Those who exert more patience and are willing to wait for larger
financial payouts down the line have credit scores an average of
30 points higher than those who are less patient, according to a
study to be published in the Journal of Psychological Science
next month.  Time Moneyland's Martha White reports that Stephan
Meier and Charles Sprenger, professors at Columbia and Stanford,
respectively, found that people who need instant gratification
are also more likely to pay their credit cards late or skip a
payment altogether.    “The most extreme choice was $22 now or
$50 in a month,” Meier says. “There was a surprising amount of
people taking the $22.”  One of the other striking finds of
their paper, "Time Discounting Predicts Creditworthiness," was
how those who proved to be least patient scored an average
credit score below 620, the number that usually distinguishes
between prime and "subprime" borrowers. ("Subprime" borrowers
will pay higher interest rates on things like mortgages and
other loans.)  If you