I <3 Money Girl- She has great money advice for young people.  If you need pointers on investing for newbies, or what credit cards to pay down first -she’s your gal!  If you’re new to money management or want to get out of debt the smartest way possible, learn from the best!  I’ve listened to her podcast for years, own her book and have had the pleasure of attending the Financial Blogger’s Conference that she spoke at last year.

Here on FruBu I have gotten a TON of questions about credit, credit cards, FICO scores and debt and I have referred to her book, Money Girl’s Smart Moves to Grow Rich  numerous times.

I have been meaning to do a credit FAQ post for some time, so you can imagine how excited I was to see this video that tackles many of the same questions I’ve heard here…so instead of pawing through her book, I’ll let her tell it to you straight!  Enjoy!

She’ll answer questions like:  Should you pay off your credit cards or carry a balance?  

My partner has a low credit score and mine is good, should I be an authorized user on their card to help them build credit?  

Can having too many cards hurt my credit?

Many readers wonder “How can I fix my credit now?” and have wanted to know what can help or hurt their credit.  Knowing what credit card companies look is one way to better improve your credit score!

This Frugal Feature is a guest post from blogger Mike, who’s the guy behind Credit Card Forum. As the name implies, it’s a forum and blog for talking about anything related to credit cards. He started it in 2008 and still runs it as a one-man operation.

Remember the [seemingly] good ‘ol days before the crash, when Americans were so drunk on credit, that banks would approve anyone for anything? Well, we all know how that party ended!

These days, of course, it is much harder to get approved for a credit card. Previously a 720 credit score was good enough for the vast majority of credit cards on the market, including the popular travel and cash back cards. Now, I hear about people with credit scores in the mid to high 700s getting denied for AmEx’s Blue Cash, Discover’s More card, and other popular offers.

So what does it take to get approved these days and most important of all, how can you improve your chances?  Here are three things that creditors pay close attention to and how you can use them to your advantage.

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