Don’t Let Holiday Shopping Sink Your Credit Score
When you’re holiday shopping, your credit score is probably the last thing on your mind. But seemingly unimportant decisions about which cards to use and whether to apply for new…
Bev O'Shea
Bev O’Shea is a credit expert at NerdWallet. She has written about consumer credit and credit scores for six years, and has worked in the personal finance field for 12. She has been a speaker at FinCon, a national personal finance conference. Her work has appeared in MarketWatch, USA Today and MSN Money, and on the Associated Press wire. Her credit score was briefly a perfect 850, and she won’t co-sign, even for her children. Email: [email protected] Twitter: BeverlyOShea
Posts by Bev O'Shea:
Identity Theft: Don’t Get Hustled in the Holiday Bustle
You may be too busy scouting for sales and checking things off your to-do list to notice, but identity thieves go looking for targets this time of year. And the…
Is My Credit Frozen? What to Do If You’re Not Sure
For years, applying for credit has been a cinch, with approvals happening almost instantly. But now, if you’ve heeded expert advice and frozen your credit, there’s a new step: unfreeze…
How to Navigate the Yahoo Data Breach Settlement
If you had a Yahoo account anytime between 2012 and 2016, you may be entitled to part of a $117.5 million proposed settlement after a series of data breaches and…
Has Your Newborn’s Identity Already Been Stolen?
Imagine discovering that your newborn’s brand new Social Security number has already been used to construct what Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, calls a…
How I Ditched Debt: Little Splurges on the Path to Freedom
In this series, NerdWallet interviews people who have triumphed over debt. Responses have been edited for length and clarity. When Brian and Lindsey Baldwin moved from Hawaii to Milwaukee in…
How to Build Credit
Building credit can be tricky. If you don’t have a credit history, it’s hard to get a loan, a credit card or even an apartment. But how are you supposed…
8 Things That Won’t Hurt (Whew!) Your Credit
Pay a credit card a month late, and you can count on it hurting your credit score. But there are some murkier areas you may wonder about: What happens if…
7 Ways to Build Credit Fast
If your credit score is lower than you’d like, there are ways to bring it up. Depending on what’s holding it down, you may be able to tack on as…
Equifax Data Breach Settlement: A Step-by-Step Guide
The 2017 Equifax data breach exposed the personal data of more than 147 million consumers. If you’re one of them, you can claim compensation offered in a legal settlement. Equifax has agreed…
