If you owe credit-card debt, educate yourself with these pointers from Kiplinger about how the whole collections process works and what your rights are. Year after year, debt collection complaints rank among the most-common consumer grievances the Federal Trade Commission receives. In fact, reports of deceptive debt-collection tactics were the second-most common complaint (after identity theft) Read more

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy! Forget “you are what you eat.” When it comes to your trustworthiness as as borrower, you are who you know . . . online. Social networks are now being used by some lenders to evaluate whether you’re likely to pay them back. The New York Observer reports that, while this methodology is still a few years away from common use Read more

We're thrilled to present this smart Business Insider story here on Savvy! Trying to improve your credit can seem impossible when lenders are fearful and you're strapped for excess cash. But don't give up hope. "Focus on where you are right now and do what you can with what you have," said Justine Rivero, a credit advisor with Creditkarma.com. RELATED: 15 Things You Should Never Waste Your Read more

Is there any point to checking the credit of potential employees? According to research by Louisiana State University and two other universities, there is no link between bad credit scores and bad job behavior. Currently, when employers do credit checks, they can only access your credit reports and not your actual credit scores. However, this information can help them figure out what kind of Read more

In the Ask Savvy community group, reader Mrs-B wonders if she should wait for her poor credit score to improve before buying a home. I reached out to credit expert Bethy Hardeman from CreditKarma.com, a free credit management service that provides free credit scores, financial education, and personalized savings recommendations. The firm helps more than three million consumers realize the Read more

Wondering how to raise your credit score? OnSugar blog Beauty and the Budget gives us some tips. Read on to find out what she has to say about credit scores. One last thing on credit history — what's good for it and what's bad for it? Let's break it down in the final post on credit history! (Hopefully you aren't bored out of your mind by now — beauty and fashion posts will be up Read more

Sometimes money and career questions can feel so sensitive and personal that it makes sense to stay anonymous when asking them. This is why the Savvy Confessions community group is the perfect place to vent because all postings are kept anonymous. In the latest Savvy Confessions, a reader asks for help on improving her credit score and wonders if she should take out a loan just to raise her Read more

How important is your credit history? Read on to find out what OnSugar blog Beauty and the Budget has to say about this vital topic. In a nutshell, most of us don't really know a lot about credit cards. Those financial articles on money, credit scores, and FICO are too long and complicated. Don't you ever just want a simple explanation? Well, beauties, here you have it! For the next few days Read more