This has been on my mind for a while, and I haven’t found the right way to express my thoughts until today. Society in the last handful of decades has created an "idol" called FICO.
Note: All my FICO quotes in this blog post come from the website www.ficoscore.com.
We are encouraged to base our life decisions on the almighty FICO. "Understanding your FICO® Scores and what they mean to you is a critical part of your financial health." Society wants you to believe that if you don’t commit yourself to debt, then you can’t exist in society. Wow, this is a great idol for the banking and credit card companies to create. Now, if I’m loaning you money, I too want to know your integrity and ability to pay me back, so I understand the need for banks to understand the risk they are taking by loaning you money. My point is that they have created this FICO® score as your worth score in society. Are you worth my money? Are you a person who likes to go into debt? Is it going to take forever to pay me back? What interest should I charge you? Consider what they say about how your score is calculated. "FICO® Scores consider 5 main categories of credit data from your reports: payment history (45%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit (10%), and types of credit in use (10%)." There is nothing in here about your income, assets, cash, investments, or anything else; it is simply that you like to borrow money and may or may not pay it back faithfully.
Idols, in God's eyes, are things we worship and often place before God. Acts 7:41 (KJV) "And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands." 1 Corinthians 12:2 (KJV) "Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led." Exodus 20:3 "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." 2 Nephi 12:8 "Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made."
I believe the credit score is one of the idols today. Man has created it, and people worship it.
Some people have applications on their phones that monitor and check it almost religiously. Some people talk freely about how great their credit score is. They take pride in their idol. I take pride that I’ve started to put God first in my life and that he has taught me to stay out of debt. I used to worship FICO®, but not anymore.
Please don’t get me wrong, I think if you borrow money, you should pay it back in full and on-time, but I now believe what God has taught me to 1) delay your gratification (don’t go into debt), 2) don’t be a slave to the lender nor worship the FICO® God, and 3) pay all debts in full and either early or on time.
Don't be slave to the credit and lender companies and don't worship the idol, of FICO.
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