Credit & Debt
Credit scores, credit reports, debt payoff strategies, student loans, credit card debt, collections, and rebuilding credit. Practical advice for managing and reducing what you owe.
Latest in Credit & Debt
A Trans Union settlement pays some consumers about $100 automatically by October 30
A $8.31 million settlement is resolving claims that TransUnion sold credit reports carrying inaccurate bankruptcy remarks, and part of it has already started paying out:...
Disputing a medical bill before it goes to collections can keep it off a credit report entirely
A medical bill does not have to reach a collection agency to threaten a credit score, but it also does not have to end up...
The three credit bureaus still keep medical collections under $500 off reports, a voluntary change no court undid
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas erased the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule banning medical debt from credit reports on July 11,...
Medical debt is back on credit reports after a court voided the federal ban, though 15 states still restrict it
Medical collections are showing up on credit reports again across most of the country, more than a year after a federal judge in Texas erased...
Pulling a free credit report from all three bureaus each year catches errors that quietly raise borrowing costs
Federal law gives every consumer the right to one free credit report a year from each of the three nationwide bureaus — Equifax, Experian and...
Paying only the minimum on a card near 21% interest can nearly double what a purchase costs
With the average credit-card rate now sitting close to 21%, the small “minimum payment” line at the bottom of a statement has quietly become one...
An old debt can pass its statute of limitations, but one payment can restart the clock
An old debt does not disappear because it is old, but its legal teeth can. Every state sets a statute of limitations — a window...
The Fair Credit Reporting Act lets you dispute credit-report errors for free and force a fix
A wrong entry on a credit report is not just an annoyance; it can raise the interest on a mortgage, sink a rental application, or...
Old debt can pass a statute of limitations, after which a collector can no longer sue you for it
Every unpaid debt carries a hidden expiration date on the lender’s ability to take you to court. Once a debt’s statute of limitations runs out,...
You can demand written proof of a debt within 30 days, and a collector must pause until it delivers
A debt collector’s call can feel like a final verdict, but federal law treats it as an opening claim that still has to be proven....
Closing an old credit card can shorten your history and drop your score
Closing a credit card that has gone unused feels like tidying up, but it can quietly cost points on a credit score at the worst...
You can pull a free credit report from each bureau every week
Every American is entitled to a free credit report from each of the three nationwide bureaus once a week, a right that turned from a...
Buy-now-pay-later loans now appear on credit reports and can move a retiree’s score
Buy-now-pay-later loans, long invisible to the credit system, have started appearing on credit reports — a shift that can push a retiree’s score up or...
Buy-now-pay-later loans are starting to appear on credit reports, where they can move a retiree’s score
A form of borrowing that once stayed invisible to the credit system is beginning to surface on consumer credit reports. Buy-now-pay-later plans, the four-payment installments...
Buy-now-pay-later loans are starting to appear on credit reports, and they can move a retiree’s score
Buy-now-pay-later borrowing is moving from the checkout screen into the credit system. Some providers now furnish account data to national credit bureaus, and FICO has...
Student-loan balances in the old SAVE plan have grown since Aug. 1, 2025, as the interest pause ended
Borrowers left in the blocked SAVE repayment plan have faced a quiet but expensive reality for more than a year: interest resumed on Aug. 1,...
A 529 plan can pay $10,000 of one beneficiary’s student loans tax-free
A 529 balance left after college can retire part of the beneficiary’s education debt without turning the withdrawal into taxable income. Federal rules treat as...
Student-loan interest can cut taxable income by up to $2,500 without itemizing
Interest on education debt has an unusual place in the tax code: a qualifying borrower may subtract as much as $2,500 before taxable income is...
Medical debt can no longer appear on credit reports in a growing number of states
A hospital bill that once could drag down a credit score is now barred from consumer credit reports in a growing number of states, a...
Paid medical debts and those under $500 stay off your credit report, even after a federal rule was struck down.
Consumers who have already paid off medical bills or owe less than $500 on medical collections can still expect those items to stay off their...