💸 The Seasonal Credit Protection Checklist💸

🔍 In this Issue

• This Week's Money News

• Let's Talk About How to NOT Get Scammed

• My Final Two Cents

• Introducing Something New

Need to catch up? Read our latest issues here.

This Week’s Money News

👛 Wallet Watch

• 🟤 Still reeling from the election? We got you. Here’s our note on how we plan to support you in the coming months.

• 🟤 I don’t think we talk enough about how local tax codes exacerbate the wealth gap. Washington State won a huge victory here. I hope to see more wins like this across the country in the coming years.

• 🟤 Speaking of taxes, I know you all have been hearing a lot about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) lately. Here’s a good breakdown of what it is and the impact it’s had since its implementation in 2017.

Fiscal Focus

💸 The Seasonal Credit Protection Checklist

It’s holiday/scam season!

I’m not sure about you, but I’m excited about the holidays. After the last few weeks, winding down and enjoying some time with family will be good for my soul. I’m also a gifter, so I get excited about the Christmas shopping. As excited as I hope we all are, it would be remiss of me not to remind us to take care of our money this season. The holidays are prime time for digital scams. Here are my top five suggestions for how to ensure you don’t get got.

1️⃣ Check your credit report. If you haven’t looked at your credit reports lately, this would be a great time to do so. The three major credit bureaus - Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax - will all provide you with free weekly online credit reports. You can get them via annualcreditreport.com. Get all three reports and look for anything that seems off. If everything seems accurate, you’re good to go! If something seems off, dispute it as soon as possible. For more credit report information, check out this cute little video from the Federal Trade Commission.

2️⃣ Freeze your credit accounts. Since the pandemic, I’ve kept my credit accounts frozen, only unfreezing them temporarily (usually 2 weeks at a time) if I’m looking to open a new line of credit or make a purchase. You can quickly freeze your accounts via the three bureaus listed above. Lately, the websites for these bureaus have gotten quite salesy, so let me be clear: you do not need to pay to have your credit frozen, and most people do not need to pay for the additional credit monitoring the bureaus offer.

How Credit Freezes Work

Credit freezing works by preventing fraudulent accounts from being opened without your explicit consent. If identity thieves attempt to open new accounts in your name, lenders won’t be able to access your credit report to approve the application while a freeze is in place. Freezes are easily reversible, so if you need to open a legitimate account, you can unfreeze your account temporarily or permanently, based on your preference. Freezes do not impact your credit score or any established accounts.

Limitations of Freezing Your Credit

While credit freezes are great for protecting you from some forms of identity theft, there are a few things they can’t protect you against.

• Unauthorized use of your existing accounts

• Fraudulent tax, social security, or medical identity theft

3️⃣ Limit the number of credit or debit cards you use during the season. Part of the hassle of auditing your spending and noticing errors is that most of us use several different cards on any given day. Limit your spending to as few cards as possible during the holiday season so transactions remain more straightforward and errors are easier and quicker to spot.

4️⃣ Review your statements regularly during the season. This is a nod to point number three. If you can audit your spending and credit activity regularly, you’ll be sure to catch something that’s off. My own rule of thumb is to monitor my spending and credit activity weekly or bi-weekly during the high-spending seasons—from Black Friday through the New Year.

5️⃣ Place spending limit alerts on your debit and credit cards. This tip is underrated. Many banking and credit institutions allow you to set alerts for activities on your debit and credit cards. They’ll also usually let you set an alert if your account balances go above or below a certain threshold. Think of some thresholds that make sense to you, then get those alerts in place. That way, you’ll know that even if you’re not paying attention, your banking institutions are and will let you know if your accounts are off based on the criteria you set.

I hope these tips helped. Have a safe and happy holiday season! See you next week.

Vocab, Mindfulness, and Quick Facts

💰 My Final Two Cents

💬 Money Vocabulary: Credit Score: A credit score is a three-digit number that rates your creditworthiness. Read more about the history of credit scores and how they impact your money here.

🧘🏾‍♀️ Mindful Money Prompt: What scares you most about your money right now? What support systems can you put in place in the next 30 days to help you navigate or address that fear? Think communities, knowledge resources, and mental health support.

📠 Money Quick Fact: Last month, we talked a lot about insurance and how critical it is to protecting wealth. This month, I wanted to highlight Ernesta G. Procope, an Insurance and Investment Banking pioneer. Mrs. Procope’s insurance company was the first Black-owned business on Wall Street. During her lifetime, she advocated for insurance reform to ensure fair coverage for Black and low-income families. Read more of her story here.

Celebration Syndicate

🎉 Introducing a New Way to Celebrate You

Did you get a higher-paying job, pay off a credit card, or meet a savings goal? No matter what your money accomplishment is, we want to celebrate you! Share your money wins here for a chance to have them featured in future newsletters and on Ed. Opal socials!