How do you get bad credit and how does it affect you?

Answer 1

By paying late, by not paying at all, by having a lot of debt, it affects you when you really want to get a loan they won't give it to you or they'll give you higher interest rate.
By they I mean the leeches: creditors.

Answer 2

You get bad credit when you don't pay your bills and don't pay them on time. These days computers know everything we are doing, particularly the status of any accounts. When you established credit, say getting a department store or gas credit card, the three credit reporting agencies get info from your creditor (i.e. the company you owe money to) and they establish a "score" for all of us. It runs roughly from 300 - 900. If you have a score above 725 or so you get the lowest interest rates when you borrow money, say for a car, house or whatever. If your score is low, they charge you significantly higher interest rates which raise your payment and makes the car cost much more over the life of the loan. One of the biggest causes of low credit scores is charging a card up to more than 50% of the available credit. For example: If you have a Visa with a $5000 limit and you have charged more than about $2500, you are "dinged" and your score lowered. Pay it below $2500 and keep it there and your score goes up in a month or two. Another is, is you are late more than 30 days the reporting agencies ding you for that.
In this country, in this time when everything we do is known to someone, keeping your bills paid on time is the best guarantee that you will not be at the mercy of some creditor, which is usually a bank.
It is known that credit card banks have many ways of keeping balances high, charging for going over the limit and for being late and other less obvious ways. Do not use credit much or at all after you have established credit. THAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU WILL BE GIVEN IN THE FINANCIAL AREA.

Answer 3

By not being responsible and paying your bills or other debt on time. In the long run it affects you when you want to buy real estate, a vehicle and/or want to have a job with the government, the bank or anything that involves money.

Answer 4

Wow, are you serious. Think about it. When you lend some one money and they don't pay ya back. How do you feel? What would you do? I bet ya wouldn't loan them anymore money now would you? Humm. You must be a young whipper snapper aren't cha.