Vincenza Vicari-Bentley, AFC
USU Extension Empowering Financial Wellness Program Coordinator

​Money Myths- how do they even start? Did you hear it from a friend who heard it from a friend? Maybe a family member or a co-worker? Wherever we get these myths, it seems that we often accept myths about personal finances as truth (especially when we hear the same thing over and over again). This can be especially true when it comes to personal finances because a lot of people don’t have a ton of knowledge about that topic and it is one of those topics that can be intimidating to a lot of people. Given the complexity of credit scores and how they are calculated, it’s easy to see why so many myths about them exist. I’m here to break down 3 common myths about credit scores. 

Andrea Schmutz, M.S.
​USU Extension Assistant Professor

April is such an awesome month! Spring is in the air and hopefully your taxes are finished for another year. You may be thinking about what to plant in your vegetable garden or your flower beds. Or maybe you are finally thawing out from winter and want to sprawl out on the grass with a good book and bask in the sun’s warm embrace. However you choose to enjoy this wonderful month, don’t forget to celebrate April’s status as National Financial Literacy Month. First established when the United States Senate passed a resolution in 2003, the goal of this designation is to encourage programs and activities that promote financial literacy and the benefits of maintaining smart money management habits.
 
Here at Utah Money Moms, we’ve decided to celebrate Financial Literacy Month by focusing on credit reports and scores in the hopes of helping our readers gain confidence in their understanding of what they are, why they are important, and how to influence them.
 
When it comes to learning, I love to associate new information with a story. Maybe it’s because I truly subscribe to the Mary Poppins idea of “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Or, it may have something to do with the Indian Proverb that says, “Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.”

KristiLyn Wilkinson, M.S.
USU Extension Empowering Financial Wellness Program Manager

You are probably aware that a history of how you manage your credit and debt obligations is being kept. You might not be aware that there are three agencies, Equifax, Experian, and Transunion, that are keeping track of all of this information.
Did you know that you can look at your credit report for free and it won’t negatively impact your credit? This is probably the most common credit myth out there- that looking at your credit report or score negatively impacts your score! It doesn’t! In fact, checking your credit regularly should definitely be on your list of “things I do when I’m adulting.”

GUEST BLOGGER: LIZ VANCE

Identity fraud refers to crime in which a criminal obtains and uses a victim's personal data through fraud or deception and usually for economic gain.​ If you were a victim of identity fraud would you know what to do? I hope you never have to find out, but just in case it happens to one of us one day I’m going to share with you a few of the 10 steps that U.S. News & World Report talked about in a recent article. If you’d like to read about all of the 10 steps you can find the whole article here. Here's what stuck out to me...

If you were looking for another nudge to pull your credit report and help protect yourself against fraud and identity theft, we’ve got just the thing. There’s been LOTS of talk in recent news about data breaches, cyber security, social security numbers stolen, identity theft, fraud, scams, credit monitoring services, credit reports, credit scores, etc. Here’s a Readers Digest version: