The Strategy –to lower credit utilization, make an extra credit card payment mid-month, either estimating what you owe or checking your current balance online.

When a couple is married, they often hold joint accounts, such as savings, credit cards and mortgages. This links their credit scores together. If you’ve just gone through a divorce, your credit may be in shambles. Sometimes, one partner will run up a huge credit card bill, deplete the equity in the home or otherwise try to wreak havoc with the credit score of the other party. It’s important to address this problem head on.

You and I might revel in the crisp autumn weather, but your credit score hates this time of year. The reason? Starting in October and continuing through the next 90 days, many households dramatically increase their spending.

Just in case you’re not familiar with USAA, it’s a large financial services provider that’s been around since 1922. I’ve been looking at their credit cards and the USAA Secured Credit Cards really caught my eye.

There are a wide variety of myths floating around about what you should and shouldn’t do to improve your credit reports and credit scores.