Purchasing a Textbook?

If you haven’t had to shop for a college textbook for yourself or your college student recently, consider yourself lucky! The costs can be enormous [that’s not even delving into the issue of what you get back at the end of the semester during sell-back]. Do I have a choice??

Aside from attempting to check textbooks out from the library, I’ve met students that don’t buy books because they view the cost as greater than the benefit. I don’t know that I’d go that far in advocating saving money. I do know, however, that more and more online outlets are selling college textbooks (both new and used), often for significantly less. While I don’t make personal recommendations/ endorsements, I think it is definitely worth the look to understand what alternatives are available to you.

Buy it Used.
A1Books
AbeBooks.com
Alibris
AllBookstores.com
Amazon.com
Biblio.com
Bigwords.com
Bookbyte.com
BookFinder.com
Campus Book Swap
CheapestBookPrice.com
CollegeBooksDirect.com
eCampus.com
Textbook411
TextbookX.com
Valore Books

Swap it.
I’ve also read of students that have used resources like Facebook, Craigslist, and MySpace to swap books with other students, sell books the bookstore won’t buy back, and find used book groups to chat with students to get personal insights. Websites like CollegeSwapShop focus specifically on linking students up that would like to swap books. Buying college textbooks will always be an expensive proposition, but perhaps there are options available to you that could lighten the pinch on your wallet a little.

"Credit Piggybacking"

“Credit piggybacking” is a term that describes an authorized user ‘piggybacking’ off the strong credit of another (normally a parent or spouse). Lately, credit repair companies/scams have started selling this ‘privilege’ to individuals with poor or marginal credit, having them piggyback off an individual with good credit (the company would pay someone with good credit a fee per account to ‘rent’ their credit). When the individual is added as an authorized user, their credit history with that account is automatically updated – presto, an overnight improvement to one’s credit score. Obviously this practice has a lot of negative implications for lenders who largely base their loan criteria upon this score. Regulators haven’t stepped in because they say that technically it isn’t illegal. Credit card companies are reticent to change their policies to limit authorized users – too profitable for them. So Fair Isaac, the behemoth of the credit scoring industry (company that developed the FICO credit score), has decided to change their scoring formula to ignore references to authorized-user accounts. So even if companies continue to report the information to the credit bureaus, it won’t impact the bottom line (your credit score).

What You Need to Know:
- TIMELINE. No one [that’s talking] knows exactly how or when this change will occur. This month, the ‘new’ scoring formula will be introduced at one of the bureaus, followed by the other two during the next year. Even then, the benefit of the authorized user won’t likely diminish overnight, as not every lender will immediately switch to the latest FICO version.

- WON'T IMPACT JOINT ACCOUNTS. The change will only impact authorized users – joint account holders will continue to both be reported.

- REACH. While this doesn’t impact the majority of people, 41 million consumers are currently listed as authorized users on accounts - pretty dramatic. Obviously the greatest impact will be the 2 million who only have information as an authorized user in their credit file – typically young people (often college students), and spouses that don’t have credit in their own names.

- BOTTOM LINE. Although it may take time for lenders to adopt the new scoring model, authorized-user accounts are no longer a reliable way to boost someone’s credit score.

Related Resources:
· Credit Issues
· Credit Scoring
· Order your Free Credit Report