Give your Credit Score a Boost

Credit cards

Your credit score is one of the most important aspects of your financial health. It is used by potential lenders, landlords and even employers to analyze your financial situation in one way or another. Here are some tips that might help you improve your score:

Item Review your credit report and, if necessary, fix errors. You are entitled to one free credit report from each credit reporting company per year at Annual Credit Report. It is important to check for reporting errors that could be negatively affecting your score. If you find an error, contact the company reporting the information and the credit reporting company to challenge the report. Common errors include closed accounts showing as open, incorrect balances or limits and accounts opened by someone else due to identity fraud.
Item Pay off your credit card each month. By making purchases on a credit card and paying the entire balance each period, you are developing a positive credit history and displaying sound financial management skills. This will increase your credit score. To meet this goal you will need to keep your spending under control. If you are unable to pay off the card, you will start to accumulate revolving debt that will hurt your credit score.
Item Make your payments on time. Late payments, even by one day, can be one of the most damaging hits to your score. If possible, set up automatic payments for as many bills as possible to lower the risk of forgetting to make a payment. The longer your history of paying on time, the more your score will improve.
Item Pay down your debt. Another large chunk of your credit score is calculated based on the amount of debt outstanding. Mortgage lenders specifically use a debt-to-income ratio to determine loan eligibility. In addition to the amount of debt you have, you also need to pay attention to the debt limits you have on your accounts. The closer your debt is to the limit, the worse your score will be.
Item Don’t allow an account to go to collection. Collections will stay on your credit report for seven years! Avoid having any of your accounts go to collections if at all possible. Medical bills and other one-time expenses are often the types of accounts that find themselves in collections. If you are unable to pay a bill in full by the due date, call the company and see if they have payment plans or other programs to get the bill paid without going to a collection company.

Regardless of where you are on the credit score spectrum, you should actively monitor your credit. Implementing these ideas will improve your credit score as well as your long-term financial well-being.

Five Great Finance Tips Everyone Should Know

Avoid hard-won experience and costly mistakes by taking advantage of these five personal finance tips.Chart with arrow pointing up

Check Pay yourself first
Paying yourself first means taking a percentage of everything you earn and saving it. Consider it as important as any other bill you pay each month. This is a fundamental rule of personal finance that when used properly can help build an emergency fund and save you from living paycheck to paycheck.
Check Calculate compound interest by using the Rule of 72
You can roughly calculate the number of years compound interest will take to double your money using the Rule of 72. Simply divide 72 by the rate of return to rough out how long it takes to double your money. For example, 10 percent compound interest will double a sum in 7.2 years; 8 percent in nine years. It’s a concept that helps us understand the power of saving and investment.
Check Avoid debt
Unpaid debt is like compound interest, but in reverse. If left unaddressed, it grows exponentially over time as interest and fees add to the original balance due. The result is that you have to work harder and earn more to pay for the items you purchased.Why not save first, then purchase your dream item? When done this way, the purchase price is limited to what you paid for the item, rather than adding the burden of debt over time.
Check Understand amortization
When a bank loans you money, it gives you a certain interest rate and a set number of years to pay it back. Each payment you make contains interest as well as a reduction of the amount owed, called principal. Most of the interest payments are front-loaded, while the last few payments are virtually all principal. A smart consumer knows this and tries to make additional principal payments at the beginning of the term. This will dramatically reduce the number of payments required to pay back the loan.
Check Take advantage of tax deductions, credits and capital gains
Tax laws are complicated and made even more complex when the rules change. There are many tax deductions and credits to take advantage of, as well as strategies to minimize capital gains tax. Why leave money on the table just because you don’t know the rules? Ask for help and ask for it early in the year. The power of getting the right tax plan in place every year is definitely something everyone should know about.

Protect Yourself From Port-Out Scams

Protect yourself from Port-Out scams

Mobile phones not only contain our personal details and information about everyone we know; they are used to verify our identities and unlock access to our financial accounts.

Now scammers are using a process called a “port-out” to hack into our phones to change our passwords, steal our personal data and even empty our bank accounts!

 

Basics of the Port-Out Scam

A port-out scam starts by manipulating the legitimate process you can use to move your mobile phone number from one carrier to another. A scammer calls a carrier and impersonates you to request that your mobile phone number and SIM card data be transferred to a new carrier and device owned by the scammer.

Once the scammer successfully ports out your number in this way, they are often able to use it as leverage to gain access to your bank accounts. That’s because like other online accounts, banks will respond to requests to change your password by sending the new password or a PIN to your phone.

Once the scammer uses a ported-out phone to change your passwords, not only are you locked out from accessing your accounts, but the scammer can now begin emptying them.

How to Protect Yourself

The key security vulnerability of the port-out scam is with the mobile phone carrier. When a customer calls to request changing their phone number to another carrier and device, the carrier will ask them to provide a PIN number. For some U.S. carriers including T-Mobile, the default PIN has been the last four digits of the customer’s Social Security number.

You may have heard that last year more than 143 million Americans had their data exposed in a hacking security breach at the credit reporting agency Equifax. The information exposed included names linked with phone numbers and Social Security numbers. In other words, everything a hacker would need to try a port-out scam.

Recently, T-Mobile sent text messages to customers warning them to change their PINs. It also set up a port-out protection page.

No matter what carrier you use, it’s worthwhile updating your security information and PIN. It can take only minutes and it may avoid the devastating consequences of this scam. Make sure that the new PIN you choose is different from your carrier account password.

Here are the pin protection links at the other three major U.S. carriers:

Check AT&T
Check Sprint
Check Verizon

 

Five Great Banking Tips

Bank

Banks are a necessary tool to navigate our daily financial lives. Unfortunately, there are aggravating practices at many banks that drive us crazy or cost us money.

Here are five tips to get more out of your bank and pay less.

Bullet Point Remove cash from the right place. Never use an ATM machine that is not in your bank’s network. In-network cash withdrawals cost nothing at most banks, but withdrawals from someone else’s machine may come with a $3 to $5 fee.

Action: Turn over your ATM or debit card and note the networks on the back of the card; or ask your bank about their network coverage. Only use ATMs within the network. Test a transaction to ensure no fee is included on your statement.

Bullet Point Notify your credit card issuer when traveling. Most credit card-issuing banks now automatically freeze your cards when a suspicious transaction occurs out of state. This freeze often includes foreign website transactions.

Action: Call your credit card issuer when you are going to be traveling. Also notify them if you wish to order an item from a foreign website. This can alleviate numerous headaches. While some banks may not block out-of-state transactions, you do not want to to have a transaction rejected while purchasing something on a trip.

Bullet Point Know your bank’s overdraft rules. Non-sufficient funds (NSF) checks are not only embarrassing, they are expensive. Banks make millions on their overdraft fees and automatic loan features when you overdraw your account. Understand your bank’s fees and how they apply your payments.

Action: Look for a bank that will allow you to link another account to your checking account without charging a fee. For instance, as a courtesy many credit unions allow you to link a savings account to your core checking account. Funds from your savings account are used should you inadvertently overdraw your checking account.

Bullet Point Always negotiate fees. If you are a long-standing customer with your bank or credit card company, call them to reduce or waive fees. Good examples of this are over-the-limit credit card fees or late payment fees. If you have multiple checking overdraft fees, negotiate to eliminate as many as possible.

Action: If you are late in paying your credit card or have an overdraft, fix the problem as soon as possible. Only after fixing the problem should you call to negotiate the fees. The bank customer service representative will see your quick action and be more likely to help reduce the fees.

Bullet Point Be willing to shop. Banks understand the power of inertia: They know it’s a pain to change banks. But if you are willing to do so, you might be surprised to find better alternatives for less.

Action: Even interest on savings accounts varies widely from bank to bank. Use the internet to quickly see who is paying what in interest. Do the same for any loans, especially car loans, which vary widely.