My FICO is...

Recently the Bruce and I have made a large financial decision. I know many people who, upon realizing that they could afford a larger mortgage payment, would immediately get themselves into a tan stucco McMansion, STAT. Not us. We refinanced our same old place to a 15 year mortgage in hopes that this place is paid off before our children go to college. Thanks to financial blunders in epic proportions on the part of both banking conglomerates and heedless consumers, a refinance is not a simple matter anymore. We had to provide tax returns, bank statements, and pay for an appraisal. The bright spot was when our "mortgage guy" (what is the official title? I don't know...) informed me that I had the 3 highest FICO scores he had ever seen. A record of sorts, if you will.

This did not happen by accident. In fact, if you met me during college, you might have thought that I was trying to ruin my FICO on purpose. But, I have learned my lessons and devoted the last decade to getting our financial affairs in complete order. It wasn't easy: understanding credit is not easy sometimes, and I made financial moves that weren't always intuitive to me. We were diligent though, in never overextending ourselves and always paying on time, and in fact, simply paying as we went the majority of the time. Bruce and I are on the same page regarding how we feel about protecting our credit rating and our financial security, so that made things easier for us. And now, I have relationships with creditors who have identified me as trustworthy risk.

What if our human relationships had FICO scores as well? I have wondered over the last few weeks how I would rate. I've certainly made mistakes in past relationships: the kind of mistakes where even 10 or 15 years later when I think about the circumstances, I still cringe a little at my own behavior. Are terrible interactions "dropped off" in 7 years? I kind of hope so.

Just like my credit has mattered more and more to me as I have matured, so have my relationships with the people in my life, more specifically, the RIGHT kind of relationships with the RIGHT kind of people. There are types of credit that I would never want: with fees, and high interest rates, and I've realized that there are relationships also where the costs are too high, and I want no part of them. I hope that similar to my evolving FICO, my mistakes of the past don't count so much anymore, and my good behavior counts the most. It matters to me that the friends and family in my life think I was worth being extended their credit.