We live in a country that takes great pride in individual freedom and power of choice. Yet paradoxically, many Americans are underprepared to tackle the basics of personal financial management. Many are never given the basic knowledge and skills needed to make good decisions about personal finance, including how to make a budget, manage credit cards, and save for retirement.
According to a survey conducted by Capital One Financial Corporation, only 59 percent of Americans consider themselves highly knowledgeable or very knowledgeable on personal finance, down from 64 percent in 2007.
Fortunately today, in-depth financial education and credit card help can be as little as a mouse-click away. In an effort to promote financial literacy in America, numerous financial companies, non-profits, and government agencies offer websites with some great, interactive financial educational tools. Here is CreditCardGuide.com’s guide to some of the best sites.
Bankrate.com
With more than 7 million monthly visitors, Bankrate.com is widely known as a resource site for the best rates for mortgages, credit cards, car loans, and other financial products. However, the site also offers a wealth of in-depth personal finance information and advice written by award-winning reporters and editors.
Particularly useful is Bankrate’s Financial Literacy section, where you can find savvy, easy-to-read advice on all sorts of financial topics, including debt management, family finance planning, identity theft protection, retirement savings advice, and much more.
Credit card users will find Bankrate.com’s great collection of credit card calculators particularly useful. Different calculators allow you to calculate the true cost of paying the minimum on your credit cards, how much it will take to pay off your credit cards, or to estimate your credit score.
Ask Dr. Debt
Ask Dr. Debt is a financial education site targeting people seeking advice on debt problems in general and credit card debt in particular. The site is founded by the nonprofit credit association ACA International, which bills it as “an online version of Dear Abby,” created for consumers with credit and debt questions.
Ask Dr. Debt seeks to help consumers get out of debt by improving their financial literacy and providing them with the tools and resources to pay down their debt and/or avoid getting deeper into debt. The site excels through its detailed answers to all sorts of debt-related questions, including consumers’ rights when dealing with creditors and debt collectors.
Visitors to the site can search a database of questions about debt that have already been answered in detail, or, if they can’t find the answer to their specific situation, submit their own question. The site includes a number of interactive tools, including budget calculators and a free personal financial management web course.
Other Sites Worth Checking Out
The above two sites provide extensive and detailed advice about credit cards, best practices for credit card use, and how to deal with credit card debt. However, if you’re just starting out and simply looking for some basic credit card education, the amount of information on those sites may be overwhelming. For an introduction to credit cards basics, instead check out the articles on CreditCardGuide.com.
In addition, the following government-sponsored sites offer useful, basic credit card education.
The U.S. Financial Literacy and Education Commission provides financial education resources for Americans, including a number of articles on how to choose a credit card, what to look for in the terms and conditions, and how to build a good credit report.
The Federal Reserve Board also sponsors a website with credit card basics, like how to understand and compare the features of credit cards, an introduction to basic credit card concepts like APRs, grace period, credit card fees, and so on.
