Too much credit card debt can affect your credit score, since 30% of your score considers the amount of your credit card balances. Not only will credit card debt affect your credit, it also affects your entire finance life. Credit card debt can keep you from putting money toward retirement, paying off your home, or [...]
How Bad Credit Hurts You
Many people don’t realize the importance of having good credit until they get bad credit. If you have bad credit, then you know all to well that bad credit makes life difficult, to say the least.
With bad credit, you’ll have trouble getting approved for new credit cards and loans. When you are approved, you may [...]
Credit Card Fees
You’ll have a hard time finding a credit card that doesn’t have fees, that’s if such a credit card exists at all. Credit card companies make money by charging fees to cardholders. But, if you know what the fees are, you can usually avoid them by using your credit card a certain way.
Annual Fee
A credit [...]
Consequences of Late Credit Payments
Your credit card agreement requires you to make your credit card payments on time each month. That means sending at least the minimum payment by the due date shown on your credit card statement.
Recent changes to the credit card law say the card issuer must accept your payment as long as it’s received by 5 [...]
Can Debt Affect Your Credit?
It’s commonly known that Americans are dealing with an overload of debt. What may not be so well-known is that debt can have a negative impact on your credit. Having too much debt can put a strain on your finances that also brings down your credit score. Learn how debt can affect your credit.
Part of [...]
What is a Credit Card Grace Period?
Your credit card balance will usually come with a grace period. That’s a period of time that you are able to pay your credit card balance in full without being charged interest. If you pay your credit card balance completely before the end of the grace period, you won’t receive a finance charge. However, any [...]
Key Credit Terms
As you use credit and learn more about how credit works, you’ll probably come across some of the same terms over and over. It will help to understand these terms so you’ll better know how you should and shouldn’t use credit. These are some key credit terms you should know.
The annual percentage rate (APR) is [...]
How Long Will Bad Information Hurt Your Credit
When negative information shows up on your credit report, it will cause your credit score to drop. Negative information includes things like late credit card and loan payments, maxed out credit cards, debt collections, bankruptcy, and excessive credit inquiries. This type of negative information will hurt your credit score in the short-term, but fortunately, these [...]
What is a Secured Credit Card?
A secured credit card is an option for consumers with bad credit or no credit who have trouble getting a traditional credit card. Secured credit cards require the applicant to make a security deposit that will serve as collateral for the credit card balance. The security deposit is placed in a savings account and held [...]
How to Report a Lost or Stolen Credit Card
A missing credit card is something to be concerned about. Whether your credit card is lost or stolen, it deserves a serious amount of attention. If your credit card lands in the wrong hands, you could end up having to deal with fraudulent credit card charges. You can save yourself that trouble, by reporting a [...]
What is a Credit Card Finance Charge?
If you started the credit card billing cycle with a balance, you’ll probably notice a finance charge added to your balance. The finance charge is a fee you pay for carrying a credit card balance beyond the grace period. Finance charges increase the amount you pay for having a credit card.
Finance charge is calculated using [...]
How to Fix Bad Credit
A bad credit history can follow you around for seven years, or ten years if you filed bankruptcy. You don’t have to sit back and let your bad credit history correct itself. Instead, you can take steps that will help improve your credit score.
Start by looking at your credit report. Once you check your credit [...]
How to Avoid Credit Card Fraud
Credit card fraud happens anytime someone uses your existing credit information either to make charges or open new credit accounts. Credit card fraud is sometimes difficult to detect and can cause damages to your credit rating that can be time-consuming to correct.
You can often avoid credit card fraud by keeping your credit cards in a [...]
How to Fix Errors On Your Credit Report
Since creditors, lenders, and other businesses rely on your credit report to make decisions about you, it’s important that your credit report contain accurate information. Any errors that are on your credit report will affect your credit rating and your ability to get approved for credit cards and loans. Credit report errors can also keep [...]
How to Order Your Annual Credit Report
Federal law gives you the right to a free copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus each year. The three major credit bureaus are: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. To order your free credit report granted by Federal law, you must take certain steps. Otherwise, you could become a victim [...]
Credit Card Features
What makes one credit card different from another is its features. Credit card features make a credit card attractive or unattractive. When you’re choosing a credit card, or using one of your existing credit cards, think about the credit features and how they will benefit or hurt you.
Interest Rate
Your credit card interest rate is a [...]
What Things Hurt Your Credit
Nearly all your financial actions have some type of impact on your credit. Having good credit is important because it helps you get approved for credit cards, loans, and other types of credit-based services. You can keep your credit score on the positive track by avoiding those actions that hurt your credit.
Late payments have the [...]
Types of Credit Cards
Though they all make look the same, not all credit cards are created equal. There are several different types of credit cards that should be used differently depending on the type of credit card.
Regular credit cards are what you could consider “plain vanilla” credit cards. They don’t have any special features. You simply make charges [...]
What is a Credit Report?
Most of your credit history is contained in a document known as your credit report. Your credit report includes details about your credit-based accounts. Creditors, lenders, and other businesses review your credit report whenever you make an application for a credit card, loan, or other service. The information in your credit report could lead your [...]
What is a Credit Score?
Your credit history is measured with a three-digit number known as your credit score. Credit scores are based on the information in your credit report and range from 300 to 850 with higher scores being better. Creditors and lenders use your credit score to decide whether to approve your application and what interest rate to [...]
How to Build Credit
Having good credit is important because it improves your chances at getting approved for credit cards, loans, and other services. Your credit also has an impact on the cost of these services. Building credit is essential if you want to pay the lowest interest rate on credit cards and loans.
You can begin to build good [...]
Why is Credit Important?
Your credit indicates your likelihood to repay your bills. If you have good credit, that indicates you’re likely to pay bills. Businesses are more willing to lend money and provide services to consumers that have good credit. On the other hand, bad credit shows that you’ve had trouble making timely payments in the past. You’ll [...]