Category: Personal Credit

Maxed-Out Credit Cards? Here’s How Maxing Out Your Business Credit Card Affects Your Credit Scores

Maxed-Out Credit Cards? Here’s How Maxing Out Your Business Credit Card Affects Your Credit Scores

Small business owners can run into short-term cash flow problems even when business is good — and this means you may end up needing to max out your business credit card. Maxing out a credit card means you use the entire amount of your available credit, called your credit limit. Business owners may also need to max out a card if sales are lagging and you need to cover business expenses. Regardless of why you need to fully use your… Read More
Should You Freeze Your Credit After the Equifax Data Breach?

Should You Freeze Your Credit After the Equifax Data Breach?

News of a massive data breach of one of the three major consumer credit reporting agencies, Equifax, has many individuals wondering if they should “freeze” their credit reports to protect themselves from identity theft. If you are wondering the same thing, here’s a guide to credit freezes that can help you make that decision. What Is a Credit Freeze? A credit report freeze (or “security alert”) is designed to protect your credit data so it is less likely to be… Read More
I Was An ID Theft Victim: Here’s What I Did Right (And Wrong)

I Was An ID Theft Victim: Here’s What I Did Right (And Wrong)

It was bound to happen at some point: I became a victim of identity theft. After a 20+ year career writing and educating consumers about credit, including identity theft, I found myself on the other side of the story. I was alerted through credit monitoring that a new retail credit card had been opened in my name. While I had shopped at that store the day before, I most certainly had not opened an account. A phone call to the… Read More
8 Credit Card Lifehacks You’re Not Using Often Enough

8 Credit Card Lifehacks You’re Not Using Often Enough

Hacking used to be an obscure term that was used mostly by computer geeks to describe unauthorized access to a computer system. But somewhere along the way, the word evolved to include all sorts of tricks that were discovered to make our lives easier. One of the best ways to employ these so-called lifehacks is with our credit cards, as their intricate rules, terms and conditions are especially ripe for creative workarounds. Here are eight credit card lifehacks that you may… Read More
The Average FICO Score Is at an All-Time High. What’s Holding Yours Back?

The Average FICO Score Is at an All-Time High. What’s Holding Yours Back?

The average FICO score in the U.S. has just topped 700 for the first time since the credit scoring giant began tracking the data, continuing an upward trend in personal credit scores since the Great Recession. Based on data from April of this year, FICO found the average FICO score in the U.S. was 700, which is the highest that score has ever gone. Driving the trend is lower overall delinquencies on consumer credit reports, a rise in superprime consumers… Read More
Improve Your Credit Score This Month With This Little-Known Trick

Improve Your Credit Score This Month With This Little-Known Trick

Credit repair often takes time, but there’s one way to potentially change your credit scores dramatically—in as little as a month. It’s called “debt utilization,” and when used correctly, it may improve your credit scores.  When Calvin first started tracking his credit scores with Nav, for example, he was struck by how much his personal credit score would fluctuate from month to month. In the first four months he monitored it, his score went up 52 points, down 42 points… Read More