• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

  • About
  • Liz’s Books
  • Speaking
  • Disclosure
  • Contact

Liz Weston

Friday’s need-to-know money news

January 19, 2018 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: 5 ways to drive a car without owning one. Also in the news: Tax refund loans for early filers, the pros and cons of senior checking accounts, and the return of triple-digit interest rates on payday loans.

5 Ways to Drive a Car Without Owning One
Ditching the car doesn’t leave you without wheels.

Tax Refund Loans Give Cash Now to Early Filers
Interest free loans can get you your money sooner.

Checking Accounts for Seniors
The pros and cons of Senior Checking.

The Trump administration brings back triple-digit interest rates on payday loans.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: automobiles, cars, checking accounts, payday loans, ride sharing, senior checking accounts, tax refund loans, tax refunds

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

January 18, 2018 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: 5 signs you’re getting bad financial advice. Also in the news: What a financial advisor does, how Roth IRAs can help in an emergency, and why Wells Fargo customer should check their bank accounts.

5 Signs You’re Getting Bad Financial Advice
Who’s really looking out for you?

What Does a Financial Advisor Do?
Reaching your financial goals.

How Roth IRAs Can Help in an Emergency
An emergency backup fund.

Wells Fargo Customers Should Check Their Bank Accounts
There’s been a “glitch.”

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: bad financial advice, emergency fund, financial advice, financial advisor, Roth IRA, Wells Fargo

Wednesday’s need-to-know money news

January 17, 2018 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: Your best financial move is also best for the environment. Also in the news: Why you should fly first class at least once, surprising factors that inflate your car insurance rate, and the best and worst states to retire.

Your Best Financial Move Is Also Best for the Environment
Looking at your carbon footprint.

Why You Should Fly First Class at Least Once, and How to Afford It
Treat yourself.

5 Surprising Factors That Inflate Your Car Insurance Rate
Not just about accidents.

Best and worst states to retire
Did yours make the cut?

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: best states, car insurance rates, carbon footprint, environment, first class travel, Retirement, worst states

What good financial advice looks like

January 16, 2018 By Liz Weston

Good financial advice can help you achieve your life goals. Bad financial advice can cost you a fortune and leave you worse off than if you had tried to go it alone.

Unfortunately, you’re still on your own in trying to determine the good advice from the bad. The U.S. Department of Labor has delayed key portions of a fiduciary rule that would require financial advisers to put their retirement account clients’ interests first. The provisions are set to begin July 1, 2019, but it’s anyone’s guess if that will happen.

In my latest for the Associated Press, why it’s still a buyer-beware market for financial advice.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: financial advice, financial advisors

Monday’s need-to-know money news

January 15, 2018 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: How to leverage great credit without borrowing a dime. Also in the news: How to get your taxes done for free, how to hang on to more cash, and how to save for your kid’s college and still live.

How to Leverage Great Credit Without Borrowing a Dime
Capitalizing on great credit.

How to Get Your Taxes Done for Free
Examinging the offers.

To Hang On to More Cash, Let Go of These in 2018
Time to get rid of those delivery apps.

How to Save for Your Kid’s College and Still Live
The saving doesn’t have to be painful.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: college, college tuition, Credit, great credit, saving cash, Taxes

Q&A: How to improve your credit score and whether you should bother

January 15, 2018 By Liz Weston

Dear Liz: My credit scores are good, but I was wondering if there is a way to bring your scores to 800 or more if your income isn’t that high. I always pay my bills on time and my credit card off each month. In the last two years, I took out a small loan to pay off a car, then paid off furniture and now am paying on six new windows for my home.

My FICO scores run from 747 to 781. I’m told the reason they aren’t higher is that the number of accounts I have is too low and that my credit report shows no recent nonmortgage installment loans or “insufficient recent information” about such loans. I’m pleased that my scores are that high, but they say you get the best low-interest loans with a score over 800.

Answer: It’s not true that you need FICO scores of 800 or above to get the best deals. The best rates and terms typically are available once your scores are above 760 or so on the usual 300-to-850 FICO scale. Some lenders set the bar lower, to 740, 720 or even less. Also, your income is not a direct factor in your credit scores — although having a higher income can lead to creditors granting larger lines of credit, which could favorably impact your scores.

If what you’re after is bragging rights, there are some ways to boost good scores even higher.

The easiest may be to make more frequent payments on your credit card to reduce your credit utilization, or the amount of available credit you’re using. If your issuer reports your statement balance each month to the credit bureaus, paying off what you owe a few days before the statement closing date will reduce your apparent credit utilization. Just remember to pay off any remaining balance once you get your bill.

Another approach would be to apply for another credit card and spread your purchases between the two cards, which also can lower your credit utilization. Either way, continue to pay your cards in full, since there’s no credit scoring advantage to carrying a balance.

Taking out another installment loan could boost your scores, but it’s not smart to borrow money you don’t need if your scores are already good.

Remember, too, that there are many different credit scoring formulas. There are different versions and generations of the FICO score as well as FICO rivals such as VantageScore.

If you achieve an 800 with one type of score, you might not with another — and whatever score you achieve, you might not keep for long. Your scores fluctuate all the time, based on the changing information in your credit files.

It’s worth the effort to improve bad or mediocre scores because those can cost you in many ways such as higher interest rates, higher insurance premiums, bigger utility deposits and fewer options for cellphone service. Improving already good scores doesn’t offer much if any payoff, so it’s usually not worth incurring extra costs to do so.

Filed Under: Credit Scoring, Q&A Tagged With: Credit, Credit Score, q&a

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 411
  • Page 412
  • Page 413
  • Page 414
  • Page 415
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 786
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Search

Copyright © 2025 · Ask Liz Weston 2.0 On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in