Welcome to the spooky season! As Halloween approaches and all my neighbors add Jack-o'-lanterns and skeletons, I too want to chat about something SPOOKY…Financial Misinformation!

If you are new here, welcome! If you are a member of the community, ask someone that wants to work on their finances to join this newsletter💸. Anybody that signs up for the newsletter gets a free copy of my toolkit!

Before jumping into the newsletter, I have a favor to ask you. Finances with Carolina LLC needs one more gig to surpass last year’s revenue! Please, please, please recommend my services to your graduate/fellowship program or your DEI committee. Your recommendation means a lot, if you need some data outside your own experience, visit my reviews page and the 2023 finances with Carolina summary. 

FALSE! This was probably a rumor started by big banks to make you pay interest on a balance. In fact, carrying a balance is an expensive mistake as the average interest rate on a credit card today is 25%. That means that for a $100 balance the interest is $25, next month the balance will be $125, to which you would be charged $31 for a total of $156 and so on until one owes WAY more than the initial balance. 

FALSE! In fact, many credit card companies have features to check your credit. Since the pandemic you can check your credit history with all three major credit scorers weekly using the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) partner: Annual Credit Report

FALSE! You can start working on improving your credit right now for free! One big component of credit score is the level of debt so if you can afford to start paying off your debt, that would also improve your credit score.

Step #1: Knowing your credit score history

If you are not sure how to do so, go back to myth #2. Remember, knowledge is power

Step #2: Monitor and remove any errors in the reports you just downloaded. 

According to a study conducted by the Federal Trade Commission, one in five people have an error on at least one of their credit reports!

Disclaimer! The following step is only applicable if you already have a credit card and you are using it responsibly.  My philosophy of responsible use is paying the credit card balance on time and in full at the end of the statement.

Step #3: Increase your credit limit. 

You can call or use their messaging app to request a credit limit increase, you can use this script to do so! The level of credit limit you have is the denominator of your credit utilization equation. If the denominator is bigger, your credit utilization goes down, which in turn increases your credit score.