Using credit wisely can keep you from going into unmanageable debt. Learn how using credit wisely can help you when you need to buy a house, a car or other large purchase.
Having a vehicle repossessed is a shocking occurrence. Suddenly, you’re left without transportation to get to work, school and run necessary errands. Although it’s an unfortunate situation, it’s not a hopeless one. If you act quickly, you may be able to get the vehicle back. Here are some steps to take if your vehicle is repossessed. ...
Would you be able to spot it if you were headed for a financial meltdown? For most of us, as long as we’re keeping a roof overhead, putting food on the table and paying our bills, we feel like we’re doing OK financially. But sometimes you have to look a little deeper. It’s possible to be doing all these things and still be headed for a financ...
Credit reports and scores have an impact on many aspects of consumers’ financial lives, so it’s no surprise that there is a lot of misinformation surrounding them. Misunderstanding credit reports and scores and their impact can limit consumers and even lead to making less-than-ideal financial choices. Are you ready to let go of misinformation a...
No matter how long you’ve been working at it, finally getting out of credit card debt is one of the best feelings. It’s a huge achievement and something to be proud of. But what happens now? When you finally achieve this goal that once seemed impossible, it can be challenging to know what to do next, or how to maintain that success. Following t...
Graduating from college is one of life’s major milestones. It’s a time to stop and celebrate your achievements, while looking toward an exciting future. You’re about to start making more decisions for yourself than ever before, and many of those decisions will involve how you’re going to spend and save your money. Here are five financial ti...
We all make financial mistakes now and then. But missing a credit card payment is one you should try your best to avoid. Not only can it throw off your whole budget (you’ll have to pay twice as much or more next month), even one missed payment can have lasting negative effects on your credit. Here’s what happens and what to do if you miss a cre...
We can all agree that paying credit card bills is no fun. But paying them late — or worse, missing payments completely — is even less fun due to consequences including late fees, higher interest rates and lower credit scores. And while you might think you have a legitimate reason for paying late, your creditors will beg to differ. We’re go...
If your current FICO credit score is lower than you’d like, you probably already know that it can hold you back from receiving manageable interest rates on credit cards, vehicle loans and other types of loans. Traditionally, raising your credit score can take considerable time and effort. This leads some consumers to try “quick fix” credit re...
If a low credit score or mistakes with credit in the past are keeping you from obtaining new credit, you may be considering credit repair. Offered by for-profit companies, credit repair is a process that claims to “clean up” a consumer’s credit report by removing any incorrect negative items. Once these negative items are removed, most consum...
One of the many reasons owning a home is considered the “American dream” is because a house builds up equity over time (to estimate a home’s equity, subtract the remaining mortgage balance form the home’s market value). Home owners can then borrow against that equity to pay off debt or finance other big dreams. But it can be confusing to us...