Credit Q&A: “How often to check your credit report?”
Credit reporting seems to be all the rage these days, now that a ton of companies have realized how profitable the fear of the unknown can be.
Now don’t get me wrong – staying on top of your credit history is extremely important, especially when it comes time [...]
Credit card Q&A: “How do credit card companies make money?”
Credit card companies make money in a variety of different ways. The first and most obvious way is via consumer-related fees.
We’ve all paid late fees, over-the-limit fees, and so forth. Credit card companies make a ton by charging fees for all types of different [...]
All this credit stuff can get pretty complicated.
But two things you should have a handle on are credit reports and credit scores. Each are important in their own right, and both are necessary to assess your overall standing as a consumer.
While the pair certainly overlap, they are two entirely different things.
Credit Reports
A credit report contains [...]
Credit Q&A: “How many credit inquiries is too many?”
Though most credit score questions are hard to nail down, thanks in part to the cryptic nature of credit scoring, we can get some hints if we look at certain data.
First things first, there are two types of credit inquiries. Hard and soft.
Hard credit inquiries involve [...]
So I decided to give Credit Karma a whirl, considering they proclaim to be the providers of absolutely free credit scores and credit reports without the need for a credit card.
To sign up, you simply need to come up with a screen name and password, and then fill in some basic information, including address, phone [...]