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2 years ago

9 – To Your Credit: Understanding How Credit Scores Work

Host: Herb Weisbaum /
Guest(s): Liz Weston - Personal Financial Columnist for NerdWallet

Good credit is important. Bad credit can make it difficult—or more expensive—to get a loan or credit card, rent an apartment, or get cell phone service. Surveys show few people truly understand how the system works: What makes their credit scores go up, and what causes them to plunge. In this episode we’ll demystify the process, and separate credit facts from credit myths.

Special Guest: Liz Weston, a personal financial columnist for NerdWallet, and author of the best-selling book “Your Credit Score.”

Additional resources:

Credit Myths Persist, Even After Pandemic Forces a Closer Look at Finances

New Government Report: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion Rarely Act on Complaints About Credit File Errors

How to Spot a Credit Repair Scam and What You Can Do to Improve Your Credit Scores

Buy Now, Pay Later Spending Traps

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61 – Medical Data Breaches Hit Record High

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2 weeks ago

60 – Avoid a Big Cell Phone Bill When Traveling Abroad

Host: Herb Weisbaum /
Guest(s): Kevin Brasler - Checkbook's Executive Editor; Dani Dredger - Checkbook Senior Manager of Digital Marketing

Travel outside the U.S. and you’ll need to make sure your cell phone works wherever you’re headed. With a little advance planning, you can also lower the cost of using your phone on that trip—in some cases, by $100 a line a week or more.

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Read Checkbook’s full report on how to save money while using a phone internationally.

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4 weeks ago

59 – Saving Money at the Supermarket

Host: Herb Weisbaum /
Guest(s): Abha Bhattarai - Washington Post Reporter; Edgar Dworsky - Publisher, ConsumerWorld.org; Jamie Lettis - Checkbook Associate Editor

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⁠Read Checkbook’s full report on grocery stores and delivery services⁠.

Support our podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consumerpedia/support

1 month ago

58 – Misleading Marketing That Gets You to Buy Now and Pay More

Host: Herb Weisbaum /
Guest(s): Kevin Brasler - Checkbook's Executive Editor

You can save a ton of money by comparison shopping.

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Sometimes consumers don’t compare prices because they’re in a rush or they don’t want to scour the internet for the best deal. But we often find buyers don’t compare prices because they’ve been duped into thinking they already have.

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2 months ago

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Host: Herb Weisbaum /
Guest(s): Jon Picoult - Founder of Watermark Consulting and author of "From Impressed to Obsessed"; Forrest Morgeson - Associate Professor of Marketing at Michigan State University, Director of Research Emeritus at the American Customer Satisfaction Index

Are you frustrated with the way companies treat you? If so, you’re not alone: Surveys find that many consumers are fed up with long waits on the phone, customer service agents who can’t solve their problems, unintelligible billing statements, poorly designed websites, and inexperienced or indifferent sales staff.

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2 months ago

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Support our podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/consumerpedia/support