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Home > Current Students > Financial Aid > Manage Your Money

Manage Your Money

Getting Credit

How you manage your finances and borrow money can affect your future decisions. There are companies that track whether you pay your debts and make your payments on time. This information is scored and made available in a credit report. A bad credit history can cause your problems for a long time -- as much as seven years. A good credit rating means that you are financially trustworthy. It means that those who lend money or provide financial services (lenders and creditors) are going to be more willing to work with you. This publication by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) called Getting Credit provides information about credit and debit cards as well as credit reports. The FTC is the nation's consumer protection champion. The FTC works to prevent fraud, deception and unfair business practices in the market place.

Visit the FTC website or call the toll-free number at 1.877.FTC.HELP (1.877.382.4357); TTY: 1.866.653.4261.

Getting a Copy of Your Credit Report

There are three major credit-reporting agencies. Creditors evaluate the information about you when determining if you are financially responsible. There are several factors that are used to develop your credit score. These include your bill-paying history, how many accounts you have and what kind they are, late payments, how long you have had accounts, the unused portions of lines of credits, collections actions and outstanding debt. You should know what each agency has about you. There may be a charge for your credit report. The agencies are:

Eligibility for an annual free credit report is determined by your state of residence based on the rollout schedule set by federal law. This will be available in Virginia on September 1, 2005. Visit the website below to see when a free credit report become available in your state.

The Annual Credit Report website is a central site that allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can also request your report by phone or mail. Reviewing your credit report is an effective tool in fighting identity theft.

Budgeting and Saving Tips

  • The Choose to Save Education Program provides paycheck planning calculators.
  • The Institute of Consumer Financial Education offers a quiz to help you find out if you might be spending too much and also provides some guidance on how to develop a better spending and saving plan.
  • The Jump$tart Coalition provide a quiz to help you determine how much you will need to earn based on your spending patterns. Take the Reality Check today.

Careers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Information on occupations, including nature of the work, job outlook and earnings.  

Identity Theft

Identity theft means that someone, other than you, is using your personal information to create fraudulent accounts. They may be charging items to another person's existing account or even using your information to get a job. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recommends that use these below steps if you believe that your identify has been stolen.

The FTC recommends you take the following actions if you think your identity has been stolen:

  1. Contact the fraud departments of any one of the three major credit bureaus. To place a fraud alert on your credit file. The fraud alert requests creditors to contact you before open any new accounts or making any changes to your existing accounts. As soon as the credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the other two credit bureaus will be automatically notified to place fraud alerts. Once the alert is placed, you may order a free copy of your credit report from all three major credit bureaus.
  2. Close the accounts you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. Use the ID Theft Affidavit when disputing new unauthorized accounts.
  3. File a police report. Get a copy of the report to submit to your creditors and others that may require proof of the crime.
  4. File your complaint with the FTC. The FTC maintains a database of identity theft cases used by law enforcement agencies for investigations. Filing a complaint also helps us learn more about identity theft and the problems victims are having so that we can better assist you.