Lesson 4 - Manage Credit and Debt Accounts

Objective: Implement strategies, organizations, and monitoring systems, and make necessary adjustments.

Now it’s time to take the previous lessons for this cluster and put it altogether! You should have your debts organized, at least two strategies to reduce the cost of credit, and a system for monitoring your debt and credit transactions. For this lesson, we want you to take these pieces, implement them for two weeks, report on the results, and make any suggestions for adjustments!

Example

If you remember from the previous examples, after organizing his debts – prioritizing collateralized debts first, then high-interest rate debts – Carlos decided to double his payment on his credit card (from $100 to $200), and put an extra $100 towards his car loan. He also planned to spend less on his credit card (resulting in lower credit utilization) and catch up on missed payment for his student, both of which should improve his credit score. Lastly, as part of his system of monitoring debts and credit accounts, he plans to monitor his flexible expenses purchased with his credit card using the pocket spending log, and checking one of his three free credit reports on a four-month rotating basis using www.annualcreditreport.com. 

After checking one of his credit reports, he notices an account that doesn't belong to him. He reviews the Federal Trade Commission website for disputing errors on credit reports, and he submits a formal dispute to remove this account from his credit report, which the credit bureau is required to respond to that dispute within 30 days.

Assignment

Use your own personal financial debt and credit situation. Implement the strategies, organizations, and monitoring systems from the previous lessons for this cluster for at least two weeks and report back results.

Once you've completed this assignment, you will have officially completed the course - congratulations! Upon completion, please complete this survey.

Complete this assignment in Microsoft Word - if you do not have access to Microsoft Word, contact your course facilitator. Once you've completed the assignment, email the Word document with the assignment to your course facilitator, who will provide feedback via email.