By Andrea Woroch
The upcoming holiday season may have you feeling joyous and anxious at the same time thanks to all the seasonal expenses, gift purchases and travel costs you will take on in several short weeks. Those who don’t prepare ahead may find themselves relying heavily on credit cards and, ultimately, be in debt
Did you know that your credit history could affect your ability to get a job? Prospective employers are unlikely to turn you down solely for having bad credit, but items in your credit report can make the difference between you and another equally qualified candidate. “Your credit score matters, even if you’re not in the
Do you have a love-hate relationship with your credit card? After all, it brings you both pleasurable purchases and painful bills.
Credit cards are valuable financial assets – but cards and the companies that issue them aren’t necessarily your friends. Consider these seven things you may not know about your credit card as you reassess
Experian Boost? Is that a new energy drink?
No, it’s not designed to boost your energy – Experian Boost is designed to boost your credit score. This new program from the credit reporting agency Experian was launched in March 2019. In its first six months of activity, Experian Boost has instantly increased a total of
Are you planning on delaying your retirement? Workers are trending in that direction. Labor force participation numbers have been increasing over the past two decades, as have average retirement ages.
U.S. Census Bureau information shows that after a short dip to an average retirement age of 62 for men in the 1980s, the average retirement
You need a loan and you want the best interest rate possible. You know that a high credit score paves the way for the best interest rate offers – but did you know that your credit card balances contribute to one of the five factors used to calculate your credit score?
Your credit utilization, defined
We all go through major life changes, both positive and negative. All have the potential to affect your credit, in either a positive or negative way. The outcome depends on how you handle these life events and the corresponding changes.
Consider the following examples.
1. Going to College – College is more than four years
Bills are due, and you’re out of money. You’re considering a payday loan to plug the gap in your cash flow. You think you can use the payday loan responsibly and use it to build up your credit score. Think again.
Payday loans, along with almost all no-credit-check loans, do not report payment information to
After years of spotless credit, let’s say you’ve harmed your excellent credit score by missing a payment. Perhaps you’ve had an unexpected accident or medical expense that disrupted your payment schedule, or maybe you simply had a brain cramp and forgot to submit your payment on time.
You’ve made good on the missed payment, along
No matter how hard you try, you can’t improve your credit score. Who’s to blame? Identity thieves? President Trump? Space aliens? It’s time to find out.
Start by reviewing your credit report, which is a compilation of your credit history. Creditors report activity on all of your loans and credit accounts, such as history of
Your credit score is one of the most important factors that lenders review when deciding whether to extend credit to you – but it’s not the only factor. It’s possible to get a loan with a poor credit score and be denied a loan with a good credit score based on other considerations.
Your credit
Who doesn’t want more money in their monthly check? Most people do – before and after retirement. Fortunately, there are a few ways in which you may see an increase in your check even after you’ve begun to draw retirement benefits.
Continuing to Work – Your Social Security benefits are calculated from the 35 highest
Your marital status doesn’t play any role in calculating your credit score – so why could a divorce harm your credit score? Joint accounts are the reason.
Most couples have joint debt like mortgages, credit cards, and loans. A divorce decree may assign responsibility for a joint debt, but the decree doesn’t affect the lender’s
Few things are more satisfying than driving your brand-new car – until you realize that it lost value immediately after you left the dealership. Thanks to depreciation, it’s possible for a car to lose over 20% of its starting value within the first year. According to CARFAX data, cars can lose over 10% of their
Can your checking account affect your credit score? It’s possible, but only in certain circumstances that you should avoid.
Your credit score is calculated using information from your credit report, which is a history of all of your credit-based transactions. Checking accounts are funded by your deposits – there’s no borrowing of money involved. Normal
You’re ready to take out a loan, only to realize that your credit score actually dropped since you last checked it. With a low credit score, you’ll be paying higher interest rates than you expected – and you may not qualify for the loan at all.
What happened?
Remember that your credit score reflects your
It’s always best to pay off a loan as soon as you can, isn’t it? Not necessarily. There are several reasons you may not want to pay off your loan early, including the effects on your credit score.
The obvious reason for early payoff is interest savings. By paying your loans off early (especially large
After a long search you’ve finally found out who’s dragging down your credit score.
Surprise! It’s you.
Your credit score reflects your entire credit history as recorded on your credit report. Lenders and creditors report your account activity to each of the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) – whether that activity
It may seem like you have been paying credit card interest since 3500 BC – but you might be surprised to learn that credit actually dates back to those ancient times.
Historians believe that the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia (in modern-day Iraq) extended credit to farmers in the rough equivalent of a consumer loan. The
Your credit score is a valuable asset that must be maintained and protected. Unfortunately, there are ways that other people can negatively affect your credit score – either inadvertently or with bad intent.
Protect your credit information by carefully monitoring these five potential paths to a reduced credit score.
1. Joint Accounts – Joint checking
Shortly after children are born, parents apply for the Social Security number that their children will use throughout their lives. Unfortunately, that leaves criminals with a golden opportunity to use that Social Security number to commit fraud – since you are unlikely to check the credit status of your own children.
“Child identity theft is
By Amy Beardsley
Are you thinking of applying for a credit card? You’re in good company with over half a million Americans submitting a new credit card application every day according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Applying for a credit card is simple but getting approved isn’t so easy. Both your credit score and
You prefer the simplicity and the spending limit security of a debit card, but you also like the cash-back rewards associated with credit cards. Zero, a San Francisco financial startup, may have the perfect card for you.
The Zerocard is a unique blend of debit and credit card. Zero’s full package is composed of a
Millennials are supposed to be the cautious generation where credit is concerned. Many were burned during the housing crisis and Great Recession and vowed not to be overextended with credit. However, evidence is growing that millennials are headed down the same dangerous credit path as previous generations.
While millennials do have lower average credit card
Imagine an online offer for a restaurant chain that is so tempting it sells out in one second. That actually happened with the return of the Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Pass.
The original Never Ending Pasta Pass in 2014 was so popular that it crashed Olive Garden’s website, and the passes sold out within
If you can get something either with or without a fee, why would you ever pay the fee? Unless you just enjoy throwing money away, you’d have to get something of value in return to justify the fees.
A recent survey from Discover, a major issuer of no-fee credit cards, investigated fees and their effects
Who doesn’t love cash back rewards? We all enjoy the feeling of getting something back with our purchases, and credit card companies know this. They offer rewards programs as incentives – and a recent survey from CreditCards.com shows that cash back programs are the most attractive variety.
Almost one-third (31%) of survey respondents chose 3%
Created in July 2010, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been a welcome advocate for consumers wronged by businesses and financial institutions. In its short lifetime, the agency has fielded 1.5 million consumer complaints, publishing just fewer than 1.2 million of them in a convenient searchable form. The CFPB commands attention, as 97% of
Congratulations! Your family will soon be blessed with your first child. You’re on your way to a lifetime of cherished memories – and a whole new series of financial challenges.
From bringing them into the world to sending them off to the working world, children are one of the largest expenses of your lifetime. According
Huge data breaches are becoming commonplace, exposing the personal information of thousands of consumers to potential identity theft – but the 2017 Equifax data breach may have been one of the most disappointing.
Data breaches often target retailers that store personal information on their customers. You have a choice whether or not to shop at
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