Get smart with your money
Today’s top story: How to boostrap your credit for free or cheap. Also in the news: 3 ways to get your business up and selling on Amazon, three things to do for the best online banking, and how to save at the start of your career.
How to Bootstrap Your Credit for Free — or Cheap
Slow and steady.
3 Ways to Get Your Business Up and Selling on Amazon
Start making money.
For the Best Online Banking, Do These 3 Things
Easy steps.
How to save at the start of your career
The earlier the better.
Today’s top story: Lock down your data right now after Equifax breach.Also in the news: Health insurers ease rules for Harvey Victims, protecting critical documents from disaster with a bug-out bag, and the credit move than can bump your score in 30 days.
Lock Down Your Data After Equifax Breach — Right Now
Immediately.
Health Insurers Ease Rules for Harvey Victims
Checking your options.
Protect Critical Documents From Disaster With a ‘Bug-Out Bag’
Be ready to go at a moment’s notice.
The credit move that can bump up your score in 30 days
Pay your bill early.
Too many Americans have bad credit because of unpaid medical bills. That’s not likely to change anytime soon, despite two reforms in how those bills will be reported to the credit bureaus.
Starting Sept. 15:
—There will be a 180-day waiting period before unpaid medical debts can show up on people’s credit reports.
—Medical collections will be deleted from credit reports if they’re paid by health insurers.
Credit bureaus Equifax, Experian and TransUnion agreed to the new standards as part of two settlements with state attorneys general in 2015. The changes in medical debt reporting were designed to help people whose bills fell through the cracks between their health care providers and their insurance companies, says Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney for the National Consumer Law Center.
In my latest for the Associated Press, find out who these changes are expected to help.
Dear Liz: Please tell me again how to get my free credit report each year.
Answer: You can get a free annual look at your credit reports from the three major credit bureaus at www.annualcreditreport.com. If you search for “free credit report,” you may wind up at a look-alike site, rather than the federally mandated one. A good clue that you’re on the wrong site will be if you’re asked for a credit card number.
Your free reports don’t include free scores, which are the three-digit numbers lenders and others use to judge your creditworthiness. Your bank or credit card companies may offer free scores, or you can sign up with one of the many sites that offer them. Keep in mind that there are different types of scores, and the one that you’re seeing may not be the same as the ones your lenders use.
Today’s top story: How to lower your monthly mortgage payment. Also in the news: 5 things to do before changing careers, a Labor Day look at America’s workforce, and 3 myths that could tank your credit score.
How to Lower Your Monthly Mortgage Payment
Taking the first steps.
Want to Change Careers? Do These 5 Things First
Preparing for change.
Hard at Work: A Labor Day Look at America’s Workforce
Where we’ve been and where we’re going.
3 myths that could tank your credit score
Don’t believe the hype.
Today’s top story: Costly subprime credit cards offer little help. Also in the news: Take charge of your credit score with your credit report, why you should consider a mortgage recast, and four ways to manage your credit card debt.
Costly Subprime Credit Cards Offer Little Help, NerdWallet Study Finds
Just digging a deeper hole.
If You Want a Good Credit Score, Read Your Credit Reports
Studying up.
Why You Should Consider a Mortgage Recast
Save on your monthly payment.
4 ways to manage your credit card debt
Getting it under control.