Elisa has been with Credit.com since 2014, when she started out as a paralegal. Since then, she’s developed a passion for understanding credit and personal finance. She helps the Credit.com team deliver content for blog.credit.com.
UPDATE: Some offers mentioned below have expired and/or are no longer available on our site. You can view the current offers from our partners in our credit card marketplace. DISCLOSURE: Cards from our partners are mentioned here. The Apple credit card launches this summer, and it pairs the high-tech, app-based culture of the brand with... Read More
Any savvy consumer knows that credit cards play an important role in today’s financial world. They offer convenience and a powerful tool to use in many situations. But just like any great product, credit cards can be misused. The smart credit cardholder understands how to get the best terms and when it is best to use a credit card.... Read More
No one wants to deal with financial troubles. Unfortunately, even when you’re going out of your way to avoid them, you may find yourself with overdue payments, overdrafts and a plummeting credit score. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Your situation might feel hopeless at times, but you have several different options when financial problemshaunt you.... Read More
Ridesharing apps such as Uber and Lyft have disrupted the transportation industry. Millions of Americans have the Uber app on their smartphones. And Uber completes 15 million rides every day in the United States. However, if you rely on the service often, you can end up spending a ton of money each year. Depending on... Read More
Credit is one of those things you don’t want to be without. But, as we all know, the credit game is definitely a Catch-22. You need a good credit history to snag the best deals on loans, yet it’s very difficult to get credit without a borrowing history. 1. Become an Authorized User If a friend... Read More
A soft credit check is when someone looks at your credit, either for informational or promotional purposes. Your credit score has a great deal of impact on your life. That’s why it’s a good idea to stay on top of your credit. This means you should take full advantage of the fact that the three major credit bureaus-Experian, TransUnion... Read More
If you’ve been paying close attention to digital currency, then you’ve probably heard about how high the value of Bitcoin was. In 2018, the value of a single Bitcoin reached almost $20,000. That value has since gone down, but it still hovers around the $3,000 mark making Bitcoin one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies in... Read More
Relationships and finances seem to intermingle no matter how hard you may try to separate the two. The truth is that not very many of us like to talk about finances, especially during the early stages of our relationships. You shouldn’t avoid talking about finances though. Your relationship can help build or ruin your credit... Read More
[DISCLOSURE: Cards from our partners are mentioned below.] The holidays are coming. This may mean lots of shopping. You might be considering how you can spend money and earn rewards for shopping. Well, you’re in luck! There are some great credit cards out there that offer cash back rewards – which means that spending for... Read More
[DISCLOSURE: Cards from our partners are mentioned below.] During the holidays, most people love shopping. And lots of retailers offer great deals. These deals might seem irresistible and it’s easy to just charge things to your credit card. You may feel euphoric at the time of your purchase because the deal was just so good.... Read More
Credit.com receives compensation for the financial products and services advertised on this site if our users apply for and sign up for any of them.
Hello, Reader!
Thanks for checking out Credit.com. We hope you find the site and the journalism we produce useful. We wanted to take some time to tell you a bit about ourselves.
Our People
The Credit.com editorial team is staffed by a team of editors and reporters, each with many years of financial reporting experience. We’ve worked for places like the New York Times, American Banker, Frontline, TheStreet.com, Business Insider, ABC News, NBC News, CNBC and many others. We also employ a few freelancers and more than 50 contributors (these are typically subject matter experts from the worlds of finance, academia, politics, business and elsewhere).
Our Reporting
We take great pains to ensure that the articles, video and graphics you see on Credit.com are thoroughly reported and fact-checked. Each story is read by two separate editors, and we adhere to the highest editorial standards. We’re not perfect, however, and if you see something that you think is wrong, please email us at editorial team [at] credit [dot] com,
The Credit.com editorial team is committed to providing our readers and viewers with sound, well-reported and understandable information designed to inform and empower. We won’t tell you what to do. We will, however, do our best to explain the consequences of various actions, thereby arming you with the information you need to make decisions that are in your best interests. We also write about things relating to money and finance we think are interesting and want to share.
In addition to appearing on Credit.com, our articles are syndicated to dozens of other news sites. We have more than 100 partners, including MSN, ABC News, CBS News, Yahoo, Marketwatch, Scripps, Money Magazine and many others. This network operates similarly to the Associated Press or Reuters, except we focus almost exclusively on issues relating to personal finance. These are not advertorial or paid placements, rather we provide these articles to our partners in most cases for free. These relationships create more awareness of Credit.com in general and they result in more traffic to us as well.
Our Business Model
Credit.com’s journalism is largely supported by an e-commerce business model. Rather than rely on revenue from display ad impressions, Credit.com maintains a financial marketplace separate from its editorial pages. When someone navigates to those pages, and applies for a credit card, for example, Credit.com will get paid what is essentially a finder’s fee if that person ends up getting the card. That doesn’t mean, however, that our editorial decisions are informed by the products available in our marketplace. The editorial team chooses what to write about and how to write about it independently of the decisions and priorities of the business side of the company. In fact, we maintain a strict and important firewall between the editorial and business departments. Our mission as journalists is to serve the reader, not the advertiser. In that sense, we are no different from any other news organization that is supported by ad revenue.
Visitors to Credit.com are also able to register for a free Credit.com account, which gives them access to a tool called The Credit Report Card. This tool provides users with two free credit scores and a breakdown of the information in their Experian credit report, updated twice monthly. Again, this tool is entirely free, and we mention that frequently in our articles, because we think that it’s a good thing for users to have access to data like this. Separate from its educational value, there is also a business angle to the Credit Report Card. Registered users can be matched with products and services for which they are most likely to qualify. In other words, if you register and you find that your credit is less than stellar, Credit.com won’t recommend a high-end platinum credit card that requires an excellent credit score You’d likely get rejected, and that’s no good for you or Credit.com. You’d be no closer to getting a product you need, there’d be a wasted inquiry on your credit report, and Credit.com wouldn’t get paid. These are essentially what are commonly referred to as "targeted ads" in the world of the Internet. Despite all of this, however, even if you never apply for any product, the Credit Report Card will remain free, and none of this will impact how the editorial team reports on credit and credit scores.
Your Stories
Lastly, much of what we do is informed by our own experiences as well as the experiences of our readers. We want to tell your stories if you’re interested in sharing them. Please email us at story ideas [at] credit [dot] com with ideas or visit us on Facebook or Twitter.
Thanks for stopping by.
- The Credit.com Editorial Team
Kaitlyn Mahoney
Tiffany Smolka
Natalie Issa
McCall Robison
David Lord
