Protecting your identity while on vacation

It is summer and many plan to travel either in the US or to foreign countries. You will take cash, credit or debit cards and, maybe, traveler’s checks with you while on vacation. How will you keep your money and IDs safe? The safety tips below provide a bit of information that can help with that…

Always be alert to your surroundings. Do an online research of the areas you plan to travel to.

Keep your IDs, smartphones, wallet and valuables close to you and secured.

Hotels offer safes in your room where you can store your valuables.

Don’t use public WiFi networks to access your bank or credit card accounts.

Don’t overpack.

In some cases, you could open a separate bank or credit card account for that specific trip.

Check your accounts after you get back home. Sometimes, thieves may use your information later.

So, check your credit reports, credit card and bank accounts for signs of identity theft and report it immediately if you notice any suspicious activities.

Positive Score Factors

Delinquencies on your accounts.
A delinquency is a payment that was made 30 or more days late. None or very few delinquencies on your account can cause your score to improve.

What You Can Do
Keep paying bills on time every month since it is important for maintaining a good credit score. If you remain behind with any payments, bring them current as soon as possible, and then make future payments on time. Over time, this will have a positive impact on your score. Continue reading Positive Score Factors

Can Credit Debt Affect Your GPA?

“Researchers have found that students who felt stressed financially had lower grades than those who did not.”

Credit card debt can add an extra financial stress on students. Normally, credit cards have a higher interest rate than other types of loans. A student with higher credit card debt may have to work extra hours in order to make the monthly payments, thus reducing the time for studying which may affect the performance in school. As credit cards are very useful at times, spending should be done responsibly, so it doesn’t accumulate debt that you cannot pay.

Getting Out of Debt: Step 2

Plan your strategy. As annoying as it seems to be analyzing all details of each credit card and loan you owe, you must do it and preferably write down the numbers.

  • Decide which debt you want to pay first: the high interest rate or the lowest balance
  • For those debts, decide how much above the required minimum you can afford to pay each month. This will determine how fast those debts will be paid off.
  • For other debts, setup automatic monthly payments

If you cannot afford to make the total monthly payments towards your debt, you may want to consider professional advise from a credit counseling company or a bankruptcy attorney