Here at Springboard, a former client was excited to tell us that her credit score was 723. That’s a respectable score, and much higher than she expected given her credit history. Another consumer who had recently been the victim of identity theft checked her credit and was ecstatic to learn that her score was right at 800, which is as high a score as anyone needs.
Unfortunately, they had both been misled. Their scores weren’t nearly as good as they thought.
We’ve been helping people be more financially responsible for nearly 50 years. We’ve boiled some of our most common advice down to 10 rules of financial management: Rule 1: Plan…
There are a lot of reasons people find themselves in financial distress: loss of income, divorce, taxes, etc.
It’s difficult to get exact answers to this important question. Every expert, credit bureau, and loan officer has a different opinion as to where the threshold between good and poor credit lies.
In addition, “good” can be a relative term. Do we mean “good” as in excellent, or “good” as in “good enough”?
Disputing a credit report can be a confusing process. Consumer credit reports can vary in the way they look and the order information is listed depending on which of the…
For an individual, a debt ratio describes the percentage of your income that goes to debt payments. You’ll often see this described as a Debt-to-Income Ratio.
Your ratio is usually calculated based on your gross income. So if your salary is $3,000 per month, and your total debt payments every month are $300, your debt ratio is 10%. (3000 divided by 300 is 10).
For most people, reliable transportation is about as important as food and shelter. Unless public transportation is really convenient from your home and work, or these two places are really close together, it would be difficult to live without a vehicle of your own.
We’ve seen countless different household budgeting strategies over the decades we’ve spent educating consumers about managing their personal finances and conquering their debt. Here is our best recommendations for managing…
When we educate consumers about achieving financial freedom, goals come up early and often. Setting goals is an essential early step for anyone who wants to achieve success, whether that involves financial, personal, career, spiritual or any other area of individual achievement.
One cannot put a price tag on the love and companionship a family pet offers, but pet ownership does carry a financial cost that can make it harder to balance a household budget.
Making regular monthly payments on your debts is the best way to improve your credit score, and late payments are the most significant cause of bad credit. That’s why we stress making your payments on time every month as the most important thing you can do to build a positive credit history as you work your way to financial freedom.
The best tool for teaching your kids about money is an allowance. If you want your children to grow up with good financial sense, you need to start early with…
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