In the previous post we showed the general concepts of credit score and credit history and specifically mentioned that FICO credit score was most authentic important to you. This post is going to figure out how is FICO credit score calculated. Overview The most widely used FICO model is FICO 8 in which the percentages of the credit score are listed blow:…
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Some freshmen who come to U.S for the first time may become quite puzzled about some words and phrases on bills of bank accounts and statements of credit card, such as: What is APR? What is Hard Pull? The short post comes for helping them understand their meanings. 1. What is Balance? Simply put, Balance is the remaining sum or arrears…
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It’s a commonplace but a unavoidable topic. I tried to help you digest the most important concepts through this post. The specific questions about credit score calculation will be answered at the next article! Briefly, it is: Credit Score = Credit Report + Score Calculation Model Credit report is, haha, a snitch recorded by the banker on your credit history….
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Which credit cards are suitable for newbies with no credit history? This post will briefly tell you how to apply for your first credit card. The first card is difficult to get, because when you just arrive in the US and have no idea about credit card and credit history, it’s hard to accept so much information. But here, I’ll just…
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Welcome, freshmen! Maybe you always hear people talking about “credit card is devil”… However, that’s not exactly true, if you know how to play this game. As credit card geeks, we want to teach you how to get the most from credit cards. To begin with, this post is to straightforwardly introduce to you why credit card is the best payment method when you…
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Grocery, including supermarket, is one of the most common categories of our daily spending, which makes rewards credit cards for grocery use very useful. American Express is almost dominant in this aspect. It issues four similar rewards credit cards for grocery: AmEx EveryDay(ED), AmEx EveryDay Preferred(EDP), Blue Cash Everyday(BCE), Blue Cash Preferred(BCP). In addition to those AmEx cards, there’s another…
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Apart from Star Alliance, OneWorld and SkyTeam members, there are some airlines out there that refuse to be a member of any airline alliance. Although often ignored for some reason, these airlines usually run well, and establish good partnership with other airlines. Some even have partners throughout three major alliances. From this perspective, we should not ignore these hub airlines…
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In this post, we are going to talk about Aeroplan, a frequent-flyer program of Air Canada (AC). Aeroplan is considered as one of the most rewarding loyalty programs in the Star Alliance. This is partly attributable to AC’s good records itself and its extensive collaboration with other Star Alliance members including United Airlines (referred as United hereafter). On one hand,…
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1. How to get the free ticket Airline Info: Outbound: JFK in New York -> NRT in Tokyo, NH1009, 12 hours and 55 minutes duration, first class. Inbound: NRT -> JFK, economic class. Total Cost: 95k ANA miles + $272 fee in total. 75k miles for outbound first class ticket, and 20k for inbound economic class ticket. Source of Miles: AmEx PRG 50k…
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Yesterday I wrote a post about my business class flight from Chengdu to New York redeemed with AA miles. Many friends showed great interest in my post. So today let’s talk about how to use AA miles redemption. We would be more than glad if this post could be of any help. And we are going to talk more in…
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For many people, credit cards with annual fee of $400 ~ $500 seem to belong to another world, having nothing to do with themselves. However, what we want to tell you today, is that you should NOT think that way! For many people, credit card with $450 annual fee may only have $100 equivalent annual fee! And it comes with…
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Hi everyone, I am Chenyuzaoya, a guest writer to introduce how to use points comprehensively. I always think it is important to earn points, but it’s more important to know how to use points as well as earning points more efficiently. Today I am going to talk about how to plan a trip to Maldives for a family of three….
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AmEx Membership Rewards (MR) is one of the three major rewards point systems (MR, TYP, UR) in the United States. For quite a long time they have been competing with the Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) system with their ability to earn points fast and flexibility to redeem/transfer points. Our review of Membership Rewards (MR) points consists of two parts: in…
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1. I have a SSN for one year. Does that mean one-year credit history? No. The length of your credit history depends on your payment and statement, and it is unrelated with your SSN. In other words, your credit will be recorded with or without a SSN. However, your credit record will be linked up with your SSN for convenient…
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We often see such kind of questions in comments or forum: How difficult is it to get XX credit card? What credit history do I need to get XX credit card? Well, the correct answer is always: It depends, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). But there are still some statistics from the data points online. Here let’s summarize the (conservative)…
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