Financial insights
Guides and useful information to help you make informed financial decisions.
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Authorized user or joint card: what changes for you
Who owes the balance, whose report shows the account, and how either of you gets out. The seven questions to settle before two people share one card.
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The Fed Meets September 16: What Moves on Your Card, Car Loan and Savings
One decision reprices your savings in weeks and your card in a statement cycle, and leaves every fixed loan you signed alone. The numbers, and the switch worth fifty times more.
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That $300 Checking Bonus: The Four Clauses, the Report and the Tax Form
The offer is real. So is the holding period, the exclusion window, the file the bank pulls before it opens anything, and the 1099 that arrives in January.
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Your First Credit Card at 18: The Sequence That Beats Waiting Until 21
Federal law closes one door until 21 and leaves two open. The order to use them in, what a $300 limit reports, and the statement-date habit that decides your first score.
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How Your Credit Score Actually Works: The Five Factors That Move Your Number
Payment history, utilization, age, mix, new credit. What each factor weighs, which levers move it, and a 30-day starting plan.
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[Update] Marcus Raised Its 3 to 6 Year CDs to 4.35% APY, Up From 4.00%
Marcus moved its long certificates on September 3. What the 0.35 point step is worth on $10,000, and how it sits against the FDIC national average.
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Hard Pull vs Soft Pull: What Costs You Points and What Costs You Nothing
A hard inquiry follows an application and fades in a year. A soft one only you can see. The rate shopping window, the five point rule, and the inquiry that means fraud.
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Credit Utilization: The 30 Percent of Your Score You Can Move This Month
You pay in full and the score sits still. The reason is the balance your issuer reported on the statement closing date, not the one you paid three weeks later.
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How Exposed Is Your Identity? A 2-Minute Score (and What the Number Means)
Ten questions, no account, a score from 0 to 100 and a dollar figure for what your data would sell for. The numbers behind the quiz and the three free fixes that move it.
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APR vs APY: One Is the Price You Pay, One Is the Money You Keep
One is quoted before compounding and charged by the day, the other already did the math. The daily rate on a card, the grace period that cancels it, and why prime moves both.
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