Personal Finance 101

Presented by the Center for the Enhancement of

Teaching & Learning

Financial Calculators for Specific Needs

Mortgage-http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/mortgage-calculator.aspx

Auto-http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/auto/auto-loan-calculator.aspx

Buy or Rent-http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/rent-or-buy-home.aspx

Retirement-http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/index-of-retirement-calculators.aspx

College- http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/saving-for-college.aspx

Credit Cards-http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/credit-cards/debt-calculator.aspx

Student Loans-http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/credit-cards/student-loan-debt-calculator.aspx

Helpful Financial Websites Bankrate.com (rates, calculators,

advice) Wallaby (credit card reward

maximizer) FutureAdvisor (financial advice for the little

guy) Earmark (program that vacation saves for you) Larky(searches hundreds for discount programs for

you) Simplee (records, makes sense of your medical bills) Level (free monthly budgeter service) Quicken Loans (highest rated online mortgage

service) Mint.com (interactive financial planner for every item)

Checking Credit ReportsIf you find an error, contact the ‘big’ three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies for assistance:

Equifax- www.equifax.com/CreditReportAssistance

Experian- www.experian.com/dispute TansUnion- www.transunion.com/dispute

How to Improve your Credit Score

General Information- http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/improveyourscore.aspx

General tips that work for people-https://www.creditkarma.com/question/how-can-i-raise-my-crdit-score-100-points-in-6-months

Specific Steps to Take-http://money.msn.com/credit-rating/9-fast-fixes-for-your-credit-

scores-liz-weston?wvsessionid=60e0f518e1e04530bf2000841f758089

Credit Reports You are entitled to request one free credit report every year.

http://www.annualcreditreport.com 1-877-322-8228 Request by mail:

Annual Credit Report Request Service P.O. Box 105281 Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

(The request form can be downloaded from the Annual Credit Report website)

myFICO.com- the credit score authority How to check your three big credit bureau

scores(Experian, Equifax, Transunion- all three matter) How to fix errors How to receive credit score change alerts How to boost your scores How to understand your scores