MoneyWisdom Blog

Even when you practice good fiscal fitness, your credit score can suffer a knock-out. Sometimes the steps you think make financial sense can actually harm you, even if you pay your bills on time, keep your debt to reasonable levels, and make purchases that are responsible, not frivolous.

That’s all good stuff and goes a long way toward establishing a solid financial footing. But there are things you may be doing — often with the best of intentions — that you could hurt your credit score.  

Check out these five ways your actions could hurt your credit score.

If you're establishing direct deposit through your employer, ordering checks, or transferring money between financial institutions, you'll be asked to provide a routing number along with your personal account number to execute the transaction. 

A routing number is a 9-digit code identifying a financial institution, such as a credit union, bank, or investment firm. This number helps reduce confusion between financial institutions that may have similar names and allows money to flow between these institutions without glitches. Sometimes an institution may have more than one routing number depending on its size and the type of account (checking account vs. investment account, for example). 

Move over, credit cards—Americans now owe about $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt for U.S. consumers according to the Pew Research Center, surpassing what’s owed on credit cards and auto loans. Is all this debt worth it, and how can you keep college debt in check?

Divorce can be a long and painful process – but add debt issues to an already emotionally heated experience and the fire can quickly rage. To cool the situation down and do the right thing for you both, it is important to know these 5 basic facts about debt and divorce.

“Do you want your receipt?’’

We hear that question so often as clerks complete our transactions that we can be tempted to tune it out, dismissing it with a quick head shake as we dash off to the next receipt-generating errand.

But we shouldn’t. Taking that receipt can pay off...literally. It's a small piece of paper that can add up to big bucks.

Here are 6 reasons why you should always say yes to the receipt:

As a credit union member, you're a savvy consumer. I’ll take it a step further: you're brilliant. This statement is underscored by a recent Bankrate.com survey that shows the average cost for an ATM withdrawal hit a record $4.72 in the last year, up 3.3% over the past three years and 33% the past decade. It's also a cost that you, in your wisdom, have chosen not to pay as a member of Hanscom FCU.

A 2019 survey from Caring.com reports that nearly 60% of adult Americans don’t have a will. It’s a basic tool for estate planning that everyone should have. A will gives instructions on how you want your assets and affairs handled after your death, which can have much greater implications than it might seem. Even if you have a trust, you should still have a will for any assets the trust does not cover.

If you are in this majority, here are five consequences of dying without a will:

With September coming up quickly, many big banks are offering flashy benefits for new college students. Banks create special offers, such as waiving monthly fees for a number of years or offering credit cards with cash back on certain purchases, to attract these new account holders.

But it’s important to realize that the fees don’t go away forever, many accounts have minimum balance requirements, and credit cards can come with exorbitant interest rates.

There's a solution, however. Just bring your credit union to college with you this fall!

If you're a fan of direct deposit, you know how much time it saves you: there's no running to your financial institution with a paper check in hand, hoping you'll get there to cash it before closing. You don't have to wait around for your check to clear before you pay your bills. And you'll never spend time worrying if your check got lost in the mail, or worse, stolen.

Direct deposit is dependable and simply makes life easier. But did you know direct deposit can also help you build wealth? Here's how:

Receiving your first paycheck at your first job is a rite of passage into adulthood. It feels good to look at that piece of paper and know that you earned the income it represents. Your hard work means you have money to spend as you like!

In the past, there was only one way to cash that check: You signed the back and brought it into your financial institution, where it might take a few days to clear before you got your money.

Today, there are multiple ways to cash your first payroll check...and you don't even have to wait for the check to clear with some of them! Here's how: