Credit 101
This is a number that represents your creditworthiness.
What is a credit score?
You must usually be at least this age to get a credit card on your own.
What is 18?
Paying this amount each month helps avoid interest.
What is the full balance?
This is the original amount of money borrowed.
What is the principal?
This type of loan often has extremely high interest rates and short repayment periods.
What is a payday loan?
The three major companies that track your credit.
Who are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax?
This person agrees to take responsibility for your credit card if you don’t pay.
What is a co-signer?
Experts recommend keeping your credit usage below this percentage.
What is 30%?
This is the percentage charged for borrowing money.
What is the interest rate?
This is when lenders hide important details in complicated contracts.
What is fine print or hidden terms?
This factor has the biggest impact on your credit score.
What is payment history?
This is the smallest amount you can pay on your credit card bill.
What is the minimum payment?
This habit helps you avoid late payments automatically.
What is autopay?
This is the length of time you have to repay a loan.
What is the loan term?
These loans target people with low credit and trap them in debt cycles.
What are predatory loans?
This term refers to how much of your available credit you are using. (Hint: Should keep under 30%)
What is credit utilization?
Using a credit card for this type of spending is considered risky for teens.
What is non-essential or impulse purchases?
Would accept not important or not serious or non emergency
This is the cost of borrowing money on a credit card.
What is interest?
Loans for cars and homes are examples of this type of loan.
What are installment loans?
These loans you would usually see at the car dealership where they promise you one thing and then switch it when its time to buy.
What is bait and switch?
A score above this number is typically considered “good credit.”
What is a 670-700?
This happens if you miss a credit card payment and it gets reported.
What is damage to your credit score?
Would accept drop credit score
This is what happens when you consistently make on-time payments over time.
What is credit score improves?
Would accept credit score goes up.
This type of loan is used to buy a car.
What is an auto loan?
This is when a lender approves a loan for someone who clearly cannot afford it, increasing the chances they will default.
What is predatory lending?