U.S. banks are easing credit standards in search of a safe and profitable middle ground after an era of reckless home lending gave way to the stiffest rules in decades, putting a damper on the housing recovery. Wells Fargo (WFC) & Co., the biggest U.S. home lender, two weeks ago cut its minimum credit score for borrowers of Fannie Mae-and Freddie Mac-backed loans to 620 from 660.

So, it’s been 30 days since I sent my dispute letter to one of the 3 major credit bureaus and no response. How can I know if they’re doing something, did something, still yet to do something, or if they’re just simply ignoring me? Are they even allowed to just ignore people? What should I do?

If you find yourself a victim of identity theft, you can take some steps to minimize the damage and protect yourself against future theft in the process. It’s important to react as soon as you discover that a theft has taken place, so that thieves don’t have more time than necessary to completely destroy your finances or cause you a lot of problems.

When you close the credit-card account that you’ve had the longest, it will lower the average age of your credit accounts and drag down your FICO Score.

You charged thousands of dollars’ worth of appliances to a store credit card that doesn’t require payments for six months. As long as you make the payments in six months, your Credit Score will not be affected.