Secured credit cards are great for establishing or rebuilding your credit history. Unlike prepaid cards, secured credit cards give you a credit line, and your payment activity will be reported to the major consumer reporting agencies.

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?

FICO Score is a term used to describe the number assigned to you in relation to your credit. It is simply a number used to represent your financial obligations in relation to your credit history. It is called FICO because this score is determined by software created by Fair Isaac and Company.

Although 20 points doesn’t seem like much, it can mean a lot when it comes to your credit score. You wouldn’t know it from the consumer side, but there is a world of difference between a credit score of 580 and 600. Your options open up when you increase your credit score by 20 points, and they close up when your credit score decreases — find out how to increase your score by 20 points.

Free credit scores from your credit card now offer free credit score checks to view your free credit scores instantly. Walmart now offers free credit scores to individuals who hold the Walmart credit card and Citi will begin in January 2015 offering free credit scores to individuals who hold the Citi credit card.