Category: Credit Help and Tips

While it generally makes sense to raise credit lines periodically to increase your available credit and credit utilization, it can also backfire if you aren’t responsible. Some credit line increase requests count as hard credit inquiries, which will be documented on your credit report for two years, and count against your credit score for one […]

If you generally pay off your entire credit card balance each month, but often have a tough time doing so, you may want to think about timing your credit card purchases. Allow me to explain. Credit cards have billing cycles, typically 30 days or roughly one calendar month. All purchases made during a given billing […]

Tax season is upon us once more, and before you know it time will be running out to get those completed tax returns to the IRS. For those of us who actually have to make a payment, as opposed to simply receiving a refund, that April 15th deadline couldn’t seem any closer. And with all […]

Credit card Q&A: “How to stop credit card offers.” Are you sick of receiving pesky credit card mailers seemingly every single day? I was, which is why after several grueling years I finally took action (yes, I procrastinated a couple years). After all, aside from being a general nuisance and bad for the environment, these […]

A friend of mine recently notified me that his credit score plummeted nearly 100 points from the last time it was updated. He is enrolled in a free credit monitoring program, so he receives alerts when his credit scores fluctuate. Naturally, I asked him why he thought his credit score could have dropped so dramatically […]

As you probably already know, credit card issuers make much of their money on collected interest and outrageous fees. See how credit card issuers make money for more on that. And it seems everyday credit card companies are coming up with new, innovative fees to charge their customers. Let’s take a look at five common […]

Many consumers are riddled with credit card debt thanks in part to APR that is through the roof, making it very difficult to pay down debts and get back in the black. So you may ask yourself, “How can I lower my credit card interest rate?” Well, credit card issuers aren’t in the business of […]

You may have heard (or read) that the Chase Freedom Unlimited now comes with 3% cash back for the entire first year, similar to the double points/miles Discover offers during year one via cashback match. The biggest difference between that Discover offer and the Chase offer is that it’s not unlimited, ironically, on the Chase […]

It’s that time of the year again, when we scramble to make sure any and all calendar-year travel credits are exhausted. For those who still have unused credits, they might be looking at gift cards to get the job done. As most of you know, gift cards typically trigger travel credits offered by credit card […]

Whether you’re a credit noob, or a seasoned pro, there are two important things you should do every time you open and close a credit card. I thought of these things after I opened a slew of new credit cards lately. It was getting somewhat stressful to keep track of everything, so I came up […]