Strangers Helping Strangers

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The process of buying a house can be grueling. You need to pull together a down-payment, find the right house, and out-bid any competition if your market is heating up. But before all that happens you need to secure a loan, which requires a decent credit score.

The credit score is to adults what the SAT exam is to teenagers — it’s a nailbiter test that almost everyone dreads.

A friend of mine was going through the home-buying process a while ago. The bank she was seeking a loan from did a credit check. They ran the numbers and sent my friend her credit report. She had two credit cards at the time, but on the report she saw a third card from a bank she’d never heard of before. It was a small bank in the Midwest with a name like Bank Of The High Plains. It didn’t even have a website.

My friend sat there, puzzled. But then it occurred to her–someone had used her identity to open a credit card in her name.

So that was the end of the journey, right? My friend’s credit rating was now ruined?

Nope, just the opposite. The person who’d opened the mystery card had an impeccable payment history. She had used the card for fairly small purchases and had never missed a monthly payment.

Unlike my friend, who’d missed a payment or two over time.

The stranger’s solid credit-worthiness was just enough to offset my friend’s tarnished record. Their combined score squeaked in just above the number required for my friend to secure the loan.

I love seeing strangers helping strangers. It’s so very encouraging. And everyone loves a story with a happy ending, especially when it involves a good friend.

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8 thoughts on “Strangers Helping Strangers”

  1. I would never be that lucky. Knowing me, I would get caught opening a fraudulent credit card!

  2. So we just need to find people who have good credit habits and let them steal our identity? Or maybe, we should just change our names to match those with high credit numbers?!

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