Collection agencies have been doing it for years — collecting on a consumers bad debt who’s essentially said they won’t pay. Even the most hopeless of bad debts can be collected on — here are six of their secrets.

A credit freeze occurs when you notify a credit bureau not to release your credit history without your consent. This is an effective way to combat identity theft since a potential identity thief will not be able to see your credit history even if he has your personal identifying information.

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.

Send in one application to Orchard Bank, a subsidiary of HSBC, and you’ll be considered for four different cards. Based on your credit, you may be offered one of three unsecured credit cards or a secured card.

Wells Fargo bank announced Wednesday it will be offering free credit scores and credit reports to all of its customers through November 16, 2014 — you can get these scores by obtaining a personal access code from a Wells Fargo branch. The bank also has provided some credit management tips on its website as part of the promotion. Wells Fargo also offered free credit reports and credit scores in 2013 and 2012.