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Credit cards can be useful financial tools when used responsibly, as they offer convenience, rewards, and protection from fraud. Like any other financial product, however, there are times when it’s best to use cash or a debit card instead. Let’s look at the times when it makes sense to use a credit card versus the times when you should avoid using one.

When You Should Use a Credit Card

Credit cards can be beneficial in many situations. With that said, you should only use a credit card when you can pay it in time and avoid interest charges, or when you’re truly in need and those interest charges are worth it. Here are some scenarios when it might be a good idea to use a credit card.

To Get Rewards

Many credit cards offer rewards for everyday purchases such as groceries, gas, and online shopping. These rewards can add up quickly and can help you save money on future purchases.

The Upgrade Cash Rewards card allows you earn unlimited 1.5% back on payments. There’s no annual fee and credit lines range from $500 all the way up to $25,000.

Then there’s the Upgrade Triple Cash Rewards card, which earns a whopping 3% back on home, auto, and health categories — as well as a flat 1% on all other purchases. Like the normal Cash Rewards card, this card has no annual fee and credit lines up to $25,000.

With either card, you can earn a $200 bonus when you open a Upgrade Rewards Checking account and make your first three debit transactions!

To Build Credit

If you’re looking to build or improve your credit score, using your credit card regularly is one of the best ways to do it. Just be sure to pay your balance off in full each month so that you don’t incur interest charges that could negate any rewards you may have earned.

For Large Purchases

Using a credit card for large purchases may also offer more protection than paying with cash or a debit card, as most cards come with purchase protection plans that will cover certain types of damage or theft within a certain amount of time after purchase.

When You Shouldn’t Use a Credit Card

Credit cards aren’t always the right choice for every situation. Here are some times when it’s best to avoid using a credit card:

When You Can’t Afford It

In most cases, you should avoid using a credit card if you don’t have the financial means to pay off your balance each month. Carrying a balance from month to month will usually result in interest charges, late fees, and potential damage to your credit.

Impulse Buys

Unless you know that you’ll be able to pay off the balance in full at the end of the month, it’s best to avoid using your credit card for impulse buys. These might include clothes, electronics, or anything else that could get expensive quickly if not paid off right away.

Online Gambling or Casino Purchases

Most banks and lenders won’t allow these types of transactions on their cards due to their high-risk nature, so it’s best not to even try it in order to avoid potential fraud charges or account closures down the road.

Cash Advances

Cash advances should almost always be avoided since they typically come with higher interest rates than regular purchases. They may also include additional fees, such as an ATM fees when withdrawn from ATM machines.

What Is the Best Credit Card to Have?

When it comes to credit cards, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The best credit card for you depends on your financial circumstances, needs, and spending habits. Of course, cashback credit cards offer the highest upside, as they allow you to earn rewards as you spend. You can find the top cash back credit cards here.

Should You Get a Credit Card if You Have No Credit History?

Yes, you should definitely get a credit card if you have no credit history. Credit cards are a great way to build your credit score so long as you stay aware and utilize it responsibly. You can raise your credit score by making small purchases and ensuring you pay on time. It also helps if you keep your credit utilization rate at 30% or lower.

Can You Improve Your Credit Score with Credit Card Usage?

Yes, as long as you pay your balance in full each month. Your credit score is determined mainly by your payment history and the amount of available credit you use. Using your card but staying within 30% of your credit limit is one of the best ways to establish healthy credit. This will help you get better interest rates on loans, mortgages, and credit cards in the future.

How Can I Make My Credit Card Payments on Time?

The key to using credit cards responsibly is to stay on top of your payments, as this will help you avoid interest charges and late fees. First, create a budget and ensure that your credit card expenses don’t exceed your income. Then, make a habit of checking your statement regularly so that you know where your money is going. Also, set automatic reminders or set up autopay plan so that your balance is paid off before the due date.

What Should I Do if I Can’t Afford to Make a Payment?

In case you can’t make a payment, contact your credit card issuer as soon as possible. There are several options that creditors offer — such as deferment, which allows you to push your payment to a later date — or a payment plan, where your debt is spread out into smaller payments over time.

The worst thing you can do is nothing. Failing to make payments not only results in bad credit but it can also lead to your balance being charged off and sold to debt collectors.

Should You Use Credit Cards for Daily Expenses?

The truth is that using a credit card for daily expenses is generally fine when you’re able to pay off your balance every month. This will allow you to take advantage of rewards programs and build your credit score. However, if you’re prone to overspending, it’s better to stick to cash and avoid bad debt and its potential ramifications.

Should You Use a Credit card for a Large Purchase?

It’s not advisable to make payments on your credit card over time. Carrying a balance from month to month leads to interest building up, creating a vicious payment cycle. You’ll end up paying more over time than the original purchase price. It’s better to save up money or look for alternative financing options such as personal loans.

Do Credit Card Rewards Programs Offer Value?

Rewards point programs can be a great way to get value out of your credit card usage. If you’re someone who frequently uses their credit card, you could take advantage of reward points offered by your card company. These points can be redeemed for travel expenses, gift cards, or even cash back. Some credit cards offer different rewards for different types of expenses, so it’s important to choose a card that rewards your lifestyle.

Can My Credit Card Be Hacked and How Can I Prevent It?

Yes, your credit card can be hacked, and it’s important to take necessary measures to prevent this from happening. Some ways to prevent hacking include keeping your card and its details safe and secure, creating strong passwords, and avoiding suspicious websites and emails. Additionally, always check your statement regularly to ensure no fraudulent transactions have occurred.

Can You Withdraw Cash from a Credit Card?

Yes, you can withdraw cash using your credit card, but it’s not recommended. If you take out cash on a credit card, you might have to pay a high-interest rate or transaction fees. The cash withdrawal interest rate is always higher than a regular purchase — as much as 2%–4% more. So, it’s best to use the card only for purchases, not to withdraw cash.

Should I Use My Credit Card Overseas?

It’s best to avoid using your credit card overseas if you’re unsure about the fees you’ll be charged. Some credit card companies have international transaction fees that add between 1%–3% to every overseas transaction. If you do use your credit card overseas, notify your bank so that they do not think there is fraudulent activity on your account.

The post When You Should And Shouldn’t Use A Credit Card appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

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Millions of Americans are saddled with debt. Debt from credit cards, medical bills, student loans, homes, and cars. When you have debt, particularly high-interest debt, it can be tough or downright impossible to make progress on your financial goals like buying for a home, starting a business, and saving for your retirement.

If you find yourself struggling with debt, you have options. Debt consolidation is one option, and it comes in several forms meaning there is a type for different kinds of debt and a kind that will work best for your situation.

Consolidating debt can be a tremendously helpful financial tool. These loans can pay off high-interest debt, improve your credit score, and simplify your bill-paying every month. We’ll explain everything you need to know about debt consolidation is so that you can get out from under your debt faster and more efficiently.

What is Debt Consolidation?

Debt consolidation means taking out a new loan to pay off an existing debt, usually unsecured debt, which is debt not backed by collateral. Several debts are combined into one larger debt. In some cases, the consumer gets the money directly and uses it to pay off debts themselves, and in others, the institution making the loan pays the old debts directly on the consumer’s behalf.

How does taking on new debt help your financial situation? Because if your credit score is good enough, you’ll typically be able to get a lower interest rate on the new debt than you had on the old debts.

You may also get other more favorable loan terms like a lower monthly payment or a shorter or longer loan term. Taking this step also simplifies your bill paying. Rather than having several due dates and minimum payments to keep track of, you’ll have a single payment to the new lender.

Consumers can use this strategy to pay off credit card debt, student loan debt, medical debt, and any other consumer debt.

Reasons to Consolidate Debt

The primary function and benefit of debt consolidation is to save money on interest. Some debt, like credit card debt, can have interest rates in the teens and even higher, making it tough to dig your way out of debt. These loans typically have a much lower interest rate than do credit cards.

It also reduces the number of payments you have to keep track of each month, provides a fixed interest rate, improves your credit score, and can put much-needed cash in your hands.

How to Consolidate Debt

While personal loans are what most people think of when they think of ways to consolidate debt, they aren’t the only option.

Personal Loan

A personal loan is money borrowed from a lender. Personal loans can be used for a variety of needs, and usually start at a much lower interest rate than a credit card. These loans are typically for amounts between $1,000 to $100,000. They are unsecured loans; meaning they don’t require the borrower to provide collateral. Thanks to the internet, you no longer have to go through the arduous process of taking a personal loan from a bank. You can borrow the money online and often have the money as soon as the next business day.

Credible: This online loan marketplace connects borrowers and lenders. You can enter a few pieces of basic information and see offers from up to 11 lenders in just two minutes. You can borrow from $1,000 up to $100,000. Credible is so sure that you won’t find a better rate on a personal loan anywhere else that they offer the Credible Personal Loan Best Rate Guarantee. If you find and close a loan with a better rate elsewhere, Credible will give you $200 (terms apply, see the Credible website for details).

Balance Transfer Cards

A balance transfer credit card allows users to roll the balance of a high-interest credit card to a new card, which typically has a 0% APR introductory period ranging from 6-24 months. During that period, no interest accrues, allowing you to pay off the balance more quickly because all of your payments are going towards principle.

See top balance transfer credit card options.

Mortgage Refinance

Some homeowners may be able to do a cash-out refinance and use the money to pay off debt. A cash-out refinance means taking out a mortgage for more than is owed on the home and taking the difference in cash. The interest rates on a mortgage are typically much lower than the rates on credit cards.

Homeowners can also do a standard refinance to lower their interest rate, lower their monthly payment, or change the length of their mortgage.

Credible: This online loan marketplace will show you mortgage refinance options from up to 6 top lenders in just 3 minutes.

NMLS ID# 1681276 320 Blackwell St. Suite 200. Durham, North Carolina 27701

Home Equity Loan

A home equity loan lets homeowners borrow against the value of their home minus the amount of their outstanding mortgage. It can provide an infusion of cash and is easier to qualify for than some other types of loans because your home is used at collateral to secure the loan.

Figure: This company allows you to handle the entire process online. Approved borrowers can have their cash in as few as five days and offer loans up to $150,000.

Student Loan Refinance

Refinancing your student loans doesn’t put cash directly in your hands, but it can save you money. You take out a new loan at a lower interest rate, and the new lender uses the money to pay off the student loans you currently have. You make future payments to the new lender at your new interest rate.

Splash Financial: Answer a few questions, and you’ll receive new offers from up to three lenders in under 3 minutes with no impact on your credit score. You can choose fixed, or variable rate offers and term lengths of 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 20 years.

Should I Consolidate My Debt?

Before you investigate your options, it’s a good idea to check your credit score, which you can do for free at Credit Sesame. Your credit score will be a big part of what determines the interest rate you’ll get on your loan.

Each lender uses its own formula, but generally, borrowers with scores of 720 or higher will get the best rates.

When Debt Consolidation is a Good Idea

If your credit score is high enough to qualify for a loan at a lower interest rate than you are currently paying on the debts you want to consolidate, it’s a great way to save money, potentially thousands of dollars.

When Debt Consolidation is a Bad Idea

If you use the money from your consolidation to pay off credit card debt and then start accumulating more debt once the cards have available room on the again, it won’t help you. In fact, it will put you even further into debt.

If your debt was caused by a spending problem rather than something like a job loss or a medical expense, and you don’t address the issue, debt consolidation will not be a solution.

Does Debt Consolidation Hurt Your Credit?

Most of the companies on this list allow you to search for loans without impacting your credit score. They do what is known as a soft credit check, which makes no difference as far as your credit score goes.

But once you take the next step and apply for the loan, the company will do a hard credit check, also known as a hard pull, and that does impact your credit score and will appear on your credit report as an inquiry. The number of inquiries you have is part of what makes up your credit score. This does lower your credit score slightly, typically about 5 points, which is really not that much.

But if you are using a loan to pay off credit card debt, the overall impact on your credit score will be positive. Having various types of credit improves your score, and if you take out a personal loan, for example, that is considered an installment loan. In contrast, credit cards are considered revolving credit.

When you pay off credit cards, it lowers your credit utilization ratio, one of the factors that make up your credit score. Credit utilization means how much of your available credit you’re currently using. A utilization under 30% is recommended. If you had a total credit limit across all credit cards of $1,000, for example, you wouldn’t want an outstanding balance of more than $300.

Is it Better to Pay Off Debt or Consolidate?

If you don’t have a tremendous amount of debt, and what that means will be subjective for everyone, consider if you could simply buckle down and pay the debt off without having to use a consolidation method.

Cut back on your spending and create a plan to tackle the debt strategically. If you can do that for a few months and kill your debt, you don’t need a consolidation loan.

Take Advantage of a Debt Consolidation Loan Today

In the past, if you needed a loan to consolidate debt you had to fill out lots of forms and provide tons of documentation. And then wait. And wait some more to find out if your application was approved and wait a little more before you had the money.

But thanks to a new generation of fintech companies, you can apply for a consolidation loan in about the same amount of time that it took you to read this article! Even better, you can shop around for the best rates. If you still had to get a loan the old fashioned way, you would probably take the first offer you got because you didn’t want to repeat the process with multiple lenders. And that meant you might not get the lowest interest rate or the best terms.

But today, you’re in control; you get to choose the best loan for you and your financial situation. If you are considering a debt consolidation loan, the time has never been better.

The post Everything You Need To Know About Debt Consolidation appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

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Improving your credit score is essential if you want to achieve overall financial wellness for yourself. If you have a history of making late credit card payments, for example, you likely already know how a low credit score can make life harder – and more expensive.

The good news is that there are very straightforward, proven steps you can take to improve your credit report and, therefore, get a higher credit score.

If you want to know how to improve your credit score, we’ve got you covered!

Why You Need a Good Credit Score

Your credit score is a numerical value representing the information inside your credit report – which various institutions will use to gauge your reliability as a borrower.

From getting a new apartment to financing a car, having a decent credit score is necessary for several aspects of modern life. That’s why increasing and maintaining your score is so vital.

The main reasons to improve your credit score:

• You’ll get lower interest rates
• You might be able to avoid paying high-security deposits
• You’ll receive a higher credit limit
• It can be easier to buy a house or rent an apartment
• Your insurance premiums may be lower
• And other benefits!

Is it Easy to Improve Your Credit Score?

Yes! Bumping up your credit score is easy to do and doesn’t take long when you know the right methods to do so. The great news is that there are plenty of ways to improve your credit score with ease.

Many factors influence your credit score. When you focus on those individual factors and work on addressing those issues, you can improve your credit score in a flash.

Some of the main factors that influence a credit score include the percentage of overall credit used (less than 30% is ideal), making payments on time, how many times you inquire about your credit when applying for new loans or cards, and the length of your overall credit history.

When you know what factors influence your credit score, you can start working on fixing those issues and boosting your credit to a higher, more favorable number.

We’ve compiled a list of the top 12 ways to improve your credit score and enable you to grab all of the benefits that go along with having an impressive credit history.

12 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score

Successfully following as many of these suggestions as you can, will radically boost your credit score over time. Are you ready to get started?

1. Know Your Score & Check for Errors

One of the easiest ways to have a credit score which is less than perfect is to allow errors on your credit report to remain. Even one simple mistake on your credit report can drop your credit score down quite a bit.

That’s why it’s important to know your credit score and review your credit report periodically to see if any errors exist. By reviewing your credit report, you can keep an eye on your credit history, current credit status and your credit score to make sure that all of the reported information is accurate.

Credit Sesame offers an easy and free way to obtain and monitor your credit score, check out your credit report and make sure that what’s on your credit report is accurate.

This free tool helps individuals feel secure in knowing their current financial status and become aware of any errors exist in the report while getting their credit score at the same time.

Credit Sesame also offers plenty of other financial tools, including credit monitoring, ID protection, and more.

2. Pay Down Credit Card Balances

Another way to work on your credit score so that the resulting number is as high as can be is to pay down your credit card balances. Your credit utilization ratio compares your credit card balance to your credit card limit. You want to keep your total credit card balances at less than 30% of your total credit card limit.

So, how do you do this?

A personal consolidation loan is an excellent option to consider. A personal consolidation loan is a single loan that’s large enough to pay off multiple high-interest loans. They enable borrowers to consolidate down to a single payment each month, while also getting a lower interest rate overall – and can help you chip away at your total credit utilization ratio.

There are plenty of options for both comparing personal loan rates and obtaining these credit card payment loans.

Credible is a top option to consider for loan amounts up to $100,000. Credible offers an easy way to compare personal loan rates from multiple lenders in just two minutes. It is so confident in the rates you’ll find, Credible offers $200 if you find a better rate elsewhere (terms apply).

Whichever personal loan option you go with, the end result will be the same. You’ll be able to pay off some or all of your credit card debt at a lower rate.

3. Make Payments on Time

One of the easiest ways to improve your credit score is to make payments on time. Let’s face it: you’re only human. Sometimes you might forget to pay your monthly credit card bill or maybe you just don’t have the money in the bank at the moment to do so. With that said, it’s extremely important to make payments on time.

If you are a bit forgetful and have a tendency to miss credit card payments, put it on the calendar. Mark down all of your credit card, utility and loan payment due dates. This will provide an easy reminder for you.

Want an even easier way to ensure payments on time? Schedule your payments online so the money is automatically withdrawn each month. This way, you don’t even have to think about it. Your bills will get paid automatically each and every month. Plus, they’ll be paid on time.

Paying your monthly bills on time will help to improve your credit score and do so easily.

4. Obtain a Credit Limit Increase

Another easy way to help your credit score climb higher is to ask your credit card company for a credit limit increase. Although some credit card companies will automatically grant credit limit increases without you having to ask for them, with other companies you’ll have to request a credit limit increase – but may not grant your request if your balance history isn’t great

When you obtain a credit limit increase, your debt will remain the same while your credit limit increases and reduces the credit utilization ratio.

Although there is some debate as to whether credit limit increases temporarily hurt one’s credit score, the overall impact is a beneficial one. The lower your credit utilization ratio, the better your score.

Just make sure to keep your credit utilization ratio low once you push it down. Don’t fall back into old spending habits!

5. Make Payments to Credit Card Bills Twice a Month

When able to do so, making credit card payments twice (or more) a month will help to reduce your credit card debt and make your credit score more favorable. After paying at least the minimum, try to make small or large payments here and there to turbo-charge your debt reduction.

As it’s often difficult for individuals to pay their high credit card bills even once a month on their current paycheck, this may seem like an uphill battle. But there are ways to make more money and pay more than once a month on current credit card bills: side hustles.

What’s a side hustle, you ask? A side hustle is paying gig which you can do in your free time. Unlike a full-time or part-time job, you can put as much or as little time into a side hustle as you like. Some examples of side hustles include taking surveys online, grocery shopping for others, dog walking, delivering food, and other easy-to-do tasks.

If you love dogs, cats and other pets, you can earn some cash through Rover. Rover is a dog walking and pet sitting website where you get paid to walk or look after pets. This is the perfect side hustle for an animal lover looking to make some extra money on the side – or even as a full-time gig.

If dog walking or pet sitting isn’t your forte, you can opt for a side hustle taking surveys. You can share your opinion and make money by doing so! There are many online survey sites to try, including Survey Junkie and InboxDollars. The type of survey and the amount paid to take the survey will vary with each option, but all options will provide a form of payment. Although certain sites will offer gift cards as payment, others will offer a straight cash payment.

Want to learn more about potential side hustles to help you pay your credit card bills twice a month? Check out our recent article on 15 Side Hustle Ideas to Start Making Extra Money Right Now.

6. Open a New Credit Account

You might think that you want to limit the number of credit cards you have as opposed to adding another one to the list, but opening a new credit account can actually help your credit score – especially if you have little to no credit history.

Opening a new credit account will help to establish a credit history for yourself and provide you with a credit utilization ratio to work with.

Once you have the new credit card account open, make sure to keep your balance low and stay below the desirable 30% credit utilization ratio. This will show responsible credit card ownership and help to boost your credit score.

Ready to open up a new credit card account? The ABOC (Amalgamated Bank of Chicago) credit card is an excellent option. With a 0% APR on purchases for 12 months, no annual fee and unlimited rewards points with no expiration date, the ABOC credit card is a good option to consider if you want to improve your credit utilization ratio.

7. Open a Secured Credit Card

Another tip for how to improve your credit score is to open up a secured credit card account. This type of credit card consists of making a cash deposit with the credit card company. The company will hold the money in an account as a deposit and offer you a credit line usually up to the amount that you deposited.

With a secured credit card, you can build a credit history and this, in itself, can help you improve your credit score. You might even find that the credit card company will report your credit habits to the three major credit bureaus and, if your payment and spending habits are good, this will help you as well.

Sometimes you’ll have to stick with a secured credit card for a while and keep making timely payments on it, but it’s all worth it to build on your credit score and make it more favorable. Also, you may even find that if you are a responsible secured credit card holder, the company will replace your card with an unsecured one at some point down the road.

8. Clear Up Collection Accounts

Having active collection accounts can seriously hurt your credit score. With this in mind, you want to make sure that you pay off any old collection accounts as well as make these items disappear from your credit report.

In accordance with federal law, these issues with creditors can remain on your credit report for seven-and-a-half years after your first delinquency issue. You might think that you can simply pay all of the money owed on the account and these blemishes will go away, but that’s not the case.

You have to go a few steps further in order to get these bad credit notations erased. And you’ll certainly want to do this, as it is hurting your credit score.

Once you pay off the account, if you haven’t done so already, the next step is to ask the creditor to give you a goodwill deletion to your credit file. This type of request should be made in writing and may or may not be approved, depending on how willing the creditor is to work with you.

You can state that you have a really good credit history except for this particular instance and ask if they would be able to grant this goodwill deletion. If so, this would help your credit score increase.

On a side note, if you have a collection account or debt on your credit history which is not yours, make sure you dispute it.

9. Become an Authorized User on the Account of Another Individual

If you’re searching for another way to bump up your credit score, consider becoming an authorized user on the credit card account of another. This can be your spouse or another family member, for example. By having your name added to the account of another, you can build your credit history and boost your credit score.

Once you’re added to the credit card account of another, you will have this factor appear on your credit report. Also, all of the history of that particular account will show up on your credit report.

With that said, authorized users aren’t responsible for the charges of the primary credit cardholder and can have their name removed from the account at any time.

You may not need an additional charge account but simply want to add your name to someone else’s account in order to improve your credit score.

10. Don’t Close Credit Cards with $0 Balance

When you finally pay off one of your credit cards, you are certain to be ecstatic. You may even be so happy to see a $0 balance that you’ll want to close out your credit card, but don’t do it!

Closing out your credit card will negatively impact your credit score, because it will decrease your available credit and cause your credit utilization ratio to increase.

You’ll ideally keep your credit card account open and continue with a $0 balance. This will result in a positive credit utilization ratio which will show a low (or no) balance compared with a high credit limit.

Keeping your credit cards open with $0 balances won’t hurt you and can only help you. Just try to have the willpower to not use your credit cards if possible so that your balance remains at $0 or at a low amount which you pay off each month.

11. Try Score-Boosting Programs

A unique way to bump up your credit score is by using score-boosting programs. Score-boosting programs, such as Experian Boost, will review your past bills and payments going back two years and create a record of these past payments.

Once the prior payment record is created, the favorable payment history and length of credit will result in an improvement to your credit score. This program is ideal for those with limited credit history who want to have a more established credit report.

It can help to increase the credit score and make it more likely for individuals to obtain a car loan, rent an apartment, and other activities for which a good credit score is required.

12. Be Careful About the Timing of Your Credit Applications

Lastly, you’ll want to be cautious as to when you put in an application for any new credit card. You want to be sure that you don’t apply for multiple credit cards within a short period of time. Having multiple applications that run credit checks in or around the same time can negatively affect your credit score.

When your credit report shows that you have been applying for multiple credit cards in a short time period, you may be seen as a bigger risk. Therefore, your credit score will reflect this by coming in at a lower number.

Note that this doesn’t apply to rate shopping for a single loan. The information listed above pertains to applying with various credit card companies for different credit cards in a short period of time.

Improving Your Credit Score is Much Easier Than You Think

Now that you know some of the secrets of how to improve your credit score, you can get started. The tips laid out for you can help bump up your credit score and turn that average, or less-than-average, credit score into one you’ll be proud to have.

You don’t have to complete all of the methods above all at once. Tackle the tips at a reasonable pace and watch as your subpar credit score turns into a favorable number that will help you out as you venture into the future, applying for a home mortgage or obtaining a new car loan at a cheaper rate.

Having a high credit score provides a way to achieve many of life’s goals more easily and lead you on the path to financial wellness.

The post How To Improve Your Credit Score: 12 Step Guide appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

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We all hear about credit scores and how important they are. You need a healthy credit score to do things like renting an apartment, borrowing money for a home or car, and sometimes even to be considered for a job.

If you don’t have much credit history or have a poor credit score, we’ll show you how to build credit with 7 ways to do it smart.

Why You Need A Healthy Credit Score

When you borrow money, the interest rate you pay is the cost of borrowing that money. The better your credit score, the lower the rate of interest a lender will offer you. A fraction here and a fraction there may not seem like it would make much of a difference, but it does.

If you borrow $100,000 at 4.0% for 30 years, the total you would pay back would be $171,870. If your interest rate on the same amount over the same period were 3.5%, the total you would pay back would be $161,656.

Just a difference of half a percentage point lower means you would save more than $10,000 over the life of a 30-year mortgage!

Excellent to Very Poor

There are several ranges of credit scores, but most are very similar. The scores below are FICO Scores, created by the Fair Isaac Corporation and used by many lenders when scoring credit.

• Exceptional: 800-850
• Very Good: 740-799
• Good: 670-739
• Fair: 580-699
• Very Poor: 300-579

Do you need a credit score of 850 to get the best interest rates? You don’t. If your score falls in the Exceptional range, you’ll be offered the best interest rates when borrowing money. If your score falls under Very Good, you’ll be offered better than average rates.

If your score is rated as Very Poor, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have bad credit. It can also mean you have what lenders call a “thin” credit file; you have little to no credit history. In either case, there are lots of ways to build credit fast.

1. Know and Monitor Your Score

This is step one when it comes to how to build credit, you have to know what your credit score is and because it can change frequently, you have to monitor your score too. Credit Sesame does both, and it’s free to use! Just create an account, and you can get your credit score today.

Not only does Credit Sesame give you an updated score monthly but it breaks down the components of your score so you can see if there are areas you could work on that would improve your score.

Credit Sesame also provides consumers with up to the minute alerts when there is a change to your TransUnion credit report. This is a vital service. A change to your credit report could be legitimate, you applied for an received a new credit card, and the information will register or your report. But someone else could have hijacked your identity and opened a card in your name.

They could go on a weeks-long shopping spree in your name before you realize it. This obviously impacts your credit score but the longer it goes on without your knowledge, the bigger the mess you’re stuck cleaning up.

The monitoring can also show you mistakes on your report which aren’t fraudulent. Mistakes can occur due to things like a misspelled name or a Social Security number that is similar to yours but off by a single number. These mistakes can be corrected, but you have to know about them to take the necessary action.

If you’re working on building or improving your credit score, being able to see that number improve on Credit Sesame can be an excellent motivational tool, like seeing the numbers on the scale move when you’re trying to lose weight.

Sign up for your free Credit Sesame account in seconds.

2. Build Credit While Earning Rewards

One of the advantages of a healthy credit score is the ability to earn rewards when using a credit card. So it’s frustrating when you don’t have a credit score good enough to qualify for a rewards credit card. A good cash back rewards credit card can really save you some money but are usually reserved for those with at least a Good score. But the ABOC Platinum Rewards Credit Card makes a rewards card available to those who have just a Fair credit score.

The card doesn’t have an annual fee and has a great sign up bonus, another thing those with less than ideal credit usually miss out on. You’ll earn a $150 statement credit after a $1,200 spend in the first 90 days after opening the account.

Users earn 5 points per $1 spent on up to $1,500 in total spending in categories that rotate quarterly. Categories include groceries, restaurants, home improvement, airfare, hotels, and automotive parts, services, and repairs. All other spending is worth 1 point per $1.

You can redeem points for online gift cards, statement credits, merchandise, and travel. Points don’t expire. There is a 0% APR period of 12 months for purchases. After the introductory period, the APR reverts to the current variable rate.

See more top cash back credit card options.

3. Build Credit While Saving

When you think of how to build credit, you might think of taking out a small loan and paying it back on time. And you’re right, a small loan is a great way to build credit but it comes with the same problem that getting a credit card comes with. If you don’t have much credit history, it’s hard to get a personal loan.

Self Lender offers those with little credit a Credit Builder Account. This is an installment that borrowers pay off over 12-24 months. Each on-time payment (40% of your credit score) is reported to all three of the major credit reporting bureaus. Not only are you building your score, but you’re also creating an emergency fund.

Because on-time payments are such an important factor in building your credit score, a loan from Self Lender can really improve your score.

Let Self Lender help to build your credit.

4. Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt Using a Lower Interest Personal Loan

Sometimes it’s not that you have a lack of credit but that you don’t have a great credit score. If you’re trying to rebuild rather than built credit, part of the problem may be credit card debt.

Amounts owed makes up 30% of your credit score and ideally, you want utilization of 30% or below. To make it simple, if you had a credit limit across all of your credit cards of $1,000, you don’t want to owe more than a total of $300. That would give you a 30% utilization.

If you’re in credit card debt, not only is it hurting your credit score, but it’s costing you money too in the form of interest. The average interest rate on a credit card is 17.64%. But there is a great way to solve both these problems.

A personal loan lends you money to pay off your high-interest credit card debt. Instead of having high-interest debt on one or more credit cards, you can use a personal loan to reduce those debts into one lower-interest monthly payment.

You don’t have to close your credit cards either which is actually not recommended because doing so lowers your credit score.

You can get a personal loan up to $100,000 and it generally takes just a few minutes to check your rate (usually without affecting your credit score). Each lender will have certain requirements potential borrowers need to meet. These three sites can get you on your way to paying less interest on your credit card debt:

• Credible offers personal loans borrowers can use to pay off credit card debt. In just 2 minutes you’ll get offers from up to 11 lenders, meaning you have a lot of choices when it comes to getting the best rate and term for your loan. Credible partners offer loans for up to $100,000.
• Personalloans.com is a lending marketplace. Potential borrowers can answer a few questions and see offers from lenders that best fit their personal loan needs. You can borrow as much as $35,000 and loan terms range from 90 days all the way up to 72 months.
• Upstart looks at factors beyond a borrower’s credit score when deciding whether or not to make a loan. It considers things like work history and education as well as credit score. You can borrow up to $50,000 with Upstart.

5. Refinance Your Student Loans

Is it student loan debt affecting your credit score? Because the cost of higher education is so expensive, we have to take out tens of thousands of dollars (or more) to pay for it and because we borrowed so much, it can take years to get those student loans paid off.

When you refinance your student loans, you lower your interest rate which enables you to pay them off more quickly which can help boost your credit score.

Refinancing student loans with Credible is fast and easy. Credible lets you browse for the best student loans refinance rates and terms for both federal and personal loans. Provide some basic information and Credible will show you as many as eight customized offers based on your financial history.

Let Credible show you the best student loan refinance rates.

6. Get Debt Relief

Sometimes our debt is overwhelming and our credit score is not high enough to take advantage of things like balance transfer credit cards or personal loans to deal with it. If you’re in this situation, not only are you struggling with debt but your credit score is getting worse by the day. But there is help available.

CuraDebt offers a few kinds of help to those with overwhelming debt including debt relief, debt settlement, and debt negotiation. You can enter in some basic information about your financial situation and get an estimate of how much money CuraDebt can save you.

If you’ve got a decent enough credit score, a 0% balance transfer credit card could be a good option. This allows you to transfer the debt from your existing credit card to a new credit card with 0% interest for as much as 21 months, helping you pay off your credit card debt faster. See a list of top 0% balance transfer credit cards.

7. Rebuild and Repair Your Credit

Rebuilding your credit can be a time-consuming process. As we mentioned earlier, there can be mistakes on your credit report that are negatively impacting your credit score. You can rectify this information yourself but it takes a lot of time and follow up to make sure it gets done.

If you just don’t have the time or energy to take the DIY approach, there is help available. Lexington Law can give you the help you need when you’re struggling with how to build your credit. Lexington Law has been helping clients get inaccurate, out of date, and unverifiable information like late payments, liens, bankruptcies, foreclosure, and repossessions removed from their credit reports for nearly three decades.

Lexington Law offers a free consultation. Based on the information you provide during the consultation, they will formulate a plan to help get your score where you want it to be.

Reach out today for your free consultation with Lexington Law.

Your Credit Score is Important

It’s true, your credit score is important. A healthy credit score can save you thousands of dollars over the course of your life. And credit scores are necessary. Most of us are not able to buy a house or a car with cash and if you want to do things like rent a hotel room or a car, a credit card is often required to do so.

But it’s not hard to build credit and to maintain a healthy score. If you’re wondering how to build credit, these 7 smart ways to do it are all you need.

The post How To Build Credit: 7 Ways To Do It Smart appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

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Understanding credit can be tricky, especially if you haven’t been paying much attention to your own. Consumers oftentimes don’t think too much about their credit until it’s time to buy a new car or apply for a credit card, but such a passive relationship with your credit score can be detrimental to your personal finances down the road.

There are a number of reasons why staying on top of your credit and keeping track of your score history is important, and putting a renewed focus on your own credit can end up being a financial boost for you down the road.

These days, there is absolutely no excuse for consumers to not stay updated on their credit performance – especially since there are free, reliable resources that pretty much do all the work for you!

Credit Sesame is a site that provides anyone with a free credit score, a free credit report that’s full of details, as well as the tools they need to track their credit, analyze their credit scores, improve their personal finances, and even protect their identities online. Since 2010, Credit Sesame has given help to millions of consumers out there, enabling them to do more than they thought they could with their credit score and helping them find ideal financial products for themselves

Credit Sesame: The Basics

Credit Sesame

Who Credit Sesame is for:

• Those who want a free credit score and a detailed, free credit report
• Anyone who wants reliable, secure free credit monitoring and identity theft protection – but doesn’t want to pay for it.
• Anyone who doesn’t know a whole lot about credit and wants an easy-to-navigate platform that helps them track their credit progress

Pros:

• Free membership jam-packed with features
• Free credit monitoring and ID theft protection
• No credit card required to sign up, no commitments
• Easy-to-use app

It’s pretty easy to mess up your credit – so figuring out your current situation is very important.

Beyond the valuable free solutions that this site offers, more advanced services can be paid for – like premium ID protection. The free membership, however, packs enough of a punch for most people to be satisfied.

Tracking Your Credit is Important – Here’s Why

Credit Sesame

Checking your credit score is something that many of us opt to only do occasionally – which is not enough! In order to get control over your financial health, tracking your credit is something that needs to be done regularly. Why?

1. It’s a Necessary Starting Point: The first step in improving your personal finances is knowing where you stand. That’s why getting a free credit score is a crucial first step.
2. Get an Early Start: Improving your credit takes time, so the earlier you know how bad (or good) it is, the sooner you can start taking steps to make positive steps forward.
3. Check its Accuracy: Your credit score is a reflection of what can be found in your credit report. If something is wrong (like ID theft, for instance) checking your credit report will bring it to the surface.
4. Avoid Surprises: Knowing where you stand with a free credit score means that you’ll be prepared when you go to apply for a loan or some other credit application.
5. Alert Yourself (and Respond) to Identity Theft: Checking a free credit report regularly or signing up for a free credit monitoring service will enable you to discover potential ID theft threats as soon as they happen – so you can respond accordingly.
6. Figure Out a Plan: With a free credit monitoring service like Credit Sesame, you can get custom recommendations specific to your situation that will tell you exactly what to do in order to improve your score.

Maintaining a Healthy Credit Score is also Crucial

So you’ve seen your free credit report and you’ve got a grasp on your credit history, along with a plan to start improving your credit score. Maybe your free credit score was already quite healthy. What’s next?

Keeping your credit score high is just as important as tracking your credit regularly. After all, it only takes a single negative event for your score to take a hit.

It’s all about making sure that you maintain responsible habits with your credit accounts by:

• paying your bills on time
• carrying a balance of no more than 30% of your total available credit (the lower the better)
• not applying for too many new credit accounts, which can slightly decrease your score
• keeping old credit card accounts open to increase your average account length (which is good for your credit score)
• paying attention to alerts from a credit monitoring service, so you can fix any errors as soon as they pop up

So, why is maintaining a high credit score important?

Credit Sesame

Having an excellent credit score comes with a number of benefits, all of which can make your life much easier for years to come.

Keeping a high credit score gives you:

1. More Approvals: With a high credit score, you are much more likely to get approved for new credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, personal loans, etc.
2. Lower Interest Rates: When you do get approved for a new line of credit or a new loan, your higher credit score will typically qualify you for a lower interest rate!
3. Higher Credit Limits: Your healthy score shows banks that you can handle credit responsibly, so they will likely give you a higher credit limit than if your score wasn’t excellent.
4. Negotiating Leverage: When you are negotiating a lower interest, your excellent credit score will give you more power to talk your way into a lower rate.
5. Cheaper Auto Insurance: Some car insurance providers charge higher premiums to policyholders with bad credit scores.
6. Easier Housing Approval: When you’re applying to rent a new house or apartment, landlords can check your credit – and potentially deny your application if they don’t like what they see.

Apart from the financial perks that come with having excellent credit, the satisfaction of knowing you’ve worked hard to keep your credit score high is a perk all its own!

What You Get with Credit Sesame

Thankfully, nowadays we can take advantage of free online solutions that help us stay on top of our credit scores. These services are more than just a free credit score – they often include free credit monitoring and a whole suite of other features.

With the free membership offered by Credit Sesame, you get access to a number of valuable services and benefits:

• Free credit score update each month (from only 1 credit reporting bureau)
• View everything on your free credit report, including
  • what factors influence your credit score
  • how much each factor affects your credit score
• Recommendations for things you can do or services you can use to improve your credit score
• Access to a plethora of financial literacy resources that help you learn more about personal finance

Once you sign up, you get these continued benefits:

• Credit monitoring: you will immediately be alerted if there are any changes to your credit report.
• Identity Theft Protection: If you sign up for the free credit monitoring offered by Credit Sesame, you get an automatic and free $50,000 ID theft insurance policy (at absolutely no cost).

Yes, everything listed above is completely FREE! Credit Sesame doesn’t even require a credit card to sign up for its free membership.

What You Can Get with Premium Features

For those of you willing to shell out a little cash for some extra perks beyond just a free credit score and free credit report, you can sign up for one of the three premium membership options offered by Credit Sesame:

• Advanced Credit ($9.95/month): With this plan, you get all of the features included in the free program, plus
  • Daily credit score updates from 1 credit reporting bureau
  • Monthly credit score updates from 3 bureaus
  • Monthly full credit report from 3 bureaus
• Pro Credit ($15.95): Everything listed above, plus
  • Credit monitoring with alerts from 3 bureaus
  • 24/7 live support to help resolve inaccuracies found in your credit report
• Platinum Protection ($19.95): All features from the cheaper plans, in addition to
  • 24/7 live support for stolen/lost wallet emergencies
  • Black market website monitoring
  • Public records monitoring
  • Social security number monitoring

If you’re interested in any of these advanced Credit Sesame plans that go beyond a free credit score to give you a whole host of additional features, you can sign up for a premium plan.

How to Get Started

Signing up for Credit Sesame is a breeze – you simply go to the Credit Sesame website and enter your email address to get started.

To get started you’ll provide some basic information about yourself, such as your address, date of birth, the last four digits of your social security number, and a few other details (no credit card information needed).

That’s all you have to do!

You will be directed to your new dashboard immediately, where you can get access to your free credit score, free credit report, and you can begin benefitting from Credit Sesame’s free credit monitoring!

Sign up for a free Credit Sesame membership now! Your future self will thank you.

The post How To Get A Free Credit Score And Better Your Financial Future With Credit Sesame appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

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Everyone talks about how important it is to maintain a decent credit score, but how much do you really know about your score and what affects it? Here are 12 things that could be messing up your credit score.

1. Not keeping tabs on it.

Do you know your credit score? How often do you check it? You can get a copy of your credit report for free, once a year, from all three credit agencies – TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. TransUnion makes the process incredibly easy, and provides great tips on fixing any inaccuracies. Be sure to take advantage of TransUnion’s credit score simulator, which estimates how your current score would change based on any future actions. TransUnion also offers identity protection which monitors your credit, alerts you to any suspicious activity, and provides up to $1,000,000 in ID theft insurance.

Sign up through our link and get Transunion credit monitoring for $9.95 a month (50% off)

Contrary to popular belief, checking your credit score will not lower your number – so don’t be afraid to do it. You may want to consider signing up to a website such as Credit Sesame, which is entirely free to join and sends you an updated score each month. It also sends daily alerts to let you know if anything has changed, and allows you to track all of your financial information in one place. It’s a great tool to utilize, and is an excellent way to stay on top of your score. It costs you absolutely nothing, so why not give it a go?

Sign up to Credit Sesame and get your free credit score.

2. Taking out loans & opening credit cards.

When you apply for a credit card or loan, the company or lender will pull your credit report. This is a hard inquiry, which means they’re thoroughly examining your account to see if you’re a good candidate. Each hard inquiry shaves a few points off your score, so try to limit or spread out your applications. However, don’t worry about potential landlords checking your credit – these are “soft inquiries” and don’t affect your score.

3. Asking to increase your credit limit.

If you’re seeking more spending power, you can always ask your credit card company to increase your limit. This is a good alternative to applying for an entirely new credit card, and it can positively impact your credit score. But be careful – when you approach your financial institution for an increased credit limit, ask if they will initiate a hard inquiry or a soft inquiry. Each company handles such requests differently, so you need to be careful before you take this step.

4. Getting a new phone plan.

If you’re signing up for a new phone plan, the service provider will make a hard inquiry into your credit. Remember, hard inquiries take a few points off your credit score. If you’re trying to open a new phone line, registering for a new credit card, and applying for a loan at the same time, your credit score will feel the hit, and you’ll be more likely to be denied by all parties.

5. Not using your credit card.

It probably seems like a good move to use cash instead of putting everything on your credit card and potentially paying interest and penalties on late bills. However, long periods of inactivity on your credit card means the company might close it, and a closed card will ding your credit score.

6. Closing old credit card accounts.

If you’re not using a credit card anymore, it might be tempting to close the account. However, closing accounts looks bad on your credit, especially when it’s an account you’ve had for a long time. Closing old cards shortens your credit history, and can significantly influence your score.

7. Transferring credit balances to one card.

It might seem easier to carry around and pay off one credit card instead of many, but doing so could actually hurt your score. Adding all of your balances to one card raises your utilization ratio. When you come close to maxing out a card, an alert is put on your credit report, which makes you seem high risk. Using several cards and making payments on time can greatly increase your score.

8. Using your debit card for car rentals.

Although most rental companies won’t lend you a car unless you can put the charges on a credit card, some allow you to use a debit card. However, opting to use a debit card means the car company will pull your credit before they hand over the keys. This will take a few points off your credit score.

9. Financing purchases through the store.

When you’re buying a big item like a couch or a bed, you might be drawn to a particular store because of their purchase plan. It probably says something like “take the item home today and pay nothing for 12 months with 0% interest.” That sounds great, but taking advantage of the deal means opening a line of credit. Since you’re opening it through the store instead of through a financial institution, it’s marked as a “last resort loan,” which negatively impacts your credit and makes you seem like more of a risk when it comes to borrowing.

10. Not paying medical bills.

Medical bills are stressful enough on their own, because you’re already undergoing a procedure or treatment that caused the bills to pile up in the first place. Depending on your insurance, you might not get much help financially, and you might not be getting paid medical leave from your job. Unfortunately, unpaid medical bills are turned over to a collection agency, and just one negative account on your credit report can cause your score to drop 50-100 points. It’s worth paying down your medical bills to keep your score high.

11. Co-signing loans.

If you’re asked to co-sign a loan for someone else, think twice before you do so. It can either have a positive or negative impact on your credit, depending on how financially responsible the primary signer is. If they make their payments on time, being a co-signer on their account can increase your score. If they stop paying, however, your score could be negatively affected and you could be left to make the payments on your own.

12. Filing for bankruptcy.

Duh. It sounds pretty obvious, but filing for bankruptcy kills your credit score. It takes it down by hundreds of points and stays on your report for 10 years. Needless to say, it takes a long time to repair that kind of damage.

If you do find yourself in need of credit repair, a service like Lexington Law can be a great resource. It’s been helping people improve their credit scores for over 27 years. Head over to the website for a free consultation which will give you a complete review of your credit report and summary. If there’s anything inaccurate on your report, it can help get those items removed.

The post 12 Things You Didn’t Know Messed Up Your Credit Score appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

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Everyone knows credit scores are important, but past mistakes can often mean carrying around a less than ideal number. Although many people believe it’s impossible to recover from a low score, that simply isn’t the case. Here are five ways to improve your credit and thus improve your score.

1. Improve your credit with a free score and monitoring service.

Maintaining a healthy credit score means keeping tabs on that magical number at all times. A great way to do this is through Credit Sesame, which offers consumers like you a completely free credit score and monitoring service. All you have to do is head Credit Sesame, create an account, and let the company do the rest.

All of your information will be updated by Credit Sesame each month, along with a breakdown of your credit accounts. Find out what affects your credit and how to better it.

You’ll also receive real-time alerts anytime something changes on your TransUnion credit report. This is a great way to ensure that you’re notified in the case of fraudulent activity, allowing you to take action right away if your card has gotten into the wrong hands. It can also allow you to catch and correct any errors on your report. This is particularly valuable considering millions of Americans have mistakes on their reports.

Sign up for Credit Sesame’s free credit score and monitoring service.

2. Build your credit.

Everyone begins their credit journey at the same place – with no credit at all. Building credit is seen as a major priority for most consumers (and rightly so), but most people are misinformed about what is required to achieve a stellar score. While some set out to build a healthy score by spending money on credit cards, others take a more sensible approach.

Self Lender allows people just like you to open a credit builder account – a small loan held in a CD account for a year. For the most popular flagship account, the company lends you $1,100. You make payments of $89 into your CD account each month, and Self Lender shares your payment history with the three major credit bureaus. This is important because payment history accounts for the majority (35%) of your credit score.

When it’s time to cash out your CD, you’ve built credit history and you get $1,000 back. It’s a pretty sweet deal when you compare it to the alternative of carrying around credit card debt and paying high interest rates. And the best part is that you only need $12 to start, which pays for Self Lender’s administrative fee.

Self Lender isn’t just a smarter way of building credit – it’s also effective. Customers who pay into their accounts on time (while also meeting their other financial obligations) see an average score increase of 40 points in six months for the flagship account.

Start building better credit with Self Lender today by clicking here.

3. Repair your credit.

Your credit probably isn’t perfect. Maybe it’s even found its way into the ‘bad’ category (generally believed to be 560 or under). That’s okay. You can recover by using a service that has been helping people raise their scores for over 27 years.

That service is Lexington Law. They offer every potential client a free consultation, giving you – and your credit score – personalized attention. Once they’ve analyzed your situation, they come up with a plan to help get your score back on track. This often involves asking creditors to remove old negative marks from your credit report, as well as disputing the validity of certain items.

Lexington Law has a proven track record, helping clients get inaccurate, obsolete, and unverifiable items removed from their credit reports. The year 2016 saw the company collectively get nine million negative items removed from reports. Many of those related to late payments, liens, bankruptcies, foreclosures, and repossessions.

If you choose to go ahead after your free consultation, you’ll be able to pick from a number of plan options beginning at $89.95 a month. You’ll also be able to keep tabs on all the great things Lexington Law is doing by tracking your progress online.

Contact Lexington Law for your free consultation.

4. Use A Payoff Loan To Pay Off Credit Card Debt & Raise Your FICO Score.

Pay off your credit card debt faster with a Payoff Loan. The Payoff Loan gives you the power to reduce multiple high-interest payments into one low-rate monthly payment.
You don’t have to cut up your cards or close accounts, and after you pay off your balances with the Payoff Loan, your credit score can increase by 40+ points!

Paying off your credit cards is one of the best investments you can make. The Payoff Loan is a personal loan between $5,000 and $35,000 designed to eliminate or lower your credit card balances. The Payoff Loan is designed to allow you to take control of your finances and pay your credit cards off faster.

There are no application fees or commitments, and it does not impact your credit score. A team member from Payoff’s California office is always ready to help you.

Based on a study of Payoff Members between August 2017 and February 2018. Payoff Members, who paid off at least $5,000 in credit card balances, saw an average increase in their FICO® Score of 40 points within four months of receiving the Payoff Loan. Individual results may vary.

Apply for a Payoff Loan.

*Payoff is currently not available in Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, and West Virginia. If you live in one of these states, Upstart is another great option. Founded by ex-Googlers that wanted to bring fair and fast personal loans. You can check your rate with Upstart in 2 minutes.

The post These 4 Things Can Help Get Your Credit Back On Track appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

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Building credit is a necessary part of being financially responsible, but doing so doesn’t require you to spend tons of money or carry around debt. It’s time to forget everything you thought you knew about credit and learn how to build a better score while saving cash.

Your parents, your accountant, and your former economics teacher probably drilled the same idea into your head – you have to use credit cards to build a decent score. While that tactic has worked for many people, it also comes with risks. One of those is overspending, which can lead to high-interest debt that can take years to pay off.

Self Lender has changed the credit game, creating a model which allows consumers to build a good score while saving money – not spending it.

What exactly is Self Lender?

The idea is based on what’s known as a credit builder account. It’s a small loan that’s put into a certificate of deposit (CD) and held for 12 or 24 months.

Once your CD is set up, you make payments into your account each month. Self Lender then shares your payment history with all three credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. By the end of the term, you’ve built positive credit history. Your CD also unlocks at that point, along with the interest you’ve earned on it.

If you think the concept sounds too good to be true, think again. Self Lender customers who pay on time (while also meeting their other financial obligations) see an average score increase of 40 points in six months for the flagship account. This is because payment history – which Self Lender helps you build – accounts for the majority (35%) of your credit score.

How can you get started?

It’s a simple process which can be done online in a few minutes. For the flagship account mentioned above, you’ll pay a $12 administrative fee to get started. Self Lender will then lend you $1,100. Those are the funds that are put into the CD account.

From there, you’ll start making payments of $89 per month. At the end of 12 months, you’ll get $1,000 back. That money includes the cash you paid into the account and interest earned, minus the fee paid to Self Lender. That fee, which is how the company makes money, is a small price to pay for a credit score that will ultimately save you cash in the future.

Other account options are also available, with varying monthly payments. You can choose any of the plans, as each one will have roughly the same effect on your credit score. Just remember – it’s essential that you make on-time payments with Self Lender, just as you would with any loan.

Why should you use it?

There are many answers to this question. First of all, Self Lender is a legitimate company that understands the process of building credit. It’s backed by a team of “hardworking, passionate, financial geeks” who want to help you succeed. It also has a proven track record, as 95,000 people have already created credit builder accounts through Self Lender’s website.

The CD is FDIC insured, which means your money is safe. The cash you pay into your account also serves as your personal savings, which is great for those who struggle to save money the traditional way. Even if you’re great at stockpiling cash, you’re still likely to welcome the unlocking of $1,000 at the end of your CD term.

There’s also no hard pull on your credit. In fact, Self Lender couldn’t care less what your credit score is. You don’t need any upfront money to start – all you have to do is make sure you haven’t had any negative marks on your ChexSystems report (such as bounced checks or unpaid fees) within the past 180 days.

Self Lender can be a much better choice than other credit building alternatives. Secured credit cards, for example, require a deposit. Becoming a co-signer on someone else’s credit card means you could be liable for their financial mishaps. There’s no need to take that risk if you don’t have to.

Another great perk is that you can open up a new account once your first CD term has ended. This means you can continue to build good credit for an extended period of time – not just for 12 or 24 months.

The service is available in all 50 states, so go ahead and give it a try. It won’t be long until you’re turning your sad credit score into a sensational one.

Click here to begin your Self Lender journey.

The post This Company Helps You Build Credit While Saving … Not Spending appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

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Like it or not, your credit score is extremely important. It can make or break your dream of buying a home, or determine whether you get approved or rejected for an auto loan. If you have a low score, you may feel as though there’s no chance of improving it. Luckily, that’s not the case.

How Brandi raised her credit score:

Brandi Regan’s story is one that’s familiar to millions of Americans. The former retail worker was swimming in debt and decided to go back to school to invest in her future. But that only added more debt to her total – an additional $30,000 to be exact.

Once Brandi graduated and landed a job, she decided it was finally time to take control of her finances. She acted on the suggestion of a friend and signed up for a free Credit Sesame membership.

It wasn’t long before Brandi realized that her credit score was 424, which placed her in a bracket of the lowest 2% of Americans. But Brandi didn’t let that discourage her. Instead, she began working even harder towards her financial goals.

She downloaded Credit Sesame’s app and utilized all of the tools and resources at her disposal. “I’m constantly looking for new ways to build my credit, and Credit Sesame’s tips really [help] me with that,” she said. Brandi added that Credit Sesame’s alerts help her monitor any changes to her score.

By combining Credit Sesame’s offerings with other smart money tactics – including negotiating with credit lenders, coming up with a debt repayment plan, and rebuilding her credit with secured credit cards – Brandi was able to raise her score by over 200 points, to 641.

How Princess raised her credit score:

But Brandi is just one of Credit Sesame’s many success stories. A woman by the name of Princess has a similar tale.

Princess was also swimming in debt when she signed up for Credit Sesame. That debt was affecting her so much that it prevented her from applying for certain jobs, because she was afraid employers would check her 585 score and reject her because of it.

But through Credit Sesame, Princess was able to make positive changes to her credit. This was partly done because the website provided her with a list of collection agencies where her debts had been sent. This allowed Princess to contact each agency and agree to a payoff plan. Once each debt was paid off, Princess was able to check her Credit Sesame report card to make sure the debt had been erased.

Princess followed Credit Sesame’s tips to lower her credit utilization ratio by opening up secure credit lines. That, along with all of the other tools the website offered, allowed Princess to raise her score by 70 points, to 655, in just six months.

“Signing up for Credit Sesame has taught me so much and helped me get back on track,” Princess said. “It’s wonderful how much Credit Sesame really changed my perspective on credit. I now know not to let credit control me, but how to control my credit instead.”

Can Credit Sesame raise your credit score?

If you have a similar story, you could benefit from Credit Sesame’s offerings. Although raising your score doesn’t happen overnight, the website has great tools which can help expedite the process and maximize your chance of success.

The first step is to head to Credit Sesame’s website and become a free member. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to see your score, which is based on the VantageScore 3.0 model provided by TransUnion. The credit score is entirely free – no trials or commitments required.

Bad habits busted.

Once you’re aware of your score, Credit Sesame will reveal the habits that are negatively affecting it, such as a poor payment history or high credit utilization ratio. It lets you know exactly how your score is calculated, and breaks down the importance of each credit scoring category.

You’ll receive tips on how to break bad habits and improve your score. There’s no guesswork involved – just a solid road map which can take you where you want to be. You’ll also receive a free credit report card to track your progress.

Find out what really affects your score.

With Credit Sesame, you won’t be left in the dark about what affects your credit score. The service breaks it all down for you.
For example, payment history and credit utilization are tied in first place for the factors that most affect your score. Credit age comes next, followed by account mix and credit inquiries.

You’ll also see any negative marks that have been placed on your credit file. It can be a difficult thing to see, but just remember that you can’t fix your credit until you know why it’s low in the first place.

Personalized recommendations

With Credit Sesame, you’ll have access to an overall debt analysis which shows what you owe in credit card and loan debt. You’ll also receive personalized recommendations based on that data. For instance, if you’re paying a high-interest rate on an auto loan, Credit Sesame might recommend that you refinance that loan. It will even provide you with your odds of being approved.

Credit Sesame also suggests credit cards that can save you money, as well as cards that can help build credit. Think of it as a credit expert that’s working for you entirely free of charge. How can you argue with that?

No matter whether your score is poor, above average, or somewhere in between, there are likely some things you could be doing to make it better. Don’t guess what those things are – let Credit Sesame do the work for you.

Sign up for a free Credit Sesame membership today by clicking here.

The post How This Woman Raised Her Credit Score By 200 Points With Credit Sesame appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.

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Building good credit doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, it can take years to get your score where you want it to be. The journey is well worth it, however, as a good score leads to better interest rates on loans and credit cards, which can save you thousands of dollars over a lifetime. If you have bad credit, don’t worry. Here are two easy ways to improve your score.

1. Lexington Law

What They Do: Founded in 1991, this law firm is well versed in helping consumers repair their credit scores. They begin by analyzing copies of your credit report from all three bureaus, and then come up with a game plan to clean up your record. This can include disputing the validity of certain items on your report and asking creditors to remove old items. You can check their progress online at any time, and they periodically send you tips on what you can do to improve your score while they continue to work behind the scenes.

What You Pay: Lexington Law offers every prospective client a free consultation. From there, you can choose from three tiers of service, beginning at $89.95 a month. You pay monthly for the work they do, so you’ll see changes in your score before you pay. Although it’s difficult to estimate the amount of time needed for Lexington Law to work their magic, most customers begin seeing an improvement in about four months. You can cancel at any time, so you’re under no obligation to keep paying once your score is where you want it to be. Just make sure to continue utilizing Lexington Law’s tips to keep your score high.

Watch the video below and click here to speak to the experts at Lexington Law and receive your free consultation.

2. CreditRepair.com

What They Do: Advisors pull your credit reports from all three agencies, then work to eliminate negative, unfair, and old listings. As they work, you can download the app to keep up with their progress. Through the app, text messages, and emails, CreditRepair.com provides customized information on how to improve and maintain your score. When something shows up on your credit report, you’ll get notified, and the service will explain how each item influences your credit score. You’ll also get information on how to prepare for the future, especially regarding loans and investments.

What You Pay: Clients begin with a free consultation, which includes an agent looking over your credit score and recommending a solution. You’ll pay $99.95 a month for advisors to contact agencies on your behalf, cleaning up your credit report. You can check in with them any time via the online dashboard, in addition to the app, texts, and emails. As a bonus, your monthly fee also includes identity theft insurance to protect your credit score. In just four months, most customers see a 40 point improvement on their credit score.

Click here to receive a free personalized credit consultation.

WIth these great services in your pocket, you can rest assured that you’ll be well taken care of if you choose to seek a credit repair service.

The post 2 Companies That Can Help You Repair Your Credit appeared first on Wall Street Insanity.