Credit & Borrowing
Borrowing is a tool, and an expensive one if you don't read the manual. Credit cards, loans, and the score that decides what they cost you — explained plainly, with the rights that come standard.
Borrowing & credit
BorrowCredit CardsManual
A credit card is a power tool: fast, useful, and expensive if you don't read the manual. Here's how the machine works, what to check when it acts up, and the rights that come standard.
- Interest accrues daily, not monthly
- Fixed vs. variable APR
Credit Reports & ScoresManual
Your credit report is the machine's service history — every loan, every payment, logged by companies you've never met. Your score is the inspection grade computed from it. You can read the history, correct it, and improve the grade; here's the manual.
- Report vs. score: history vs. grade
- Your reports are free — check them yearly
Debt CollectionManual
A collector calling doesn't mean you've lost — it means a specific process has started, and that process runs on rules that bind them more than you. Know the rules, make them prove the debt, and answer on your terms.
- Why a collector is contacting you
- Ignoring it doesn't make it stop
Student LoansJourney
A student loan is the one big loan people sign before they've ever had a paycheck. The order of operations matters more than anywhere else in borrowing: free money first, federal before private, and never borrow more than the plan can repay.
- Price the whole job first
- File the FAFSA — it's the gateway to everything
Money Mechanics explains how things work in plain language. It is not personalized financial, legal, or tax advice.