Page 25 - increase your credit score

comfortably without living extravagantly.

This philosophy allows for wiggle room, though. For example, if your goal is to get good
credit by paying down credit-card debt, then you might endeavor to live sparsely rather

than comfortably.

With a reasonable budget in place – comfortable or sparse – you have one job: to follow it.
If you can rely on consistent spending, you can avoid credit card debt and late payments,

two things that can kill your credit score.

Two apps that we’ve found can be a huge help to setting a budget and keeping track of
spending in every category are YNAB (You Need a Budget) and Mint. YNAB requires a

little more interaction from the user, while Mint is more automated. Try both and figure
out which one is the best option for you.

Chapter 5 Summary:

• Achieving good credit scores is based on controlling your spending.

• Budgets are the key tool for controlling spending.
• Budgets make you confront your fears, see your spending habits clearly and plan for

the future.
• The best budgets set spending amounts for every category of spending you have.

• Tools like YNAB and Mint can make budgeting much easier.

www.highya.com Page 25