Things have changed in the world of credit scores. Back just a few years ago, receiving credit was easy and credit scores were inflated because credit issuers were willing to give almost anyone a ridiculously high credit limit. At one point, I had a credit card with an $80,000 limit. No one asked the obvious question: Why would I need an $80,000 limit on any crazy card?
I had never used more than $1,500 on that card so my credit utilization ratio (the amount of credit used as a percentage of credit available) was awesome. Once the economy began to tank, the issuer decided to lower my limit to $20,000 and begin charging me an annual fee. That’s when I made my first mistake and damaged my own score.
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