Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays

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Dec 23, 2024

Amanda Barroso, a NerdWallet credit writer with expertise in policy analysis and journalism, joins the hosts to discuss smart holiday spending and credit recovery. They tackle the dangers of impulsive shopping and advocate for intentional giving. Barroso offers strategies to improve your credit score, including writing goodwill letters and disputing errors. The conversation also highlights how renters can report on-time payments to enhance their credit and the importance of maintaining payment consistency. Packed with practical tips for holiday budgeting!

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ADVICE

Secondhand Shopping

Shop secondhand or antique for unique, high-quality items.
This saves money and is more sustainable than buying new.

ADVICE

Experiences over Things

Give experiences as gifts instead of material items.
Consider a movie outing, museum membership, or shared activity.

ADVICE

Three-Year Test

Before buying, ask yourself where the item will be in three years.
This helps avoid buying things that will end up in a landfill.

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Learn how to avoid holiday shopping pitfalls and quickly improve your credit, with ideas for restoring your credit.

How can you avoid overspending during the holidays? How can you can help your credit score recover after missed payments? Can rental payments be reflected on your credit reports? Hosts Sean Pyles and Sara Rathner discuss optimizing your financial habits during the holiday season and overcoming credit mishaps that could show up on your credit report. They begin with a discussion of impulsive holiday shopping, providing tips for intentional spending, minimizing waste, and prioritizing experiential gifts over material items. Then, NerdWallet credit writer Amanda Barroso joins Sean and Sara to discuss actionable strategies to help your credit score recover, including writing goodwill letters, disputing errors with credit bureaus, and improving payment consistency. They also explain how renters can report on-time payments to credit bureaus with free and low-cost services, tools like Experian Boost, and the importance of credit freezes for families.

Missed a payment? Try writing a goodwill letter to remove it from your credit report. Here’s NerdWallet’s article on how to do it, along with a sample goodwill letter: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/goodwill-letter

How to dispute credit report errors: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/dispute-credit-report

Real ways to improve your credit fast: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/raise-credit-score-fast

NerdWallet’s guide to rent-reporting services: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/rent-reporting-services

Here is a downloadable letter you can print and complete to send to TransUnion to request that they freeze your child’s credit: https://www.nerdwallet.com/assets/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/TransUnion_credit-freeze_fill.pdf

In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: how to improve credit scores, rent payment credit reporting, credit utilization, goodwill letter for credit report, holiday shopping tips, sustainable holiday spending, credit freeze for children, building credit with rent, free rent reporting services, how to dispute credit report errors, intentional spending habits, credit reporting tools, credit repair strategies, holiday budget tips, protecting your credit, identity theft prevention, actionable credit repair tips, credit myths busted, low-cost credit building tools, affordable rent reporting options, and the child credit freeze process.

To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email podcast@nerdwallet.com.

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