Shawn Lane Consumer Credit Expert Many people think that paying your financial obligations on time is all it takes to earn great credit scores. The truth, however, is that credit scoring is more complicated than that. Believe it or not, the majority of the points in your credit scores don’t have anything to do with how you pay your …
What Makes Up Your Credit Scores? Part 1: Payment History
Shawn Lane Consumer Credit Expert Your credit scores are an important component of your financial wellbeing. Without solid credit scores, life can be a lot more difficult (not to mention more expensive) than it needs to be. The good news is that if you learn what influences your credit scores, you’ll be better equipped to improve them. Stick with us …
Credit Repair: Hire a Pro or Do-It-Yourself?
Shawn Lane Consumer Credit Expert Recovering from credit problems is often a long, uphill battle. There are certainly steps you can take to potentially speed up the process, but it’s important to begin any credit repair journey with the proper expectations. Your credit problems most likely didn’t happen overnight. It’s probably going to take some time to sort through them …
Free Credit Freezes: Do You Need Them?
Shawn Lane Consumer Credit Expert There is no surefire way to keep your personal information safe and protected. The Equifax Data Breach of 2017 alone exposed the sensitive, personal information of some 143 million consumers in the US. The Under Armour data breach, which occurred in the spring of 2018, exposed another 150 million consumer records as well, including the …
The Cost of Poor Credit
Shawn Lane Consumer Credit Expert You work hard to earn an income. Wasting that money is the last thing you want to do. If you have bad credit, however, wasting money is inevitable. Bad credit is incredibly expensive and the cost of bad credit is compounded the longer your credit remains in poor shape. Believe it or not, bad credit …
Is There a Grace Period Before a Late Payment Will Hurt Your Credit Scores?
Shawn Lane Consumer Credit Expert You are working hard to clean up your credit and dig your way out of the hole when, all of a sudden, you are faced with an unexpected financial setback. Sound familiar? If so, you may find yourself asking the question “How late can my payments actually be before they hurt my credit scores?” Whether …
Why Paying Your Credit Card On Time Isn’t Enough
Shawn Lane Consumer Credit Expert Basic credit common sense tells you that paying your bills on time is essential to maintaining a good credit rating. What you may not realize, however, is that your payment history is only one component of good credit. Payment history absolutely matters, but keeping your payments on time alone is not enough to earn and …
4 Credit Mistakes You Can Teach Your Children to Avoid
Shawn Lane Consumer Credit Expert As a parent, you are responsible for teaching your kids many different important life lessons. When they are young, you help them learn how to walk and talk. A few years later, you start teaching your kids about reading, writing, and arithmetic. Yet somewhere between lessons about the golden rule and the sex and drugs …
How a Good Credit Score Can Improve Your Life
Shawn Lane Consumer Credit Expert There is no sugar-coating the fact that life can become a lot more complicated whenever you are faced with credit problems. Sure, you can get by with bad credit and low credit scores, but living like that can be expensive, not to mention stressful. On the other hand, when you work hard to rebuild your …
Why Your Credit Score Suddenly Dropped by Over 100 Points
Shawn Lane Consumer Credit Expert In my line of work, I am asked questions everyday like this one I received last week: “Shawn, I have been working hard for a while now hoping to raise my credit scores. I was making good progress, but when I logged into my credit monitoring to check my credit this month I found out …