When you pay a credit card bill, you may notice a charge on your statement that is beyond the amount of money you actually spent. That’s a finance charge. It’s the cost of borrowing, expressed as a dollar amount. This article explains how to calculate …
Author: Lorraine Roberte
Many famous entrepreneurs have historically been men. That’s changed over the past few decades. Female entrepreneurs face unique challenges, but many have found success. Who are examples of female entrepreneurs? This article offers a closer look. Why F…
You can buy a car with a credit card, but whether a dealer will let you is a different question. Most dealerships restrict credit card payments to a portion of the purchase, and those that accept more will often add a surcharge. What Dealers Actu…
Multiple credit cards can be useful tools for building credit, earning rewards, separating expenses, or handling recurring bills. But once several due dates, balances, rewards programs, and annual fees start piling up, managing everything can quickly f…
For most cardholders, paying the credit card statement balance in full each month is the simplest way to avoid paying credit card interest and keep debt from growing over time. That said, paying in full every month is not always realistic. Large expens…
If you’ve ever looked at your mortgage due date and thought, “Okay…but how late is actually late?”—you’re not alone. The grace period for a mortgage payment is the window after your due date when you can still make your payment without getting hit with…
Debt rarely happens by accident. But it also rarely happens the way people assume. The story we hear is that people overspend. They buy things they can’t afford, and the bill catches up with them. That story may be real for many people, but for most pe…
A debt-to-credit ratio shows how much open card credit you’re using. It compares your card balances with your total card limits. It’s often called a credit utilization ratio, and it can matter when you’re trying to make sense of score changes or growin…
If becoming debt free feels like something that happens to other people, you’re not alone. The path from “drowning” to actually being out of debt feels impossibly long. Here’s the truth: it’s doable. But it takes a realist…
Tax filing mistakes are fairly common. Still, you don’t want to make a preventable mistake if you can help it. From delayed refunds and rejected returns to the potential for penalties, tax mistakes can come back to bite you. Learn why it’s important to…