Tuesday's Tips

Good morning everyone! My tips today were inspired by a recent occurrence in my life that made me remember we always need to be aware.

1) Check your credit report every year. You can check all 3 credit reports for free once per year and it is a smart thing to do. Recently one of my credit cards had some strange charges, and the company called me about them. I told them I had not made those purchases and to cancel the card. They did so and in the end my credit score wasn't damaged, but it would have been if they hadn't contacted me. The reason being it was a credit card I rarely use, so I don't check the balance. It would have been easy for those charges to go through and for me not to know until it was way too late. So make sure you check for the unexpected.

2) Don't be afraid to ask your credit card company to lower your APR or raise your credit limit. I usually do this about every six months. I've never really come close to hitting my credit limit, but that doesn't stop me from asking for them to raise it. Even if I never rack up $15,000 on my card, it's not bad to have that limit. Banks will be more likely to lend for a mortgage because they see that my credit is good and the companies trust me with that limit. Also, most credit cards have pretty high APR rates. Call them up and ask them how much they can lower it. I was surprised once because my rate was lowered from 9.99% to 4.99% in one phone call. This is also smart because if you ever have to carry over a balance, and I don't suggest it at all, you will have a lower interest rate.

Well I've got more in store for next week, but until then I'm on a 168 hour break.

Stay tuned...