One of the most common questions we get asked is, “my health insurance was supposed to cover a procedure, but it didn’t. Now I’m in collections. Is this legal?” The short answer: yes, it is legal, though you may be able to fight back. The long answer, however, requires a bit of context about how... Read More
With the rising cost of healthcare and medical procedures, most Americans are painfully aware of how quickly medical bills can mount. Whether you’re in need of costly medical tests or procedures, or you’re looking into an elective procedure, the financial impact can be enough to deter you from taking care of your medical needs. The... Read More
Not long ago, some poor soul suggested (and probably instantly regretted) the reason millennials can’t afford to buy homes is because they spend too much money on avocado toast. While the digital outcry from millennials was instantly indignant, that indigence may have been justified. Home ownership is difficult to achieve if you belong to the... Read More
You can spot a Nigerian email scam without opening it. You know what you’re doing when it comes to keeping ID thieves from conning you. And if someone tried to get the kind of personal information needed to open credit in your name, well, it just wouldn’t happen. Except it would. Credit gets stolen using... Read More
If you’ve heard horror stories about wage garnishment, you may believe it only happens to “deadbeat parents” or those that owe thousands of dollars in back taxes. In reality, however, wage garnishment can occur for many reasons, so it’s important to understand exactly what it is, and which unpaid debts can leave you subject to... Read More
Benjamin Franklin once said nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Whether it’s income, sales, property or any other type, taxes are a part of our daily lives. And yet, how much do you actually know about the money you pay to Uncle Sam or why you even do it in... Read More
While the U.S. is one unified country, there are 50 different states within our union. And thanks to the tenth amendment, each state has the freedom to do many things according to the preferences of only its state legislature (voted on by that state’s citizens), as opposed to the nation at large. For this reason,... Read More
Raising kids takes a lot of time, patience, love, and of course, money. Life as a single parent is a great deal of work, and you play multiple roles in the rearing and nurturing of your children. Budgeting and financial planning is a challenge for numerous people regardless of their marital or income statuses. As... Read More
When we think about the $1.45 trillion student loan crisis, we normally imagine struggling, young, recent college graduates. We often don’t think about the collateral damage among families that overwhelming school debt can inflict, but that’s a fast-growing problem. Almost all private student loans require a co-signer, and increasingly, the parents and grandparents tied to... Read More
The real estate website Estately recently conducted a study showing how the continued gender wage gap in America affects home affordability and ownership for women. To answer this question Estately used 2016 U.S. Census data to compare men’s and women’s median salaries in the 50 most populated U.S. cities. Based on those salaries (and assuming... Read More
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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
Josh Smith
Clark Randall
Taylor White
Adam Levin
Jeff Rose
Jim Wang
Bob Sullivan
Gerri Detweiler
Trae Bodge
Scott Sheldon
Mia Taylor
Brian Acton
