We want to help you get control of your debt. Get advice from our experts on strategies for paying down your debt without hurting your credit score, negotiating with lenders, and managing interactions with debt collectors. We also explain bankruptcy options, your rights as a borrower and what you can and cannot do with student loan debt. Also, get inspiration from other readers who have managed to go debt-free.
Advertiser Disclosure If you think you’re immune to damage from a collection account on your credit report because you pay your bills on time, think again. Medical bills that you don’t know about could be hurting your credit—and the odds are not in your favor. In fact, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reports that around... Read More
Advertiser Disclosure If you’ve fallen behind on your bills and are dealing with debt, don’t be surprised if you start hearing from debt collectors. Those collectors have a job—to get as much money out of you as they can. So, they’re probably not going share things that might make it easier for you to fight... Read More
Advertiser Disclosure According to a 2016 Pew Research study, most borrowers who incur payday loan debt end up paying a lot in fees. In fact, most pay more in fees than they borrowed. Pew Research also notes that more than half of payday loan borrowers already struggle to meet monthly obligations. When you have an... Read More
Dealing with an outstanding collection can be nerve wracking, especially when you're trying to do the right thing and make every effort to pay your debt.
Advertiser Disclosure A judgment is an order issued by a court of law. When you borrow money, you are legally required to repay the debt. This includes opening a credit card account, getting a line of credit from your bank and obtaining financing for a big purchase. You can also become indebted to service providers.... Read More
Advertiser Disclosure If you’ve fallen behind on one or more bills, debt collectors may come calling. Getting a notice from a collections agency can be stressful, and the calls that usually come with this process can create ongoing friction for you throughout your life. But reacting out of desperation without a calm plan to approach... Read More
Advertiser Disclosure TL;DR: Debt consolidation and bankruptcy are two options for debt relief available to you. Bankruptcy involves discharging or restructuring all your debts—but it stays on your credit report for seven to ten years. It’s generally considered a last resort when no other debt relief options are available. Debt consolidation means consolidating multiple older... Read More
Advertiser Disclosure There’s no single way to get out of debt that’s best for everyone. Each individual case is as unique as you are. It’s important to consider your situation when deciding which debt relief plan is the best option for you. To help you weigh those options, we have provided an overview of some... Read More
Advertiser Disclosure The holiday debt hangover can be very real for those who get carried away on during the festivities of the season. But whether you tend to over-spend when you’re holiday shopping for the people you love or splurge on seasonal trappings and comfort foods, coming into the new year with holiday debt doesn’t have to cripple... Read More
Advertiser Disclosure Getting a call from a collection agency looking to recoup an old debt you owe is more common than you think. A lot of people have to field debt collection calls during holiday dinners or family gatherings. Are you one of them? Here are some frequently asked questions about debt collection calls during the holidays and what you... 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
David Lord
Natalie Issa
McCall Robison
