Some time ago, the popular show Mythbusters wanted to find out if the Lone Ranger was right about silver bullets being better than lead ones. Turns out silver bullets are actually slower and less accurate. When it comes to cybersecurity, quick-fix silver bullets are also less effective than tried-and-true approaches. The most effective cybersecurity strategies... Read More
[Disclosure: Cards from our partners are reviewed below.] Even when online retailers strive to keep customer information safe, data breaches happen. Hackers and thieves are constantly working to gain access to your sensitive data, including credit card numbers. Data breaches are on the rise and could cost businesses $8 trillion over the next five years.... Read More
Buying a house is a serious commitment of not only your time and energy but also your money. For each person considering buying a home, there are different pros and cons. When you’re in the military, there is an extra degree of difficulty: you don’t always have a lot of time to make that choice.... Read More
Let’s get one thing out there: no one is especially psyched to get car insurance. You get it because it’s a financial safeguard against damage to your car or injury to you or others (and maybe because it also happens to be legally required in some form nearly everywhere in the US). Car insurance is... Read More
Generally, the amount a lender will allow you to borrow for a mortgage is the amount at which the monthly loan payments (including principal, interest, property taxes, and homeowners insurance) equal no more than 28% of your gross monthly income. If you have excellent credit, some lenders may allow room for leniency. Additionally, your total... Read More
[Disclosure: Cards from our partners are reviewed below.] Field trips are a great way to entertain or educate the entire family, both kids and adults alike. But parents know that food, entertainment, and transportation costs can quickly turn one afternoon trip into a money pit. Credit cards can help, offering rewards that can help parents... Read More
Whether you’re a novice at investing or have been day-trading your own stocks for years, you’ve probably heard about alternative investments. You might even be curious about whether or not they’re worth buying. If you want to be a savvy investor, you need to learn about alternative investments. Alternative investments are anything that doesn’t fall... Read More
Millennials aren’t the only ones racking up billions of dollars in student debt. Turns out, in three out of every four states, “the total outstanding student debt held by borrowers over age 60 increased by more than 50 percent [since 2012].” This data comes from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which also found that... Read More
Everyone knows a mosquito bite doesn’t really start itching until the damage has already been done, and the same goes for many kinds of identity-related crimes. With news of the recent Equifax breach continuing to surface, what do you need to know now to limit your exposure? Equifax has estimated the hack impacts 143 million... Read More
Attending college comes with a host of new responsibilities, and your parents have (hopefully) sent you off with the wisdom and encouragement you need to handle those responsibilities on your own. Your studies and your GPA are your top priorities, but you may have other obligations that are important too. Whether you are responsible for... Read More
Certain credit cards and other financial products mentioned in this and other sponsored content on Credit.com are Partners with Credit.com. Credit.com receives compensation if our users apply for and ultimately sign up for any financial products or cards offered.
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
Gerri Detweiler
Cheryl Lock
Adam Levin
Myles Ma
Clark Randall
Jill Krasny
Brian Acton
Jeff Rose
Constance Brinkley-Badgett
Trae Bodge
Michael Schreiber
Karin Price Mueller
Brian Kuhn
Paige DiFiore
Scott Sheldon
Mia Taylor
Jeanne Kelly
Brooke Niemeyer
Nick Jarman
Kali Geldis
Jim Wang
Tracie Fobes
Christine DiGangi
Bob Sullivan
