MORE THAN JUST A CREDIT SCORE All the Things Lenders Really Check
When you apply for a loan or credit card, it’s easy to assume your credit report tells the whole story. But honestly, that’s only one piece of the puzzle. Behind the scenes, lenders are looking at other details, and those can matter just as much, if not more.
difference, too. For instance, a mortgage or auto loan gets more scrutiny than a store credit card. Other behind-the-scenes factors also matter. Some lenders track how often you apply for new credit. If it looks like you’ve been applying everywhere, that can make them
Here’s something that catches people off guard: The credit score you see might not be the one your lender uses. Different lenders pull reports from different credit bureaus, and many rely on customized scoring models made for their industry. That means the “good” score you see on a free app might not match the lender's number. Lenders also look at how steady your income is and how much debt you carry compared to what you earn. You could have a perfect payment history but raise red flags if your debt-to-income ratio is too high. And the kind of credit you’re applying for makes a
nervous. A few lenders even use internal data based on your history with them, and those things never show up in your credit report. It’s not always obvious how much weight these things carry, but they help explain why someone with a solid score might still be denied. Your credit report matters. But so do your habits, your consistency, and the bigger story your finances tell. If you’re considering borrowing, it’s worth looking at the whole picture. Clean up your credit, yes — but also take stock of your income, budget, and how you manage what you already have.
From Silver Screens to Console Catastrophes
FILM-INSPIRED VIDEO GAME FAILS When all the marketing stars align, a Hollywood hit can lead to profitable tie-ins with multiple products. Unfortunately, not all film-related products result in huge profits — sometimes, a misjudged crossover can literally end up in a dump. Here are two examples of video games that tanked despite their ties to popular movies. Atari’s Awful ‘E.T.’ Misadventure
game was a financial and critical disaster, leading Atari to reportedly dump millions of unsold cartridges into a landfill in New Mexico. Nintendo’s ‘Mean Girls’ Meltdown In 2011, Nintendo decided to expand its appeal to the teenage girl gamer market. Inexplicably, the company thought creating a video game adaptation of a 7-year-old film, 2004’s “Mean Girls,” would do the trick. Although
If you’re part of Gen X, you undoubtedly remember how magical it was to sit in a theater and watch the 1982 classic “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” on the big screen. Consequently, the movie’s success prompted an array of popular marketing tie-ins with famous brands, including a memorable campaign for Reece’s Pieces. However, one “E.T.”-related tie-in will forever live in infamy. In December 1982, roughly six months after “E.T.”’s theatrical release, Atari, Inc. released a home video game based on the film. With Atari’s 2600 game console all the rage at the time and “E.T.” quickly becoming one of the most beloved films in history, combining the two into one item should have been a financial slam dunk. However, there was a slight problem: The rush to design and code the game for the holiday season left its designer, Howard Scott Warshaw, only six weeks to create it — at a time when video games could take up to a year to perfect. Marred by poor graphics and clunky gameplay, the “E.T.”
the film had been a hit nearly a decade earlier, its popularity circa 2011 had diminished due to star Lindsay Lohan’s high-profile run-ins with the law. Nintendo attempted to avoid the stigma by removing Lohan’s image from the game’s
packaging — a move akin to marketing an “Indiana Jones”- related product without using an image of Harrison Ford. Lohan’s absence, coupled with the fact that they released the game years after a movie tie-in would have been relevant, all but guaranteed the product would sink into obscurity shortly after its release.
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