The average Iowa driver spends about $315 a year in auto repairs and $630 annually for insurance, helping make it the cheapest state to operate a vehicle, according to a recent Bankrate report. Drivers in other states aren’t quite that lucky. Drivers in the Midwest have some of the lowest annual vehicle expenses, based on... Read More
With their low down payments and credit requirements, FHA mortgages experienced a surge in popularity as other lending dried up in the wake of the housing market crash. More recently, however, they’ve lost some of that luster as a series of fee increases have made them a less attractive option than they were a few... Read More
In the aftermath of the Heartbleed Bug‘s discovery, the security flaw continues to spark security concerns. The Heartbleed Bug was revealed in many of the world’s most popular sites in April, and Internet users were shocked at its scope. From retail sites to social networks, it seemed as though no Internet giant was immune to... Read More
Closing on a home is supposed to be the happy, celebratory, “I did it!” moment of the often-stressful process of buying a house. Unfortunately for a new homeowner in Portland, Ore., that’s when the problems really started. Rod Nylund bought a house in the city and hired a contractor to do some work at the... Read More
University campuses are bustling once again as students arrive for the fall semester, some moving into their first dorm room or signing up for their first college campuses. As parents send off their children and talk to them during their first days as college students, there are all sorts of things they want to say,... Read More
Mortgage borrowers younger than 30 years old have the lowest rate of delinquency on their home loans than any other age group, a new report from TransUnion shows, with only 2.34% of mortgages 60 or more days past due. Overall, the mortgage delinquency rate declined about 20% in the last year, from 4.32% in the... Read More
By now, you’ve probably heard of the guy who crowdfunded a $10 potato salad “campaign” and ended up raising more than $55,000 (if not, now you know — crazy, right?). That got us at Credit.com thinking: What other sorts of things can you crowdfund? The short answer: Pretty much anything (see: potato salad guy). Earlier... Read More
Nobody’s perfect. Even when you spend all day trying to learn everything you can about a subject, you still make mistakes. For instance, even some of the top credit card experts have made some embarrassing moves, yet we were all willing to share them so that you can learn from our experiences. Brian Kelly Brian... Read More
What does it cost to adopt a child? The answer a friend gave when she was asked was “a lot less than it’s worth.” But while the value of a child can’t be calculated, would-be adoptive parents need to have some idea of the amount of money they will need as they go through the adoption process.... Read More
How’s this for a nightmare scenario: A Minnesota man was busted and sentenced to prison for stealing identities while working as a legitimate debt collector. Khemall Jokhoo, 36, is the kind of guy who gives debt collectors a bad name: He was sentenced Aug. 20 to 14 1/2 years in federal prison on 33 counts... 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
Scott Sheldon
Mia Taylor
Bob Sullivan
Jim Wang
Adam Levin
Trae Bodge
Brian Acton
Taylor White
Jeff Rose
Josh Smith
Clark Randall
Gerri Detweiler
