First-Time Home Buyer Tips

Buying your first home is an exhilarating and often overwhelming experience. In this post, we'll take you through some key tips for first-time home buyers so you get the home you want for the best price.

What Is a Grace Period on a Credit Card?

Taking advantage of your credit card grace period can help you save a lot on interest. In this post, we'll explain what a grace period is, how it works, and when it applies.

Why Only Paying the Minimum Hurts Your Credit

Lots of people find themselves only paying the minimum payment on their credit card, thinking it's enough to keep up a good credit score. However, doing so will end up setting you up for trouble later on. This post will examine why that is, and steps you can do to achieve strong credit card habits.

How Much Does Refinancing a Mortgage Cost?

Mortgage refinances aren't free. In this post, we'll examine how much they cost, as well as additional considerations that factor into the total cost of refinancing a mortgage.

What Is a Thin Credit File?

Having a thin credit file is a tricky situation to be in, as it makes getting approved for loans, credit cards, and other types of credit quite difficulty. In this post, we'll examine what a thin credit file is, and steps you can take to build up your credit file.

What's The Difference Between a Mortgage Pre-Qualification vs. Pre-Approval?

Mortgage pre-qualification and mortgage pre-approval are both tools that can give you an idea of how much house you can afford, but they aren’t the same. Here’s a closer look at mortgage pre-qualification vs. pre-approval and how each one can help you on your homebuying journey.

How Old Do You Have to Be to Buy a House?

In the US, you have to be at least 18 years old to buy a house. However, there are additional requirements for first time buyers that relate to your age, so continue reading to learn more.

How Long Does It Take to Buy a House?

The duration it takes to buy a home ultimately depends on your situation. However, there are some general timeframes to keep in mind, and we'll walk you through those in this post.

How to Make an Offer on a House

So you've done all of the prep work, and found a house you love. Now how do you make an offer on that house? This post will walk you through all of the considerations as well as the process for making an offer on a house.

What You Need in Order to Buy a House

Buying a home is a dream for many. In this post, we'll walk you through everything you should do before you buy a home.

Does Pre-Approval Affect Credit Score?

If you're wondering if pre-approval for a mortgage affects your credit score, the answer is usually yes. This said, there are actions you can take to reduce credit score impact, and we'll go through those in this post.

What’s a Conventional Mortgage?

Conventional mortgages are one of the core home loan options you have when buying a home. In this post, we'll guide you through what it is, and how it differs from other government-backed home loans.

How to Get a Home Loan With Poor Credit

Looking to buy a home, but your credit score isn't great? In this post, we'll walk you through your options to buy a home and what you can do to improve your odds to get approved for a home loan.

How to Get a Mortgage Pre-Qualification

For many homebuying hopefuls, getting pre-qualified is the first step on the road to homeownership. In this post, we'll show you how to get a mortgage pre-qualification.

Does Pre-Qualification Affect Credit Score?

Getting pre-qualified for a mortgage is a necessary step forward in the process of buying a home. But does it affect your credit score? Usually no, and in this post, we'll walk you through why that is, and how you can take advantage of this free, no-impact process.

How to Get a Mortgage Pre-Approval

Ready to start shopping for a home? Here, we'll walk you through everything you need to know to get mortgage pre-approvals.

How Long After Appraisal to Close?

In this post, we'll dive into exactly how long after a home appraisal you can expect to close.

Does Checking Your Credit Score Lower It?

When lenders do a hard inquiry, that can impact your credit score. But does checking your credit score on your own cause your credit score to lower? In this post, we'll take a look at the circumstances where checking your score does and does not lower it.

How to Get an 850 Credit Score

In the U.S. credit system, 850 is the highest attainable score possible. In this post, we'll explain exactly what it takes to get to an 850 credit score.

How Can I Buy a House for the First Time?

Looking to buy your first home? In this post, we'll take you through everything you should expect during this exciting and often overwhelming process.

How to Buy a House in Another State

What Is FACTA (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act)?

In this post, we'll dive into what the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) is, and why it's relevant to you as you embark on your credit journey.

Are FICO Scores and Credit Scores the Same Thing?

The term "FICO" is often synonymous with the term "credit score" just because of it's sheer prominence. However, they are not the same thing, and this post will answer exactly why, and how FICO relates to credit scores.

What Is the Truth in Lending Act (TILA)?

The Truth in Lending Act (TILA) is a monumental act that protects all consumers applying for credit. In this post, we'll dive into exactly what it's comprised of, why it was introduced, and how it protects you.

How Long Can You Get a Home Loan For?

Mortgage loan terms, or durations, have a huge affect on your monthly price. In this post, we'll discuss how long you can get a home loan for based on your situation.

What is FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act)?

in this post, we'll examine how the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) protects your credit score.

What Is the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA)?

The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) is a core part of the 1974 Truth in Lending Act, and in this post, we'll explore how it works and why it's relevant to you as a credit card consumer.

What Is the Credit CARD Act of 2009?

The Credit CARD Act of 2009 is highly important in protecting you as a credit card consumer, and in this post, we'll dive into what it covers and how it relates to your credit journey.

What Is the Fair Credit and Charge Card Disclosure Act?

The Fair Credit and Charge Card Disclosure Act (FCCCDA) is very important in allowing you as a consumer to know the terms you're signing onto when you get a new credit card. In this post, we'll dive into what the FCCCDA is and how it protects you as a credit consumer.

What Is a Schumer Box?

Every credit card is required to issue a Schumer box. In this post, we'll explain what a Schumer box is, and how to read it.

What Is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?

What is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act? Here’s what you need to know about the FDCPA and how it protects you as a consumer.

What Is the Equal Credit Opportunity Act?

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) is a foundational act for ensuring lenders don't discriminate against applicants. In this post, we'll examine what the Equal Credit Opportunity Act is, and how it impacts your credit-building journey.

What Is the Consumer Credit Protection Act?

In this post, we'll dive into the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA), why it was created, and how it impacts your credit journey.

Why Are Credit Scores Different at Each Bureau?

If you've gotten your credit reports from the Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, you may have seen different scores from each. In this post, we'll explain why your credit scores could be different at each bureau.

What Are the Most Common Credit Building Mistakes?

There are lots of mistakes many beginners to credit will make, and it's important to be aware of these so you're credit growth stays strong. In this post, we'll examine all of the most common credit building mistakes.

How Often Do Credit Reports Update?

in this post, we'll explore how often credit reports update, and the factors that go into that timeline.

How to Get Your Credit Report From Equifax

In this post, we'll show you how to get your Equifax report and how to use that information to position yourself as a more appealing borrower. 

How to Get Your Credit Report From Experian

Curious about how to get credit report Experian records so you can review your financial history? Here’s everything you need to know. 

How to Get Your Credit Report From TransUnion

Wondering how to get credit report TransUnion records? The good news is that it's easy and free. Here’s what to do.

How to Build Credit With Utility Bills in 2026

Reporting your utility bills to the credit bureaus is a great way to help build your credit score. In this post, we'll walk you though everything you need to know to build your credit with utility bills in 2026.

How to Monitor Your Parents' Credit Score

By helping your parents track their credit scores (or by monitoring them yourself), you can do your part to protect them from identity theft and financial losses. This article will take a closer look at how to monitor parents’ credit scores.

How Do Interest Rates Work?

If you’re taking the time to teach yourself about finances, you’ve probably heard a little about interest rates. In this post, we'll teach you everything you need to know about what interest rates are, how they are determined, and why they matter to you.

How to Monitor Your Child’s Credit Score

In this article, we’ll take you through how to monitor child credit scores to protect your child’s financial future.

How to Monitor Your Spouse's Credit Score

If you want to set your family up for solid credit in the future, it can help to look out for one another. In this article, we’ll take a look at how to monitor spouse credit scores.

What Is a Credit Account, and How Does It Work?

What is a credit account, and what steps can you take to build your credit? In this post, we'll dive into what a credit account is, and how it works.

What Are Hard Inquiries?

In this post, we'll dive into what hard inquiries are, and why they affect your credit score.

How Long Does It Take to Build Credit?

Wondering how long it takes to build credit, so you can reach your financial goals faster? In this post, we'll dive into everything that goes into your credit building timeline.

How to Remove Collections From Your Credit Report

Seeing collections on your credit report can be stressful, especially when trying to build credit. In this post, we'll walk you through exactly how to remove collections from your credit report.

What Are Soft Inquiries?

In this article, we'll dive into what soft inquiries are and when they're used so you can know how to check your credit without impacting your credit score.

What to Look For in Your Credit Report

It's important to review your credit report carefully to circumvent identity theft or errors on your credit report. In this post, we'll go over the key sections to spend extra time reviewing in your credit report.

How to Dispute Credit Report Errors

Once you've identified errors on your report, it's crucial to take action and dispute them. In this post, we'll walk you through the fastest ways to dispute errors on your credit report.

These Are the Most Common Credit Report Errors

Reviewing your credit report for the first time can be overwhelming. In this post, we'll take you through all of the most common credit report errors to keep an eye out for.

Is FICO Score 8 Accurate?

FICO Score 8 is one of the leading credit score models in the U.S. used by lenders. In this post, we'll assess if FICO Score 8 is accurate, and things to consider as you aim to build your FICO Score 8.

How to Freeze Your Credit

Freezing your credit is one of the fastest ways to protect yourself from identity theft and unauthorized activity on your accounts. Here, we'll show you the fastest ways to freeze your credit.

What Is AnnualCreditReport.com?

AnnualCreditReport.com is the main portal for accessing all of your credit reports in one place, but how did that come to be? In this post, we'll go through what AnnualCreditReport.com is, how it was invented, and how to leverage it to better monitor your credit.

How to Place a Fraud Alert

If your identity has been stolen, the identity theft is likely about to use your information to commit fraud. Let's jump into the fastest and most efficient ways to place a fraud alert so you can protect yourself.

How Often to Check Your Credit Score

It's important to frequently check your credit score, but how frequent is good enough to catch errors and monitor progress? In this post, we'll give you a framework for understanding how often to check your credit score.

What Is the Importance of On-Time Payments in Building Credit?

Making payments on-time is the single most important factor that goes into building your credit score. In this post, we'll explain why that is, and how you can utilize on-time payments to build your credit.

Is VantageScore Accurate?

How to Report Identity Theft

If you're a victim of identity theft, you'll want to take immediate action to report it to the FTC. In this post, we'll walk you through the core steps you need to take today to secure your identity.

What Is a FICO Score?

FICO score is one of the most used credit scoring models in the nation. In this post, we'll jump into what it is, how it's calculated, and how it plays a role in your credit building journey.

Impact of Credit History Length on Credit Scores

The length of your credit history is one of the core factors that goes into your credit score. In this post, we'll dive into exactly what it is, how it's calculated, and steps you can take to improve it.

How to Build Credit for Retirees

No matter what age you are, you have plenty of reasons to aim for a good credit score. Here’s a look at how to build credit for retirees.

How to Build Credit as Military Spouse

For military personnel, a steady paycheck can make it easier to build credit. For military spouses, building credit can be a bit more challenging. In this post, we'll jump into everything you need to know to build your credit as a military spouse.

How to Build Credit While on Active Duty

If you’re a member of the military on active duty, you might not spend much time thinking about your credit. In this article, we’ll take a look at how to build credit as active-duty military personnel.

How to Build Credit While Unemployed

Whether you’re newly unemployed or have been without a job for quite some time, you might be concerned about building and maintaining your credit score. In this article, we’ll show you how to build credit while unemployed.

How to Build Credit After a Bankruptcy

Declaring bankruptcy might feel like defeat at first, but in reality, it’s a financial clean slate. It may lower your credit score, but this impact doesn’t last forever. We’ll take a look at how to build credit after bankruptcy.

How to Build Credit After Divorce

Divorce can upend your life in a number of different ways, and your credit is one of them. In this post we'll go over everything you need to know to build credit after a divorce.

How to Build Credit as an International Student in the U.S.

Studying in the U.S. as an international student already comes with lots of stress and systems to navigate, especially including the U.S. credit system. In this post, we'll jump into how international students can go about building their credit while studying in the U.S.

How to Build Credit as a U.S. Expat

Navigating the U.S. credit system while working abroad can be quite confusing. In this post, we'll go over everything you need to know to build credit as a U.S. expat.

What Is TransUnion, and What Do They Do?

TransUnion is one of the 3 major credit unions in the U.S. In this post, we'll dive into exactly what they do, their backstory, and what their role in your credit journey is.

What Is Experian, and What Do They Do?

Experian is one of the 3 major credit unions in the U.S. In this post, we'll dive into exactly what they do, their backstory, and what their role in your credit journey is.

Best Apps To Find and Claim Class Action Lawsuits in 2026

Finding and claiming class action lawsuits is a great way to put some extra money in your pocket. In this post, we’ll explore the best apps to find and claim class action lawsuits, get notified about settlements, and track your claims in 2026.

What Is Equifax, and What Do They Do?

Equifax is one of the 3 major credit unions in the U.S. In this post, we'll dive into exactly what they do, their backstory, and what their role in your credit journey is.

What Is a VantageScore Credit Score?

VantageScore is one of the most used credit scoring models in the nation. In this post, we'll jump into what it is, how it's calculated, and how it plays a role in your credit building journey.

How to Build Credit as a Single Parent

Trying to improve your credit is especially difficult when you are the only one bringing in an income for your household. In this post, we'll jump into exactly how you can build credit as a single parent.

How to Build Credit as a Freelancer

Millions of people work as freelancers or otherwise participate in the gig economy. In this post, we'll dive into everything you need to know as a freelancer to build your credit.

7 Ways to Improve Your Credit Fast

Looking to improve your credit score fast? In this post, we'll cover 7 steps you can take today to improve your credit as quickly as possible.

What Is Credit Utilization and How Does It Affect Your Credit Score?

Credit utilization accounts for ~30% of your credit score, so it's highly important to have a strong grasp of what it is and exactly how it affects your credit score. In this post, we'll tackle answers to this and other frequently asked questions about credit utilization.

How to Build Credit as a Stay-at-Home Mom

There are several ways for stay-at-home moms to build credit, even if you're not working for pay right now. In this post, we'll show you all of the strategies you need to know to build credit as a stay-at-home mom.

How to Build Credit as a Teenager

Being a teenager is hard enough, and getting introduced to adult responsibilities like credit building complicates things even more. In this post, we'll take you through exactly what you need to know to build credit, whether you just turned 18 or are preparing to turn 18.

How to Build Credit in College

Wondering how to build credit as a college student? In this post, we'll explore all of the facets of building credit in college so your financial future is off to a good start.

How to Build Credit as a U.S. Immigrant

Immigrating to the United States is a huge undertaking, and learning how to build credit in the U.S. can be very overwhelming. In this post, we'll walk you through everything you need to know about building credit as a U.S. Immigrant.

How Are Credit Scores Used?

Having good credit can open doors for you now and in the future. Here’s a closer look at how credit scores are used and why it’s important to work toward having a good one.

What Are Credit Bureaus?

You might have heard of the three credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, but do you know exactly what they do? In this post, we'll examine what credit bureaus do, and why they're relevant to your credit.

How to Build Credit with Rent Payments

Building credit with your rent payments is a super easy credit win you don't want to miss out on. In this post, we'll walk you through exactly how to build credit with rent payments.

Best Rent Reporting Tools to Build Credit

Building credit with your rent payments is an easy way to boost your score, but without the right tools to report your rent, it can be hard to know how to do this. In this post, we'll take you through the best rent reporting tools for building credit on the market.

How to Monitor your Credit Score

Knowing how to monitor your credit score is absolutely essential in ensuring your credit score is in a good position, and isn’t subject to fraud or errors. In this post, we’ll take you through everything you need to know to monitor your credit score.

How to Build Credit: The Complete Guide

Understanding how to build credit is vital for anyone looking to improve their general finances and better position themselves to buy a home, car, and more. In this post, we’ll take you through the essentials you need to build credit.

What's the Difference Between FICO and VantageScore?

There are two major types of credit scores you should know about: VantageScore and FICO Score. In this post, we'll jump into the key differences, between how they're calculated and how they're used.

What Is a Good Credit Score in 2026?

Understanding what a good credit score is in 2026 is important to set the right credit building goals for yourself. In this post, we’ll dive into all aspects of this question, from how good credit scores vary by score model, your intentions with your credit, and more.

What is Credit invisibility?

Being credit invisible means that you have no credit history with one of the 3 nationwide credit reporting companies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Let's examine what this means in detail, and help you know if you're credit invisible.

What Credit Score Do You Need to Rent an Apartment in 2026?

It's super important to have a good credit score when sending in an apartment application. In this post, we'll examine what credit score you need to rent an apartment in the U.S., and steps you can take to get to that credit score.

Kikoff Marks 2025 as a Year of Impact, Surpassing 240 Million Credit Points Through AI-Driven Innovation

As of the end of 2025, Kikoff has helped consumers build more than 240 million total credit points since the company’s inception—a nationwide milestone equivalent to increasing the average credit score for every U.S. adult by one point.

Kikoff Integrates Optimal Path™ Interactive Score Planner from Equifax

Kikoff’s One Million-Plus Members will be Equipped to Achieve their Personalized Credit Score Goals and Advance their Financial Health.

2025 Guide to the Best Credit‑Building Companies for Immediate Impact

10 Simple Steps to Raise Your Credit Score in 2025

FHA Loans; Credit Scores: What You Really Need to Know

How to Get Pre-Approved for an FHA Loan

Is An FHA Loan Right for You? The Basics You Need to Know