By Adam Jusko, ProudMoney.com, adam@proudmoney.com

For people trying to build a good credit history, credit utilization can be an important factor in raising their credit scores. Credit utilization — sometimes called debt-to-credit ratio — is the percentage of the available credit on your credit cards that you are actually using. For example, if you have $10,000 of available credit on a credit card (or cards) and you have a total balance of $1000, your credit utilization ratio is 10%.

While we advise keeping that ratio low — under 30% at least, but under 10% or even 5% if you want to be aggressive in building your score — some people worry that paying off their credit cards each month will put their utilization at 0% and thus not show up as a positive on their credit reports. This worry leads to some counter-intuitive (and wrong) advice about carrying a balance from month to month to show that you are using credit wisely.

Pay Your Cards Off In Full!

So, before we go any further, let’s be clear: carrying a small balance on your credit cards from month to month does NOT help your credit score. It is NOT necessary to pay interest in order to build your credit score. It will NOT increase your score faster than paying off your cards in full. Pay off your credit cards completely each month. Do not pay interest with the idea that you are somehow helping your credit history. You will end up paying good money for no benefit.

If we were looking for an opportunity to work from home, these are the 15 opportunities we’d tackle first. All are legitimate stay-at-home work jobs, and this site does not receive any compensation if you choose to work with one of them. (See also: How To Make Money Without A “Regular” Job)

• Enterprise – The well-known car rental company often hires at-home customer service representatives and reservation agents who work with Enterprise customers by telephone.
• TTEC (TeleTech) – Offers work-at-home customer service opportunities. From their site: “As a TTEC@Home associate, you’ll use TeleTech’s proprietary technology to support and assist customers with a variety of customer service and technical needs. This could include helping customers over the phone, via chat, or on social media. Best of all, you can do it all while wearing your slippers or flip flops! (To get started, you’ll need internet access and a home phone.)”
• American Express – Offers a variety of “virtual career opportunities” that could let you work from home. The Travel Counselor/Customer Service telephone jobs will probably be the most interesting if you don’t have the specific skills required for other Amex remote jobs. (After clicking through, search “virtual” in the job title field to see current work-at-home jobs.)

By Adam Jusko, ProudMoney.com, adam@proudmoney.com

Dave Ramsey is a popular personal finance writer/broadcaster with a loyal fanbase. I suspect his fans are so loyal because Ramsey says just about everything with supreme confidence, as if no sensible person could have a different opinion. When people are feeling lost, whether financially or otherwise, a strong personality with strong opinions may feel like a godsend.

This is not to bad-mouth Ramsey. Much of what he says is good, common sense. But not everything. And I believe it’s good to question Ramsey’s guidance just the same as you would question anyone else. Like most who give you advice (even me), Ramsey wants to make a buck off of you, as you’ll notice from the astounding number of info products he’s hawking on his website and how often he pushes you to buy.

So, today I’m going to discuss Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps to Financial Peace, a checklist for people trying to get their financial lives together one “baby” step at a time. I’ll look at where Ramsey makes sense, and where he simply has a strong opinion that many other financial experts would disagree with. Let’s go step by step…

Baby Step 1: $1,000 cash in a beginner emergency fund

It’s a sickening feeling when it seems you are just barely getting by and then an unexpected expense come up. Where are you going to get that money for a car repair, appliance breakdown, emergency room visit, etc., when you can barely meet your expected expenses?

The key, then, is to plan ahead, to do whatever it takes to rustle up $1000 to put into a separate account that you only touch in true emergencies. To do this, you’ll need to examine where every dollar is going and siphon away a few bucks each month to build this fund. Or, do something to earn more temporarily, whether that’s taking on an outside project, starting a side hustle, or selling some of your stuff.

This is no-brainer good advice. The obvious first “baby step” in your financial life should be to build some sort of cushion so you do not plunge into complete desperation when faced with an unexpected expense (which you might as well think of as an expected expense because something always eventually goes wrong, you just don’t know what it will be).

By Adam Jusko, ProudMoney.com, adam@proudmoney.com

One of the toughest things to handle during a job search is the question about your desired salary. My desired salary is $5 billion, but I’m not going to land a new job with that answer. So, what should you put on a job application or say during an in-person interview? Should you offer a number, or should you maneuver to get the employer to make an offer first? There’s no easy answer, but here are some things to consider:

Can you sidestep the question?

In the best of all worlds, you could answer the desired salary question by saying your salary is negotiable and that you’d really like to understand more about the position before answering. In other words, you’d like to be interviewed before talking money. If you have this opportunity, take it.

Unfortunately, many times your first step in the interview process is filling out an online application that forces the desired salary answer out of you. (The dreaded drop-down menu that forces a salary range is the worst.) In that case, think about the following questions:

What is the expected salary range for the position you’re seeking?

If a job listing doesn’t state a salary range and you’re not sure what a reasonable salary might be, do some research. One source for such information is the Bureau of Labor Statistics Wage Data, which is listed by area and occupation. This may not get as specific as you’d like, but it could prevent you from stating a desired salary that is way too high or way too low for the position. (If your desired salary is too low, you may appear to be under-qualified for the job, which could knock you out of the running just as fast as asking for too much money.)

By Adam Jusko, ProudMoney.com, adam@proudmoney.com

Wells Fargo has added its own deals portal, offering cardholders the chance to earn cash rebates on purchases with specific merchants. The Wells Fargo Deals we are seeing as of this morning include:

• Happy Cards – Spend $100, Get $15 back
• MGM Resorts Las Vegas – Spend $500, Get $100 back
• Ray-Ban – Spend $150, Get $30 back

You want a credit card but you have no credit history. It’s a “Catch-22” — banks won’t take a chance on you because you have no credit, but you’ll have no credit unless someone accepts you.

Below we offer some unsecured credit card options for those with no credit history. Note that you may have a higher interest rate with these cards and may have to pay an annual fee. (If that sounds bad, you should consider using a secured credit card to help build your credit. This requires a security deposit but is often cheaper overall.)

Capital One “Average Credit” Cards

Capital One has a number of cards that it lumps together under the “average credit” banner, but their description of average credit seems to include those with no credit history, or at least very little history. Among the major issuers, they are the first one we would try. You can also use their Pre-Qualify page to see what you’re likely to be accepted for, without any harm to your credit score for doing so.)

• Capital One Platinum Mastercard – No annual fee but a high 26.99% interest rate. No rewards.
• Capital One QuicksilverOne Rewards – $39 annual fee and the same 26.99% interest rate, but you’ll earn 1.5% cash back on all your purchases.
• Capital One Journey Student Rewards – As the name suggests, this one is for students. Capital One and other card issuers are more lenient with students, meaning it is easier to get accepted, even with no credit history. No annual fee, 26.99% interest rate, cash back of up to 1.25%.

Citi will be ending its Price Rewind Program, effective September 22, 2019. A popup message on the Citi Price Rewind site today says:

Updated June 13, 2019 – If you’ve ever been pitched on opening a new credit card at a retail store while making a purchase, you know that some stores are more than happy to give you instant credit — you apply on the spot, get approved, and you can use the card immediately. Below we offer a list of such cards, including regular bank credit cards as well as retail credit cards. Apply online and get shopping today. (Note that instant approval is not guaranteed.)

• American Express Cards – Most American Express credit cards and charge cards now offer the possibility of an “Instant Card Number” upon approval. Your “eligibility is based on our ability to instantly validate your identity.” If you are eligible, you’ll get an Instant Card Number that you can use even before you have the physical card in hand. Note, however, that you may not be able to access your card’s complete credit line instantly.
• PayPal Cashback Mastercard – One of our very favorite credit cards on the market also lets you use your card today if you are approved instantly. Here’s the language they use to describe the process: “If you’re approved, in most cases, a temporary credit line will instantly be added to your PayPal account and you can start using it on PayPal right away – – even before you receive your card.” Beyond the instant approval, this card gives you a 2% rebate on everything you buy with it — which is the top of the market for cash-back cards with a flat rate on all purchases.

By Adam Jusko, ProudMoney.com, adam@proudmoney.com

American Express has boosted the bonus on its flagship Platinum Card to 70,000 points after $5000 in spend within the first three months.

While this card has offered greater bonuses from time to time in the past, the publicly-available offer has generally been 60,000 points after $5000 in spend for the first half of 2019.

What is Chase Ultimate Rewards?

Chase Ultimate Rewards is the points program used by every Chase-branded rewards credit card, including the Chase Freedom and Freedom Unlimited, the Chase Sapphire credit cards, and also Chase small business credit cards.

You’ll notice that even the Chase credit cards that are marketed as “cash back” are in reality giving you Ultimate Rewards points equivalent in value to cash. For example, the Chase Freedom Unlimited is marketed as a 1.5% cash back card. In reality, you are getting 1.5 points per dollar with the card, and those points can be converted to cash at a penny per point, which equals the 1.5% shown in the card’s marketing. Chase is not being deceptive, however. By using this points system, you actually have more options to redeem your rewards.

How much are Chase Ultimate Rewards points worth?

In most cases, as alluded to above, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth a penny each. For example, 10,000 points = $100 in rewards.

There are some exceptions, though. In particular, you will probably want to know about the enhanced value of points that certain cards give if you redeem them for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. (You must go through Chase’s travel portal to get the enhanced rate.) The three Chase-branded cards that have an annual fee offer this enhanced value for travel:

• If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, your points are worth 50% more when redeemed for travel. In this case, 10,000 points equals $150 in travel value.
• If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, your points are worth 25% more when redeemed for travel. In this case, 10,000 points equals $125 in travel value.
• If you have the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card, your points are worth 25% more when redeemed for travel. Again, 10,000 points equals $125 in travel value.