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The best way to improve your credit score is simple, but not always that easy: Reduce your debt.

Paying off your credit cards, or at least paying them down substantially, will not only increase your credit score, but having less debt will probably be more satisfying than a great credit score. And not using your credit cards anymore and paying off the balances is easier said than done.

But there are smaller, easier steps that can improve a credit score. Here are six:

Set payment reminders: Making credit payments on time is one of the best ways to improve your credit score. Set payment reminders on your phone or whatever calendar you use, and check if your bank offers online reminders through email or text messages.

Dont open new accounts: If you have a short credit history, then opening a lot of credit accounts too rapidly will lower your average account age and can drop your scores if you dont have a lot of other credit information.

Fix errors: Get a copy of your credit report and check it for errors. These can include accounts that are listed as open but closed, incorrect late payments and wrong personal information, such as your birthday. If you find any credit report errors, fix them online with the credit reporting agencies.

Dont move debt around: How much you owe accounts for 30 percent of a FICO credit score, one of the most common types of credit score. It can be tempting to pay off one credit card with another, but that type of shell game can hurt a credit score. Instead, pay down the debt and have fewer open accounts.

Dont max out: Stay away from hitting the top of your credit limit on your credit cards so that your credit utilization level is low. Credit utilization is the amount of your credit card balance relative to your credit limit. The higher it is, the worse it can affect your credit score.

This may be easier said than done, but keeping balances to 30 percent or less of your credit limits will improve a credit score just as much as paying your credit bills on time will.

Pay your bills twice a month: This is easier than you think and can be done with the same amount of money you were going to pay for the full month anyway.

If youre paying down a credit card with $500 per month, for example, pay half of it just before the statement closing date and the second payment just before the due date. The first will reduce the balance that credit bureaus see and the second will ensure you wont pay a late fee.

I hope you found this information helpful. Please contact me for all your real estate information needs today!

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Compromise is an important part of marriage. From deciding how much to spend on a new living room set to what to watch on TV tonight, compromise is constant.

It can also be a big part of retirement conversations. While agreeing on the financial and logistical issues around retirement is great if you can get there, chances are, there are some aspects of a life together without work that will be a compromise. Getting on the same page before retirement can make it a lot easier.

Here are some topics couples should talk about before retirement:

When to Retire
Do you both plan on retiring at the same time? Maybe one person wants to wait until age 70 to receive the most Social Security benefits, while the other wants to collect them when they’re first eligible at age 62.

What Are Your Retirement Goals?
Each person may have different dreams of what retirement should be. One may want to travel immediately, while the other wants to stay home.

Both can be done, of course. Discussing what you want to do in retirement is one of the best things about planning for it. Doing those things together”after figuring out what they are”can make your retirement dreams come true.

How to Pay for It
Social Security is an important part of funding retirement, but it shouldn’t be the only way. If your goals are bigger than your assets, you’ll have to make some adjustments. To determine how much money you’ll have in retirement, a couple should meet with their financial advisor.

Each spouse should have access to their savings, investments, pension, insurance and other accounts, and have a short monthly meeting on where they stand. Make sure each person is listed on the paperwork for each account, and that beneficiary information is complete.

What’s in Your Will?
This is the unpleasant part of planning for retirement, but it’s something worth doing. Set up a will together so that your family knows how your estate will be handled, and what they should do about taxes and other financial issues. Your financial advisor should be able to help, as should an attorney.

This is the final step of retirement, and of life, and it’s one you don’t want to avoid. With proper planning, it will be after a long and enjoyable retirement.

Where toFind Free Help With Taxes
Preparing your tax returns can be a chore. The good news is that filing your taxes is free”if you can figure out how to fill out the forms accurately. If not, you may want to buy some tax preparation software or hire a tax preparer to do the detailed work for you.

If you prefer not to spend money for tax prep help, or don’t have the money for it, there are some free alternatives. Here are a few ways to get free help preparing and filing your taxes:

Free E-File Forms From the IRS
The IRS offers free file forms that can be completed online. The program operates from January through mid-October, when accounts are erased from the server. Estimated tax payments can be paid online, and tax refunds can be paid through direct deposit to your bank.

For incomes above $64,000, free file forms are available. The forms offer only basic guidance, and you must know how to do your taxes yourself. You must have your tax return available, and state tax prep isn’t available.

Free File
For incomes below $64,000, another IRS program, called Free File, offers help. It works with a dozen tax software companies in the Free File Alliance to provide free tax filing assistance.

The program is geared toward low- and moderate-income taxpayers. Some may have restrictions on age and where you live, and the program will walk you through programs that meet your criteria. After selecting the software that works best for your tax situation, you’ll be transferred from IRS.gov to the company’s website to complete your returns.

AARP Aide
The AARP Foundation offers free help through its Tax-Aide program that’s run by volunteers.

The program has helped nearly 50 million low- to moderate-income taxpayers since 1968, and is available to anyone 50 and older who can’t afford a tax preparation service.

It’s offered at more than 5,000 locations in libraries, malls, banks, community centers and senior centers. AARP membership isn’t required.

Volunteer Income Tax Association
Known as VITA, this program from the IRS offers free tax help to people who generally make $54,000 or less, persons with disabilities, and limited English-speaking taxpayers. IRS-certified volunteers provide free basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing.

Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE)
The TCE program is another IRS program, offering free help for all taxpayers, but focusing on people 60 and older. Its volunteers specialize in questions and pensions and retirement issues that are unique to seniors. It’s offered at the same types of sites where the AARP program is, and many of the TCE sites are operated by the AARP Tax-Aide volunteers. Some sites also offer free help with web-based tax prep software to file basic federal and state tax returns.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Your first credit card can be the start to building your financial future. Just remember, how you use it can affect you for years down the road.

For example, build a good credit score and you could see lower interest rates on home and auto loans, and receive better credit card perks. Make too many mistakes with a first card, however, and you could have less financial flexibility. Landlords, lenders and utility companies could view a low credit score as a risky customer for them and deny you services, or at least charge you more for them.

Start by only using your new credit card for emergencies. Dont use it for everyday purchases. Set up an emergency fund with auto-transfer capabilities to pay for any unexpected costs”such as a broken car, hospital stay or other emergency”and then pay the credit card bill in full when they happen.

Once youve set up an emergency fund and have a household budget to follow, start to add some recurring charges to your credit card. These can be a cellphone bill, utility bill, Netflix or other monthly payment.

If you can handle those bills without a problem”meaning you can pay them in full and on time each month”then its time to start making everyday purchases on your credit card if they fit in your budget.

Paying your credit card bill in full each month (and on time), will mean you wont pay interest charges or late fees. Those two steps are the best things you can do to raise your credit score. If you cant pay your bill in full each month, at least make the minimum payment and dont charge anything more until youve paid off the balance.

Having a credit card balance is okay, as far as a credit scores go, as long as its less than 30 percent of your total credit card limit. A higher debt-to-credit ratio and creditors could see you as a risk because you may be spending more than you can afford.

From time to time you may get blank checks from your credit card company. Dont use them. Theyre cash advances on your credit and carry higher interest rates than regular charges do.

After getting your first credit card, youll likely get more credit card offers in the mail from other credit issuers. They may offer all types of rewards and better rates than your current card. Dont go for them until youve established a good credit report for at least a year. Having too many credit cards can only complicate your finances and make it easier to overspend.

Lastly, read your credit card statement carefully each month. Look for fraudulent charges and other errors, and report them to your credit card company immediately. And get in the habit of checking your credit report for free at least once a year from the three main credit reporting agencies to check for errors on your report.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Building good credit takes time, and it can be a few years before college students or graduates have a good enough credit score to get a credit card or loans at low interest rates.

A student credit card can help as a college students first credit card, though it does come with some conditions.

First, a student will have to do more than attend college. Theyll need some type of income, and without any credit history, a card may be difficult to be approved for.

One way to get around this is to get a secured credit card, which requires a cash deposit of anywhere from $300 to $5,000 as collateral. The deposit will be paid to the card issuer if you dont pay your bill. Secured cards may have high activation fees, as well as annual fees.

Some secured cards allow customers to move to unsecured cards, which simply means that you wont have to give the lender a deposit after 12 months of good credit behavior, such as paying bills on time.

Other credit cards aimed at students allow co-signers, or people you know who have an established credit history and will be responsible for the bill if the student doesnt pay it. Such a card may be needed if you dont have a steady income and are applying for your first credit card.

Most student credit cards dont have sign-up bonuses, rewards points and other perks, though some offer lesser rewards for newbies; however, that shouldnt be the point of getting your first credit card as a student.

The main point is to use your student credit card as a tool to learn how to responsibly use and manage small amounts of credit, pay bills on time, and spend within your means. Students are unlikely to buy big purchases with credit cards, but to pay off what they can afford each month without paying interest.

Starting good credit habits early in life can pay off years later when you want to get an auto loan, home mortgage or apply for additional credit cards.

If you dont use your credit card well, remember that any negative information can stay on a credit report for seven years in most cases. That can be a long time until youre able to qualify for a credit card at all, let alone one with a good interest rate.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Online security breaches where retailers are hacked and customers credit card information is stolen are becoming a regular part of the news cycle.

Cybercriminals can sell the data online to other criminals, who can then use the information to open bogus accounts in the names of legitimate customers, run up charges on the stolen credit cards and commit other acts of fraud.

The going rate for a U.S. credit card number and a software-generated card verification number is worth $5 to $8, according to a report by Intel Security called The Hidden Data Economy. If a bank ID number or date of birth is included, the black market price rises to $15.

Add in other details, such as a cardholders full name, address, mothers maiden name and Social Security number, among other things ” called Fullzinfo ” and it can sell for $30.

For information stolen from an ATM card, the report says that U.S. cards with PIN numbers sell for $110 each. Some thieves make duplicate cards that they say can be used at ATMs worldwide.

Hackers often sell such data in batches of hundreds of thousands, making them extremely valuable.

Chip-based credit cards, also called EMV cards, can also be hacked, according to a CNN story.

Data breaches affect nearly 18 million Americans, or 7 percent of the adult population, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. It found that 7 percent of adults in 2014 were victims of at least one incident of identity theft. The misuse of an existing account was the most common type of theft.

Consumers dont have to rely only on merchants to protect their credit cards from being hacked. Here are some preventative steps you can take on your own:

• Monitor your credit card by signing up for fraud alerts from your credit card company or a credit monitoring site.
• Check your credit report every four months for free by requesting one from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus.
• Change passwords and PINs often on financial accounts, using unique combinations.
• Keep your Social Security and other identifying information private and dont give it out to anyone who asks for it.
• Use encryption software on your computer.
• Shred documents with personal information.
• Along with reporting identity theft to your credit card company or bank, report it to police.

I hope you found this information helpful. Please contact me for all your real estate needs today!

Published with permission from RISMedia.