Webinar Review: Military Series: Let’s Talk Credit!

Written By: Jesse M. Ketterman, Jr., PhD, AFC

Recently I was able to participate in the Let’s Talk Credit webinar led by Saudi Rogers. Saudi works with the United States Coast Guard’s Work Life Department as a Personal Financial Manager and is an Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC®). The focus of the webinar, as indicated in the title, is to develop a better understanding of credit, credit reports, and credit scores. The presentation had a slant to members of the military, but was applicable to all audiences. 

It opens with how credit impacts our life. Areas mentioned that affect all of us include housing (or in other words, loans), insurance, and employment. For military members credit can also impact your security clearance and overseas assignments. It is recommended that you check your credit report regularly. To check your credit report visit annualcreditreport.com. You can do this as often as weekly (offered since COVID), but by law you can get your credit report from each of the major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) annually.  

The credit report includes five sections; Identification, Payment History, Inquiries, Public Records, and Accurate Negative Information (also known as Collections). This information is used to create your credit score. A score less than 580 is considered poor and scores above 800 are exceptional. Other ratings are discussed in the webinar. Scores are made up from your payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit (10%), and credit mix (10%).  

Now this is where I am going to leave you hanging and encourage you to watch the webinar. There are discussions about strategies to build credit, improve credit, and protect your credit. It then moves into matters specific for military members such as military policy on indebtedness, military response to indebtedness, and implications on your military career.  

If you are trying to expand your knowledge on credit, I would recommend this webinar. Saudi is very personable in her presentation style and provides important information. The webinar can be found through the member portal or on YouTube .