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While doing some keyword research I came across a question posted by someone asking 'why must we have credit scores to determine trustworthiness'.

This person stated that they were in there late 20's and had made it all the way up and through grad school without taking any loans. Further stated was that they had worked their tail end off while attending school in order not to owe anyone money so they could graduate free and clear. As a result they didn't have a credit history. They didn't have a credit card, had saved up for all of their purchases and had worked hard to stay out of debt.

First let me give this person a standing ovation. This person will probably join the ranks of the wealthy before too long. Few people today approach their financial health in this manner. As a mortgage loan officer, I have seen so many people whose credit scores are low because they were unable to repay their student loans in a timely manner after graduation.

To answer this question we have to consider that few people are able to save up to make a large purchase like a home and therefore a need for a credit rating system.

Years and years ago if someone wanted to borrow money they would go to the local bank to get a loan. The banker was a part of the same community and would make loans based on knowing the person or their father or grandfather. The banker would know the background and character of the family. There was no need for a way to rate someone's credit worthiness because they knew the person and their ancestry.

As we have evolved into a more global world we deal with people everyday that we don't know and have never even met before. And in the case of getting a mortgage, the underwriter who makes the final decision about the loan will probably never meet, or even speak with, the borrower during the whole loan process.

With this global growth it became necessary for financial institutions to come up with a way to judge if a person was worthy. Out of this need came the score. The credit score is used almost exclusively today by credit card companies, home mortgage companies, auto loan dealers and finance companies when you apply for a loan.

With credit scores lenders can make loans without personally knowing the person or some family member. This opens up a whole new world to the borrower for a source of loans.

The advantage is that the borrower can shop for better rates and get larger loan amounts and usually get their loan faster. The disadvantage is that the scoring models are proprietary and therefore you don't really know how your score is calculated. And if you happen to be one of those people who has had something happen financially in your past that brought down your scores, the bureaus won't offer a lot to help you get them back in good standing. In addition, there are a large percentage of errors in people's reports and the credit bureaus take no responsibility for making your life miserable as a result of errors caused by them or by your creditors.

The author is a mortgage loan officer and understands the need for a good credit rating if you ever plan to purchase anything on credit.

If you would like more information on credit scores and how to improve or raise your credit score visit: Improve Credit Score.

If you already have a good credit rating and are thinking about purchasing a new home or refinancing an existing home and would like some mortgage tips then visit: New Mortgage Loans and Refinance Mortgage Loan Tips.

Is this the best dolphin picture ever taken? We guarantee it is a genuine photo with no digital enhancing or addition of the dolphins ... this is how it was! The shot was taken at 4:16pm on June 28, 2002, (thank goodness for digital cameras, they store all that sort of information!) on a Nikon D1X camera with a Nikkor 500mm f8 mirror lens. The once-in-a-lifetime photograph of 17 dolphins muscling in on the humans during a professional surfing competition was taken by John Pauling, a South African surfing photographer ... he's been surfing since 1965, and has worked as a professional photographer since 1973 (all his adult career). It is published by us at Artists Harbour as a photograph on glossy paper and as a poster on matte art paper.

This is what John says about how he got lucky and took the best surfing shot of his career:

"It was taken at a well known surf spot just south of Durban called Cave Rock during a surf contest called the Rip Curl Tube Masters. It's an annual event held there because of the big hollow waves that come through at that time of year.

I've been a professional photographer all my working life starting in 1973 and have been involved with surfing since about 1965 so I've learned a whole heap from the true "surfers"! At this time of the year (May to July) the surf always picks up due to weather conditions (our winter) and along the Natal coast we have a unique situation with huge shoals of sardines migrating up the coast towards Mozambique. Of course bigger fish follow the sardines, game fish follow those fish and then the sharks and dolphins follow the game fish, the old who-eats-who story.

It's fairly common to have dolphins in the waves with you while surfing, quite unnerving at times they come up next to you while you're on the wave!

On this particular day, I saw the pod cruising in the backline behind the surfers and knew from experience that at some stage one or two of them would break off and join the guys in the surf. So I was anticipating some action from them, but nothing like what they presented me with! I've been shooting surf pictures for over 30 years all around South Africa but rate this as the best one I've ever been lucky enough to get!"

Leon Reis is the Director of Artists Harbour.
We provide sales, marketing and production services to artists from our maritime art gallery in a historic Royal Navy gun store 100 metres from Tudor warship Mary Rose and Nelsons Trafalgar flagship, HMS Victory, at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Hampshire, UK.