SoFi Blog

Sometimes, managing finances can feel like a game—one whose rules aren’t always easy to figure out.

It can be doubly disturbing when those rules change unexpectedly. And according to a recent announcement by the Fair Isaac Corporation, the consumer reporting agency responsible for calculating FICO® scores, that’s exactly what’s about to happen.

Many consumers are familiar with their FICO Score, the three-digit credit rating used by many lenders to gauge a borrower’s creditworthiness. Even if they can’t name the exact number, most credit users likely know it exists.

But it’s less common to have a total understanding of how, exactly, that score is arrived at—and that’s before throwing in a formula change.

For most consumers, however, this FICO announcement is apt to be a total non-issue. And even for those whose scores are affected, there are tons of smart financial moves that can help mitigate the changes and potentially help raise overall creditworthiness.

Here are the deets about the 2020 FICO® Score changes.

Earlier today, SoFi hosted a small group of press to talk about what we accomplished in 2019 and what we have planned for 2020 with our CEO Anthony Noto—while getting a chance to show off our shiny new digs in downtown San Francisco. We thought you might be curious to hear what he talked about, too!

It can often start out innocently enough. One partner, who may be better with handling money and finances (or more willing to take on the responsibilities) offers to pay the bills and balance the checkbook every month.

However, with time, the spouse not paying the bills may begin to wonder how things are going: are the credit cards paid on time? How about the mortgage and car payments?

If you’re experiencing financial cheating or are dealing with an overspending spouse, first remember that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. A financial challenge like this one can have a positive outcome and set you on an even better path than the one you were on before.

It can be the one incident that may draw you closer as a couple (once the problem is confronted and on its way to being resolved).

Barnum Financial Group recently added a student loan contribution program to the list of benefits available to their new advisors—and, during our conversations with them, we talked about how a principal payment from an employer has value beyond the amount of the actual monthly contribution.

For example, when you front-load the amount of money put down on a student loan, you can pay the loan down more quickly and reduce the amount of money that’s paid back, overall.

To help quantify the value of an employers’ contribution to your student loan debt, you can use our student loan debt navigator tool.

Budgeting is a drag. This is a fact of life. Another fact of life: Budgeting is totally necessary.

Budgeting isn’t fun not only because it means you can’t buy everything in sight, but also because it means you have to spend time looking over your past purchases (which almost always feels like re-reading your fifteen-year-old diary).

But, you’re a responsible adult, and you did it. You set aside a couple (gasp) Saturdays in front of your computer cooking the books and you’ve come up with a plan that allows you to maintain your lifestyle, improve your finances, and keep abreast of your essential payments.

Sometimes, however, you can get busted. Much like any diet, (and a budget is basically a money diet) cheat days can get out of control and the numbers can get way off base.

Check out these common budget busters and how to avoid them. Then you’ll likely have enough money left for those cheat days (because you included them in your budget).