s sleep. Make love to your wife.

Live happily within your means.

Don’t lose a moment of your life to worry about a mathematical score your cannot control.

Our site – Burn Down the Freaking Mission – offers additional information on destroying debt, recovering your privacy, and living debt free.