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One money move at a time, short enough to read in two minutes. Pick one and act on it today.
A virtual card number stands in for your real card number at online stores, so a store’s data breach exposes a number you can lock or delete. It does nothing when a scammer gets you to share your card login or a one-time code. Never give either to anyone who contacts you.
Dispute any error on your credit report, from a late payment you never made to an account you don’t recognize, with each bureau that lists it. It’s free. The bureau must investigate within 30 days, or 45 in some cases, and correct or delete anything the company that reported it can’t verify.
A credit card for bad credit that skips the deposit often makes up for it with fees, and unlike a secured card’s deposit, fees never come back. Unless that card’s fees total zero, a no-fee secured card costs less. Before you apply, add up the fees for the card’s first two years from its pricing table.
State programs help repay student loans for many nurses, doctors, teachers, and lawyers in hard-to-fill jobs, and sometimes for people who move to the state. Before you take a job or plan a move, check what the state offers and the strings attached, then make sure the choice works without the money.
In a major life transition, the costliest money mistakes are usually small steps you skip or rush, not the big decisions. Within 30 days of a marriage, divorce, new baby, or job change, update your beneficiaries, fix your health coverage, and move old retirement money directly into a new account instead of cashing it out.
An insurance comparison tool turns one form into side-by-side quotes from many carriers, so checking whether you overpay takes minutes instead of an afternoon of calls. Run one before every renewal, get direct quotes from any big insurer the tool can’t price, and switch only when the coverage matches yours line for line.
When someone calls you, never share your card number, its security code, or a code texted to your phone, however official the caller sounds or whatever your caller ID shows. Hang up and call the number on the back of your card. If something is wrong with your account, the bank can tell you on that call.
Medical debt hurts your credit score less than it used to, and how much depends on which score a lender pulls. Newer scoring models count medical collections less or ignore them entirely, while older FICO versions still count them in full. Before you apply for a mortgage or car loan, ask the lender which score it uses.
Prepaid carriers run on the same Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile networks as the big-name plans, usually for much less a month, though their cheapest plans give up perks and priority when the network is busy. If your phone already works well where you live and work, pick a prepaid plan on that network and move your number to it.
Debt stress doesn’t have to last as long as your debt does. Write a payoff plan this week that lists every balance, picks one payoff method, and puts every payment on autopay. The worry often eases once the plan exists, months or years before you pay the last dollar. If you can’t afford the minimums, call a nonprofit credit counselor.
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