Author: Shannon McNay Insler
What to do if your credit card was stolen
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
There are few things more jarring than opening your wallet and realizing your credit card is no longer there. A close second could be logging into …
What is credit repair?
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
The term “credit repair” itself sounds nice and helpful, but has been hijacked by more than a few less-than-reputable companies. However, that doesn’t mean the idea …
How to freeze your credit for free
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
Identity theft is on the rise yet again, and this time fraudsters’ methods are changing. According to Javelin Strategy & Research, in 2017 social security numbers were …
What is a credit freeze?
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
Raise your hand if you’ve been feeling the desire to put your credit on lock-down and if that desire grows stronger with every new data breach …
How to get your credit reports for free
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
It should be easy to obtain your credit report, right? After all, it’s become fairly well-known that we should all review our credit reports, and there …
My financial documents are missing – now what?
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
Is there anything worse than moving? Between packing up all of your belongings, lugging them across town just to unpack them again, and the upheaval that …
Do I still have to pay my student loans if I left school?
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
A college education isn’t a short process, and there are times when people find that it’s just not the right choice for them, or that life …
What are credit reporting agencies?
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
When you think about your credit report, do you ever wonder who’s compiling all of this information about you and why? How did the idea to …
What is a good credit score?
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
Credit scores are a hot topic these days, and the more information that comes out about them, the more you might start to start to wonder …
Everything you need to know about hard credit inquiries
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
Did you know that there are two types of credit inquiries, and that only one of them has an effect on your credit scores? Read on …
Cities where residents have the lowest credit scores
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
Credit scores and credit score ranges are crucial to personal finances. A high credit score can help you net approval for financial products, while a low one …
Cities where residents have the highest credit scores
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
Credit scores are a key indicator of financial health, and a city’s average credit score can help paint a picture of its residents’ economic well-being. Although …
5 surprising ways your check can bounce
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
We all know that it’s never good to bounce a check, but did you know that there are multiple means of doing so? Here are five …
9 things you need to know about ChexSystems
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
If you’ve ever had difficulty opening a checking account, then you’re probably all too aware of a company called ChexSystems. But how much do you really …
How to dispute a “debit” report
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
Thanks to companies like ChexSystems, we all have what we like to call “debit” reports. These reports track our banking behavior just as credit reports track …
7 things debt collectors can’t do (and what you should do if they do them)
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
When you have a debt that goes to collections, it can feel as though debt collectors rule your life until you pay up. Thanks to the …
What happens when your check bounces?
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
Ever wonder what happens if your check bounces? Although checks might seem like relics of the past, many companies still use them, and so we must …
The 15 most expensive U.S. natural disasters since 1980
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
When a natural disaster comes our way, we can feel powerless to its effects. And those effects don’t just hurt our hometowns, but our pockets as well. 2017 …
How to deal with a debt collector
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
So, you’ve been getting calls from a debt collector. What now? Believe it or not, all hope isn’t lost when an account go to collections. Read …
How do student loans affect your credit report?
Written by: Shannon McNay Insler
The last thing that college students and recent graduates might think about is how their student loans can impact their credit reports in particular and their …
