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BUSINESS Wednesday 3 april 2019
A25

Millennial Money: Credit basics you need to know

By AMRITA JAYAKUMAR points for looking at your
Associated Press credit,” says Angela Moore,
Getting your credit score a certified financial plan-
today is easy — just turn to ner at Modern Money Advi-
your bank, credit card issu- sor in Miami. Checking your
er or one of the many apps own score triggers a “soft”
and websites out there. pull on your credit but
That means millennials, un- doesn’t affect your score.
like their parents, have the A “hard” pull, on the other
advantage of early insight hand, occurs when you ap-
into their financial profiles. ply for a loan or a landlord
But looking isn’t enough. asks to scrutinize your cred-
Without knowing the ba- it, for example. Hard pulls
sics of credit, looking at also go on your credit re-
your data is like having the ports and can temporarily
pieces to a puzzle, but not knock a few points off your
understanding how they fit score.
together. Moore says another mis-
Here’s what to know. conception is that utility
YOU HAVE MANY SCORES and cell phone payments
You have multiple credit help credit. Managing
scores, not just one. Those those bills responsibly is nec-
scores vary, depending on: essary, she says, but they
— What scoring model This June 10, 2015, file photo shows a chip credit card in Philadelphia. Getting your credit score don’t affect your score —
was used. You’ve proba- today is easy, just turn to your bank, credit card issuer or one of the many apps and websites out unless you forget to pay.
bly heard of FICO, the one there. Say you move out of a
most widely used by lend- Associated Press shared apartment and
ers. VantageScore is its fast- ent, depending on whether score lenders use, but you culating scores. leave the power bill in your
growing competitor. your creditors report activ- can control how you man- To accurately track how name. If your former room-
— Which version of FICO or ity to one, two or all three. age credit. Fortunately, a your credit is doing, make mates don’t make pay-
VantageScore was used. Lenders may pull different small set of good credit sure you’re looking at the ments, the account could
They each have a few — versions of your scores than habits have the power to same score (FICO or Van- end up in collections and
some older, some newer, you see, and you cannot benefit all of your scores. tageScore) generated us- damage your credit.
some specific to financial always know which one Paying your bills on time and ing data from the same To prevent such surprises,
products like credit cards they use for approval deci- using less than 30 percent credit report. use free services to scan
or auto loans. sions, says Katherine Lucas of your available credit lim- FORGET THE MYTHS your reports for accounts
— Which of your credit re- McKay, program manager its (the lower the better) will When it comes to credit, you don’t recognize or
ports provided data to cre- in the financial security pro- help build a strong score, common misconceptions forgot were open, Moore
ate the score. Three major gram at the Aspen Institute, regardless of the scoring get in the way of building says. Also check your de-
credit bureaus — Experian, a Washington, D.C.-based model. That’s because good habits. tailed credit reports from
Equifax and TransUnion — think tank. FICO and VantageScore One persistent myth: annualcreditreport.com;
each maintain a record of DON’T PANIC ABOUT YOUR both emphasize having a Checking your own score you’re entitled to one free
your credit use. Those re- SCORE good payment history and hurts it. annual report from each
ports can be slightly differ- You cannot control what low credit usage when cal- “You’re not going to lose bureau.q

US stocks move lower in early trading after a 3-day rally

quarter. Competitor CVS ers trimmed prescription a credit card partnership
followed it lower. costs, generic drug prices with American Express. q
Technology and financial dropped and brand-name
stocks bucked the down- medication prices stalled.
ward trend. Apple and Al those factors resulted
Cisco both made gains. in a 14% drop in second-
Ameriprise Financial rose quarter profit, which the
3.3%. company’s CEO described
Dow Inc., which makes as the most difficult quarter
plastics and other products the nation’s largest drug-
for both consumer and in- store has faced since form-
dustrial uses, rose 5.1% in its ing a few years ago.
first day of trading after be- Walgreens also slashed its
ing spun off from chemical forecast for 2019.
maker DowDuPont. The stock fell 12% and
Traders Neal Catania, left, and Benjamin Tuchman work on the KEEPING SCORE: The Dow helped push down key
floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, April 2, 2019. Jones Industrial Average competitor CVS Health by
Associated Press fell 106 points, or 0.4% as of 4%.
By DAMIAN J. TROISE day rally. 11:45 a.m. The S&P 500 in- LIFTOFF: Delta rose 7% after
Associated Press Health care and con- dex fell 0.2% and the Nas- raising its profit forecast for
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. sumer products compa- daq composite index was the current quarter, citing
stocks moved broadly low- nies led the market lower. little changed. strong passenger demand.
er on Wall Street in early Walgreens Boots Alliance TAKE AN ASPIRIN: Wal- The company also said
trading on Tuesday, revers- plunged after it slashed its greens had a headache fuel costs were less than
ing course from a three- forecast following a weak of a quarter as insur- expected and it extended