Building Good Credit
Helpful information about credit
Some advantages to using credit are the more you build your credit the lower interest rates you will be able to get and you will be able to receive loans for larger purchases you don't have the money to pay for. Some disadvantages is you will have to be pay interest on the amount of money you are borrowing, if something happens to you and you aren't able to make your payments it can cause you to have a bad credit rating, and you are required to make minimum monthly payments.
APR stands for annual percentage rate and it is important because it lets you know how much you are going to pay for money you borrow. This charge means you will pay more than the actual amount of money you originally borrowed.
Example of what it will cost -
Total purchase amount - $1000
Credit Card APR - 18.00%
Monthly payment - $50
Number of payments - 24
Final months payment - $47.81
Total finance charge - $197.81
Total cost - $1197.81
You can use apps and websites to manage money and budgeting. Some different apps and websites you can use to manage money are:
Mint.com - manages earnings, spending, savings and budgeting
GoodBudget - budget based
Mvelopes - budgeting
BillGuard - track spending and protects from fraud
Pocket expense - focuses on tracking spending
You should do this every year. you can also request by phone or mail. It is important to do this so you can detect errors or detect fraud.
If errors are found you should go to www.ftc.com
Credit counseling agencies can help you manage your payments, lower your interest rates, consolidate your payment into 1 lower payment and help with budgeting.
Apprisen - 800-355-2227