Читать книгу Building or Refreshing Your Dental Practice - American Dental Association - Страница 30

While occasionally being a day late on a bill payment may not ruin your credit score, there are five specific credit actions that can definitely lower your credit rating. In some cases, dramatically. Do everything in your power to avoid these credit situations:

 Maximized credit card. A credit card that is “maxed out” — charged up to, or close to, the limit of the credit line assigned to the card — indicates to lenders that you are not in control of your debt.

 30-day late payment. While a payment that is a day or two late may be overlooked, a 30-day late payment is a red flag to lenders indicating you may be having difficulty repaying your loans.

 Debt settlement. Settling debt with a creditor is better than simply not repaying the loan, but still has a negative impact on your credit score.

 Foreclosure. Foreclosure on a personal or business mortgage will have a significant negative impact on your credit score.

 Bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is the worst case scenario and will significantly downgrade your credit rating for many years.

Clearly, mismanagement of your debt can result in a poor credit score and, consequently, result in serious damage to your overall financial profile. Based on the formula for granting loans, credit mismanagement is likely to lower the amount of credit available to you and require a higher interest rate on loan payments. This can significantly impact the amount you pay over the life of your loan, as shown in figure 2.2.

Ultimately, a poor financial profile can impact your ability to build a solid foundation for dental practice success, including:

 Less money to design your practice according to your vision

 Restrained ability to develop a competitive operation

 Fewer funds for growth in salaries, marketing and overhead

 Less profit due to higher loan expenses

 Potentially a decreased opportunity for full practice success

The good news is that you have control over building and maintaining your financial profile.

FIGURE 2.2: HOW CREDIT AFFECTS INTEREST RATE^*