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The DollarVisor Blog

Short guides that answer one money question at a time, across insurance, credit cards, loans and investing.

600 guides (page 21)

Loans Personal Loan Requirements: What Lenders Check Personal loan requirements run through two gates, not one. Your credit file decides whether the lender will read your application at… Read the guide → Loans Secured vs Unsecured Loans: What’s the Difference Secured vs unsecured loans comes down to one number. A secured loan is backed by something you own; an unsecured loan is backed only… Read the guide → Loans Fixed vs Variable Interest Rates: Which to Pick Fixed vs variable interest rates is not a personality test. It is a size-of-discount question. A variable rate is only worth taking… Read the guide → Loans What Is a Prepayment Penalty? How to Avoid One A prepayment penalty is a fee for paying a loan off early. On a standard mortgage, federal rules cap it at 2% for two years, 1% in y… Read the guide → Loans What Is an Origination Fee on a Loan? An origination fee is an upfront charge for setting up your loan. Most lenders take it out of the money they send you, so you receiv… Read the guide → Loans What Is Loan Amortization? (Chart Included) Loan amortization is the schedule that splits every fixed payment between interest and principal. Interest is charged on what you st… Read the guide → Loans How Is Loan Interest Calculated? The Simple Math How is loan interest calculated? Your unpaid balance multiplied by your rate, multiplied by the time the balance sat there. Most US… Read the guide → Loans APR vs Interest Rate: What’s the Difference? The interest rate is what the lender charges on the money. The APR is that rate plus the fees you pay to get the loan, quoted as one… Read the guide → Loans Should You Use Savings to Pay Off Debt? Yes, use savings to pay off debt when the debt costs more than your cash earns, which is nearly always true of credit cards at 22.15… Read the guide → Loans 401(k) Loans: Rules, Costs and Risks A 401k loan carries the cheapest rate most borrowers can get (roughly 7.75% today) and the worst failure mode. Lose the job before i… Read the guide → Loans How to Deal With Medical Debt: 6 Real Options Work the options in order of how much they erase, not how easy they feel. Hospital financial assistance can zero the whole bill and… Read the guide → Loans Hardship Programs: How to Pause Your Payments A hardship program is a short deal with your lender to pause or shrink payments while your income recovers. Almost none of them stop… Read the guide → Loans What Is Debt-to-Income Ratio? How to Lower It Your debt to income ratio is your monthly debt payments divided by your gross monthly income. Lenders read it as a payment test, not… Read the guide → Loans HELOC for Debt Consolidation: Smart or Risky? On $30,000 of card debt, a HELOC for debt consolidation saves about $20,300 in interest against paying the cards down. That is the r… Read the guide → Loans Balance Transfer vs Personal Loan for Debt Payoff On $8,000 of card debt, the balance transfer vs personal loan matchup goes to the transfer on price almost every time. A 3% fee cost… Read the guide → Loans Debt Consolidation vs Settlement: Key Differences Debt consolidation vs debt settlement comes down to one question: can you afford the new payment? Consolidating $30,000 of card debt… Read the guide → Loans Debt Settlement: How It Works and What It Costs Debt settlement means paying a lump sum to close a debt for less than the balance. A company can charge you nothing until it settles… Read the guide → Loans What Is a Debt Management Plan and Does It Work? A debt management plan is a 3-to-5-year repayment schedule run by a nonprofit credit counseling agency. Your creditors cut the inter… Read the guide → Loans How to Pay Off $10K in Debt: A 12-Month Plan To pay off $10K in debt in 12 months you need about $937 a month, not the $833 nearly every guide quotes. At the Federal Reserve's 2… Read the guide → Loans Debt Snowball vs Avalanche: Which Pays Off Faster? In the debt snowball vs avalanche matchup, the avalanche pays off debt faster on paper. On a modeled $18,500 stack at a $600 monthly… Read the guide → Credit Cards How to Check Your Credit Score for Free You can check credit score free from at least four places that never ask for a card number: myFICO's free tier, Amex MyCredit Guide… Read the guide → Credit Cards Credit Score for an Apartment: What Landlords Want Most large apartment managers set their cutoff between 620 and 650, and competitive city markets sit closer to 700. But the last nat… Read the guide → Credit Cards Credit Score Needed for a Car Loan in 2026 There is no minimum credit score for a car loan. Dealers finance scores in the 400s every day. What your score decides is the rate… Read the guide → Credit Cards What Credit Score Do You Need to Buy a House? The practical floor is 580 with an FHA loan and about 620 with most conventional lenders. The number that actually saves you money i… Read the guide →