Best Business Commentary

Easy credit fix? It’s a scam.

If you’re paying a company to fix your credit, you’re probably wasting your money, says Michelle Singletary in The Washington Post. Sure, “good credit can get you much better rates for a car or home loan,” while bad credit brings high interest rates and other problems. But while there are a few “legitimate credit-repair companies” out there, most are a “con to get your cash.” How can you tell? First off, upfront fees are illegal—credit-repair companies have to show results before they charge you. And beware any firm that vows to “permanently delete accurate, negative information” from your record. If they’re going to lie to clear your record, they’ll lie to you.

Torre and the art of the deal

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The Yankees deserve a “Horse’s Rear-End of the Year Award” for bungling Joe Torre’s contract, say Jack and Suzy Welch in BusinessWeek.com. But did Torre get offered “a raw deal? No way.” He still would have been the highest-paid manager in baseball. The “all-too-common” blunder with Torre’s contract is that it was negotiated “under the hot glare of media scrutiny” rather than in “the cold light of day.” Public scrutiny turns business negotiations from a rational search for the “best all-around solutions” to face-saving public “gladiator-like death matches.” In business, it is much better to deal “quietly, quickly, and in private.”