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Living Well with Bad Credit: Buy a House, Start a Business, and Even Take a VacationNo Matter How Low Your Credit Score | 
 enlarge | Authors: Geoff Williams, Chris Balish
Publisher: HCI
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $7.55
You Save: $5.40 (42%)
New (24) Used (12) from $6.62
Rating:  11 reviews
Media: Paperback
Pages: 192
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0757313582
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.024
EAN: 9780757313585
Publication Date: January 4, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780757313585 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Product Description
If bad credit has happened to you, there is something you can do about it Feeling broke and battered? We know the feeling—heck, everyone knows it. According to the Wall Street Journal, 110 million Americans have bad credit—almost 50% of the adult population. But we don't have to be depressed or discouraged about it. There is life after bad credit. In fact, there's even life during bad credit.
Living Well with Bad Credit is the right help at the right time. If you're bravely soldiering on despite your finances going south, this informative book is for you. It puts the emphasis on living with bad credit—and living well. Veteran journalist Geoff Williams (AOL' s personal finance blog WalletPop, CNNMoney.com, Bankrate.com) and media powerhouse Chris Balish, an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and author (Living Well Without a Car), have teamed up to bring readers:
• Usable tips on how to embrace, and even benefit from, a low credit score
• Invaluable advice for dealing with 'lifestyle' events such as how to buy a car or qualify for a credit card with bad credit
• Interviews with dozens of experts and successful professionals who share ideas on how to live with the negative effects of bad credit
• Practical discussion on topics that go beyond finance, such as healing self-esteem and building relationships in spite of bad credit
While bad credit can be a setback, it doesn't have to be a roadblock. This expert guide is just the ticket to a better life once again
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 Quickie exploitative book, chock full of lame and bad advice July 4, 2010
Laura Higgins (San Rafael, CA United States)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I bought the skinny, big-type, lots-of-airspace Living Well with Bad Credit while researching new info I could incorporate into financial education classes I'm creating for the credit union I work for. Usually when I pick up new books like this, I'll use them as door prizes when we hold "How to Build Your Credit" seminars -- but I can't even give this one away, because so much of the advice is just so bad! Much of the book is two Hollywood types nattering away, looking to make the reader go ha-ha-ha.
In fact, I found the entire tome just downright insulting to one's intelligence -- and a slap in the face of people who are in the very real and very painful, back-against-the-wall situation of having badly damaged credit.
(pg 44, giving advice on who might hire you without doing a background credit check: "...You can probably become a farm laborer, lifeguard, or a stripper without a credit check, or you could sell watches on Times Square, or... well, have you ever considered becoming a mime?
"CHRIS: A mime? Did we really just write that?
"GEOFF: Oh, I'm crazy for suggesting people become a mime, but you'e the man with the plan for telling people they should become a stripper or sell watches on Times Square...
"CHRIS: You are right. You are so cool. I wish I was you.
"GEOFF: But of course.
"CHRIS: Stop rewriting what I wrote! Folks, I didn't write that Geoff was cool.
"GEOFF: What you wrote was unprintable! (There is a struggle.)"
That entire exchange occupies nearly the entire bottom half of page 44. (The book averages about 3 - 4 paragraphs to the page.) Here's another:
Their chapter on "Good Housing with Bad Credit" starts with this: "People can live in creative ways -- and there's no better example of how than surfing through TV channels or checking out old television series online. For instance, Jim Rockford, the detective from the 1970's series, The Rockford Files, lived in a mobile home, but he did so in a trailer park community on the beach. Rockford, who always seemed to be behind on bills and was once audited, clearly couldn't afford an actual house on the beach, but he probably didn't mind the cramped quarters of his trailer, because his location was so pristine. Or think of how all of the friends on Friends were rooming with each other in order to lower their rent costs. The Fonz lived in a room over the garage at the Cunningham's, which saved him money..." that block of text is the entirety of page 55, and on 56 they continue on to share info about the living quarters of MacGyver, Quincy, and Sonny Corbett -- and that The Flintstones lived in a cave, and the cast of Gilligan's Island lived in grass huts.
Gee! Nice to have the meander down TVLand's real estate row -- but it does strike me that NONE OF THESE EXAMPLES ARE ACTUAL LIVING HUMAN BEINGS! But what else would you expect from a TV/Hollywood writer with bad credit, who is one of the authors of the book? Blathering about TV characters from 30-40 years ago is a lot easier than doing any actual research.
If you want to spend your $12.95 to read these two financial know-nothings try to one-up each other with cute gag lines, this is a great book for you -- because the CREDIT-RELATED info they included seems to be the type that was collected via Googling over the course of a weekend.
It's a lazy and exploitative "Google-the-research" book.
lame! an insult to your intelligence July 2, 2010
Terry Roth (Montreal)
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
This book is an insult to ones intelligence. Instead of an informative read about all kinds of ways to live in a credit-filled world and rebuild your credit while still being able to do all the things you need to do...this book has nothing in it that you wouldn't know already...
If you are looking for a book that gives you any valuable information, look somewhere else...this is more of a guys personal experience living with no credit rather than anything that is infromative about doing something about your situation.
I am a professional credit counsellor and was reviewing this book to see if it was informative enough to recommend to clients. What I found was an absurd collection of "duh" information.
for instance? can't buy a house? rent an apartment (wow...who would have thought of that?)
or...want to take a vacation? go camping! (geez thank you for that insightful advice)
Can't rent a car? Borrow a friends.
Unfortunately you NEED a credit card for some vital activities, like renting a car or buying an airline ticket (contrary to the outdated advice, buying an airline ticket with a wad of cash after 9-11, is NOT accepted by most major airlines)
There are secured credit cards that give you the exact credit for the deposit you give AND they pay you interest for that deposit. Its a bit of a hassle, yes, but try renting a car without a credit card today.
Also there are affinity cards that give you a large "credit line" that can boost your credit score significantly. Of course that "credit limit" is only for their overpriced goods, but you don't have to buy anything from them (just keep the card 'active') and it gives the illusion that credit grantors are accepting your credit again.
Also there are other ways to "give yourself credit" - such as plunking down a few hundred dollars to your bank as collateral and "borrowing" that money back. You will pay a little bit of interest, but you get the loan at 'prime' (since it is fully secured) and when you pay it back, you are rebuilding credit (credit reports do not differentiate between secured and unsecured term loans).
Also, simply checking your credit file periodically and "questioning" any items that denote bad credit, causes that item to be temporarily "suspended" until they "investigate" (which means they send a letter to the creditor to ask for confirmation). Some creditors respond and confirm but if they do not within 30 days, that item must be removed by law! And during the time of the "dispute", that item is removed from your credit score calculation temporarily giving your score a "boost", so if you time it properly, you can apply for a mortgage or credit card in this window and may be approved.
I cannot think of anything good this book can be used for except perhaps propping up a loose window....or as kindling for your fireplace.
 Thank God I'm Not Alone June 17, 2010
KarenSantaFe (Santa Fe)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I really appreciated this book so much. The authors -- one of whom went through his own bad credit saga and ultimately a bankruptcy -- are down to earth and write in a highly accessible manner. I had always been pretty good with my credit and money, until a serious medical event (brain tumor). Then the proverbial you-know-what hit the fan. I had medical insurance, I had savings, and still ended up with a pile of debt that was crushing me. The authors helped me see the errors of my ways -- in hindsight, my reserves were insufficient -- and also to see that even the best of us can mismanage our budgets, make bad forecasts, or just pull the short straw.
My own debt crisis began just as the Wall Street crisis unfolded. I had always just assumed it was a good thing to have credit cards, and before my medical saga, I generally kept my balances low or at zero. AND paid on time. But when the recession hit, some of my cards were cancelled, some lowered the limits, and the rates were jacked way up. Watching the melt-down from a hospital bed, I had some time to reflect on the whole set of assumptions we've been living with as a culture about money, credit, debt and risk. And self-employed (as the authors are), I saw my income plummet by two thirds. I found myself in a virtual 21st century debtors prison of the body, mind and soul.
What was so helpful about this book, for me, were the tales about how I'm not alone, and how you really can live, and live well -- I dare say, live better! -- without a great credit score. My credit score will eventually recover, but perhaps even more important, I no longer care so much about it. The whole "your credit score is your life you have to have a good one to do anything" conversation, I'm beginning to suspect, is part of a whole way we have been trained, like lab rats, to relate to our money. I've made payment plans for some of my debt, and have offered settlements to the credit card companies (20 cents on the dollar, which they were happy to take, since my only alternative was bankruptcy).
I don't really see the need to have a bunch of credit cards ever again in my life, and I no longer define my value as a human being by my credit score. I use a debit card for things that require a card (ex. hotel when traveling), and keep one credit card for dire emergencies. I'm replenishing my financial cushion. I'm rebuilding my business. But I'm relating differently to money, and to the whole machine that is the financial industry. I don't hate them, but I don't really need a lot of what they have to offer, either. A mortgage? Yes. Buying anything at 25% interest? No thanks! Life is simpler, and more importantly, easier to live. I have this book to thank for it.
BAD BUSINESS May 1, 2010
CLYDE GEORGE (SURPRISE, AZ, US)
0 out of 10 found this review helpful
I have not had a chance to read or review the book as I have not received my purchase from paperbackshopUS (pbshopus@paperbackshop.co.uk). I am extremely dissappointed with this vendor. I HAVE NOT RECEIVED MY ORDER and I have as yet to be contacted by the seller to make arrangements for it to be sent to me.
Great Advice April 25, 2010
April Jenkins (All over the West Coast, US)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this book thinking I wanted to buy a house. This book really puts viewing your financial "life" as your life into perspective. I definitely have done many of the tips in this book (by default of having no other choice). They give great advice how to get around credit checks and how to handle having bad credit in different situations. Its written thoughtfully and with wit and humor. I would definitely recommend this book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
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