It’s no secret that financial stress can take a toll on your mental health. Poor credit can make it challenging to meet your basic needs and may make you feel helpless and hopeless. But what you might not know is that bad credit can also have a negative impact on your physical health.
Financial stress leads to physiological stress, which can increase your risk of developing chronic diseases like high blood pressure, ulcers, and heart disease. The good news is there are ways to recover from poor credit—and the sooner you begin working towards a solution, the sooner you’ll see an improvement in your finances and overall well-being.
Keep reading for more information about how bad credit affects your physical health, as well as tips for recovering from poor credit and repairing your finances.
What is a Credit Score?
A credit score is a numerical representation of how likely a person is to repay an outstanding debt. It is calculated based on several factors, including the amount of debt owed, the length of time it has been outstanding and the person’s payment history. The higher the credit score, the more likely it is that a person will pay back debts in full. An 850 credit score is regarded as almost perfect and will be seen as evidence of practically immaculate credit management.
In addition, banks use these scores when deciding whether or not to grant loans or credit cards to potential customers.
Credit scores are essential for anyone who wants to obtain new lines of credit. However, there are ways to improve your score. For example, if you consistently pay your bills on time and keep your credit utilization low, your score will automatically improve over time.
What Happens to Your Body When You’re in Debt?
If you’re struggling to make ends meet, you’re likely making sacrifices in other areas of your life. You may be having trouble paying your bills on time, or you may be taking fewer trips or less leisurely vacations with your friends and family members. All of these factors can add stress to your life, which can lead to physical health issues.
Chronic stress can increase your risk of developing a host of health problems, including high blood pressure, ulcers, and heart disease. For example, high blood pressure, which affects about one-third of all Americans, can lead to serious health conditions, like stroke, heart attack, and kidney failure. It can also increase your risk of kidney stones, eye damage, and aneurysm. And if left untreated, high blood pressure can lead to erectile dysfunction.
The Connection Between Bad Credit and Physical Health
If you have bad credit, you may have trouble getting approved for new loans and lines of credit, such as a mortgage or car loan. A lack of available credit can make it challenging to meet your basic needs. This can also lead to a mental health crisis, which can increase your risk of developing chronic illnesses.
If you’re in debt and don’t know where you’ll get the money to make your monthly payments, that can also create physiological stress. This can eventually lead to poor physical and mental health. A bad credit rating can also affect your ability to get health insurance coverage. Insurers consider your credit score when determining how much money they’ll charge you for coverage and what type of plan you’ll qualify for.
If you have a poor credit score, you may find yourself paying high premiums or being rejected for coverage altogether. If you have limited health insurance options, it can be challenging to receive proper treatment for chronic illnesses.
How Debt Affects Your Physical Health
1. Depression
Depression can make it difficult to work towards a solution. It’s also often accompanied by negative thinking, which can make it challenging to get out of debt and improve your finances.
2. Weight Gain and Obesity
Eating healthfully is important for staying healthy and managing chronic conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes. But if you’re in debt, you may be more likely to gain weight and become obese because you’re stressed and don’t have the resources you need to eat healthfully. Lack of access to healthy food can also make it challenging to eat well.
3. Anxiety
Anxiety, which is also common among people dealing with debt, can lead to a host of physiological health issues, like gastrointestinal problems and heart disease.
How a Bad Credit Rating Can Cause Inflammation
Your body is designed to protect itself from harmful organisms and substances. When something enters your body that it perceives as a threat, your immune system kicks into gear to neutralize the threat and restore your health. If a disease or disorder is causing inflammation in your body, your immune system will be triggered.
Credit rating agencies track your debt-to-income ratio and prompt payment history to determine your credit score. If you have a poor credit rating, you may struggle to make timely payments on your debt and get approved for new lines of credit, like a mortgage or car loan. A lack of available credit can create physiological stress.
As your body senses stress, it produces a hormone called cortisol that can increase inflammation inside your body. If you have bad credit and are already dealing with chronic diseases, this can make it challenging to maintain your health. Having a bad credit rating can also cause a big financial stress, which can lead to more inflammation in your body.
Strategies for Recovering from Bad Credit
1. Pay Off Your Debt
The best way to improve your health and finances is to get out of debt. If you have high-interest credit card debt, it can take years to pay it off. And if you’re behind on your bills, you may be charged late payment fees, which will make getting out of debt even more challenging.
Missing payments is the most damaging thing you can do to your credit record and scores and it will never make feasible to achieve your goal of having the perfect credit score possible. A few delinquencies from long ago won’t be catastrophic, but a string of them over the past few years is a sign of serious financial difficulty and will lower your credit scores.
Your credit report and rating will suffer for seven years due to late payments, with a decreasing influence over time.
Although you cannot change the past, you may alter the present. You must now adhere to your due dates. Less attention will be paid to previous strikes the more timely payments that are noted on your reports.
2. Employ Credit Repair Services
If you’re drowning in debt and don’t know where to start, consider hiring credit repair professionals. They can help you set up a repayment plan and come up with a payment plan that works for you. You should also consider working with a credit repair firm if you lack the time or energy to challenge outdated or inaccurate information on your record that is harming your credit.
For a fee, a top-rated credit repair company will handle everything for you. A specialist will review your records, concentrate on any unfavourable information that may and should be removed, and act on your behalf.
Don’t forget to factor the cost of health insurance into your debt repayment plan.
3. Protect Your Health
While you’re working to get out of debt, it’s important to take care of your health. Eating healthy, exercising regularly, and managing any chronic conditions you may have are all important for staying healthy. You can also reach out to trusted friends and family members for support.
Make the Best Decisions for Your Situation
Bad credit can affect your mental and physical health, but it’s not too late to turn things around. Pay off your debt, get help from credit repair affiliates, and protect your health in the meantime. Once you’ve gotten out of debt, you can start rebuilding your credit and looking forward to a healthier future.
