What happens to your credit when you get married?

Posted on by Richard the MBA

Saving-Your-Marriage-SmallI have a friend who recently got engaged. Last time we hung out, we had a little chat about his future plans. Being a financially savvy and provident guy, he did some research on the impact of marriage on future housing arrangement, and found out that in order to buy a house in the future he will have to have his future wife go through a credit score check. He was under the impression that his credit profile would be merged in some way with his fiance’s when they got married, and thus they would have a common credit score, taken as the lower of their individual scores pre-marriage. Is this true?

Continue reading What happens to your credit when you get married?

Reblog and analysis: “Five Surprising Things That May Impact Your Score” from Transunion

Posted on by Richard the MBA

parking-ticketTransunion is one of the three consumer reporting agencies (CRA’s) which are responsible for keeping a record of your credit profile. Today I came across a brief and helpful article on their “Credit Education” section that I’d like to share with you and attach my comments to. The article is titled “Your Credit History: Five Surprising Things That May Impact Your Score.” Let’s analyze these 5 surprising things, one by one.

 

Continue reading Reblog and analysis: “Five Surprising Things That May Impact Your Score” from Transunion

Closing a credit card: let’s get the facts straight

Posted on by Richard the MBA

There are so many myths surrounding the issue of credit card closing I thought it’d be helpful to dedicate a whole blog post to this topic.
Why should you close a credit card? Well, there are several reasons:

  1. The credit card is pure junk, such as one of the worst credit cards in America which are listed here: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/10/6-worst-credit-cards/ – No questions about this.
  2. The credit card carries an unsustainable annual fee, such as most loyalty and transferable points cards (if you’re not familiar with reward credit cards, check this post out). Many cards of these types waive the first year’s annual fee, and many consumers don’t find them worth keeping beyond the first year.  Continue reading Closing a credit card: let’s get the facts straight

Credit cards for credit builders: what are your options? – Part 4

Posted on by Richard the MBA

If you have filled out an application for a credit card, you’d you know that one of the mandatory fields is ‘annual income’. Other than your credit profile, this is the single most important factor that creditors use to determine your eligibility for credit. But what if you’re going to school and not making any money? You still have money from your bank accounts or from family, but you don’t have a regular income. No worries: financial institutions will take care of that for you. Many creditors offer a student version of their cards, which is just about as good as the regular version.  Continue reading Credit cards for credit builders: what are your options? – Part 4

Credit cards for credit builders: what are your options? – Part 3

Posted on by Richard the MBA

Option 3 for credit builders: secured credit cards

I have previously described my personal experience with Bank of America’s Bankamericard Cash Rewards secured credit card. A secured credit card is a risk-free way for financial institutions to extend you credit: the money you deposit is also your credit limit. In other words, you spend your own money; the bank doesn’t lend you anything. Yet you still have the opportunity to build up your credit profile by making on-time payments which would be reported to the Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRA’s). Continue reading Credit cards for credit builders: what are your options? – Part 3

Credit cards for credit builders: what are your options? – Part 2

Posted on by Richard the MBA

In my last post: Credit cards for credit builders: what are your options? – Part 1, I talked about the option of being added as an authorized user to someone else’s credit card. Unfortunately for international students like me, this option rarely exists. The next best option is to try to obtain a credit card through your bank.  Continue reading Credit cards for credit builders: what are your options? – Part 2

Credit cards for credit builders: what are your options? –Part 1

Posted on by Richard the MBA

When I opened this blog, I had in mind the picture of myself back in January 2012, half a year out of college, and having no credit. Today, it is about a year from that, and many from the next generation of college graduates are probably having the same credit situation as I was. I was lucky to be well-guided by knowledgeable friends, and I thought it’d be my turn to provide a mini-guide for those looking to obtain their first credit card.

To recap what I wrote in my most popular post to date: Introduction to personal finance, here are the 3 main reasons you need a credit card in order of importance: Continue reading Credit cards for credit builders: what are your options? –Part 1

Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express: What are they really?

Posted on by Richard the MBA

Many years ago, before I came to America, I was studying for the IELTS test. The IELTS is a test of English language skills that students coming from countries where English is not the official language have to go through if they want to study in an English-speaking country. For the listening portion of the test, exam-takers listen to an English conversation to answer questions related to the conversation. The conversation topics are sometimes specific to the country that administers the exam: either the UK or Australia.

One of the questions from the listening portion left me really confused at the time, so confused that I still remember it today. Actually the question was easy to answer; it was the content of the question that was not understandable to me. The conversation occurs in a store where the guest is asking whether the store accepts Discover or American Express, to which the waitress responds that they only accept Visa or Mastercard. I had never heard of these names before, and would not until years later when I actually set foot on a country where credit card use is the norm. My reaction at the time was something like: What? What’s American Express? A newspaper? OK, Mastercard is probably a card, but what about Visa? Is it the same sort of thing as a tourist visa?  Continue reading Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express: What are they really?

Secured credit card graduation

Posted on by Richard the MBA

One and a half year after I graduated from Colgate University following a commencement where I sang the school’s traditional song with 3 friends in front of 7,000 people, I had yet another milestone graduation. For those of you that start your credit journey with a secured credit card, when your credit card gets converted to a non-secured card, your card is said to graduate. That’s what happened to my card. Continue reading Secured credit card graduation