If there’s a soon-to-be graduate in your friend or family circle, you may be cosigning a loan to help them reach their goal of higher learning. But it’s not something you should do before thoroughly discussing how you’ll handle financial changes. Since a cosigning will appear on the credit of both parties, make sure you know who’s responsible for what before you sign on the dotted line.

For college students, a cosigner is often the key that can help unlock the funds that make higher learning a reality. But if you’re new to credit and need a cosigner to help complete your application, know that it’s likely they’ll need an established financial history confirmed by a credit check. Make sure you know all that your cosigner should be prepared for so you can set the right expectations.

With the pursuit of higher learning often comes educational debt, and its often among the longer-term debts that you'll work to repay gradually over decades. Educational debt is also one that's assigned comparatively early in a person's credit history, so it holds an impactful role in how you manage your finances starting soon after graduation. That's pretty early in adulthood for you to have an understanding of the significance of the impact it can have over time. Taking the time to educate yourself now means you'll be better equipped to make smart choices when the time comes. Learn a few smart tips to keep your finances stable while shouldering college debt.

You’ve probably heard that FICO Scores are both popular and important when it comes to knowing about your credit. But you might not know how your information feeds into a FICO Score – and the impact that your credit behaviors can have on your Score. Discover more about a FICO Score reflects back your credit behaviors as a Score.

Taking your search for love online means that the world becomes your oyster. Thanks to dating sites and apps, you can connect with other, like-minded singles looking to find a special someone whether they’re near or far. But know that some of the profiles you see may not be genuine. Learn how to fend off the advances of those after something else – your information.

Good credit isn’t just something that happens to you – that’s like playing the lottery with your financial information and hoping you get it right. But putting solid credit behaviors into practice on the regular can have real benefits. Just how can good credit help you? Whenever you consider a big purchase, or explore a new way to make a payment, your credit can be a part of that choice. Find out how.

With identity theft impacting increasing numbers of victimized consumers every year, it's no surprise that people are looking for ways to mitigate their risk entirely. Identity theft can be a serious headache if it happens to you, but unfortunately there's no way to neutralize the danger entirely. One of the best ways to amp up your response is to make sure you're alerted to atypical activity as soon as possible: something that credit monitoring can do when it scans your credit report each day. You'll be able to respond as quickly as possible to suspicious activity, limiting the damage that identity thieves and intervening criminals can do with your information. Considering credit monitoring? Learn why it's a smart idea.