While you're binging the pod, how about a little bonus tip? As a starting place for your investment allocation that you can, of course, tailor depending on your goals, pros recommend making your bond allocation your age. How about a second bonus tip? When you want to invest in bonds, use Public, the modern brokerage for investors looking for a simple yet sophisticated investing experience. Public is truly the only place I buy bonds, legit, because every other app or site I've tried to use is so complicated. But on public, I can buy a bond on my iPhone in less than five minutes. This is a major upgrade because most investing platforms that offer bonds design their user experience before the iPhone was even invented. I'll let that one sink in. You can use Public for more than your bond investments. Public is the brokerage I use for all my investing needs, whether I'm looking for stocks, ETFs, a high-yield cash account, options, and other assets, even music royalties. To build the multi-asset portfolio of your dreams, go to public. Com/moneyrehab. One more time, because trust, you will thank me, public. Com/moneyrehab. This is a paid endorsement for public investing.

Full disclosures and conditions can be found we're missing this whole world of opportunities, right?Definitely. I mean, I know from For me, my base level for each credit card is whatever I get back in points, miles, rewards should at least cover the cost that I'm paying yearly for the fee for the card. Oh, yeah. It really doesn't all the time. It's frustrating.I love that rule of them because some of those annuals can get really high, and you want to make sure that you're getting your money's worth. So before we get into more credit card stuff, let's talk about you for a second, Anna. Tell money rehabbers about yourself. What do you do? How are you feeling about your money journey right now? Give us the T.So I have had quite the money journey, and it's really played a role into every aspect of my life. I had a very bad relationship in my early 20s, and we had a joint credit card. I didn't even know that he could do this, but he pulled his name off of the credit card after spending all kinds of money. So I was stuck with that debt, and I didn't know anything whenever it came to financial aid or grants or things like that. So I had to drop out of school. I was really just working all the time to try to pay off this debt. But my APR was so ridiculous. I want to say it was 28.99% or something like that. So it's like every small chunk I took out of it, it kept building back up. And I'm so fortunate. I ended up starting a small business, and I did that for quite a few years, and it helped me pay off my debt enough to to save money and go back to school and really go back to square one. So now my financial health is medium. We're still rebuilding a lot, but my credit score has greatly improved, which I'm so grateful for.And I'm able to split putting money into savings as well as paying my regular expenses. And to this day, I'm still working on paying off of this debt. It was $25,000 over the last eight years. It's been a lot.I'm so sorry that you went through that. And I'm so proud of the progress you're making and travel or cashback, whatever your main goal is. And then from there, you can confirm which cards have that. So you can compare and contrast those perks that you're getting now versus what might be better out there. Because maybe a credit card that you have now is right for you. It does not sound like that, Anna. So if you're leaving money on the table, you'd want to know that. Right?Yeah, definitely. I actually have not used that part of my Credit Karma app before, but you might if I pull my phone out and I look at it. Let's do it. Totally.So on Credit Karma's credit card marketplace, you'll be able to compare offers with the best perks for each of those categories. So let's do a little brainstorming about what might be important for you so we can find the right one for you. Maybe make it a lightning round game. Ready? Okay. So would you You'd rather go on a road trip or fly somewhere far away?Road trip.Are you a homebody or a social butterfly?A homebody.Do you prefer to shop or eat out? Shop. I would ask you if you're an employee of a company or if you run your own business, but we already know the answer to this one. Based on your answers, especially that you're a homebody like I am, you want to check out cashback credit cards and filter through there, I would assume, right?Yeah, I'm a big fan of the cashback.Awesome. And to nerd out again, this is why I think Credit Karma is super helpful. Its recommendations are very personalized. Nothing about your financial life should be one size fits all. I'm also homebody. I like, for me, a perfect day is never leaving the house and binging comedy specials. So if I had a gas rewards card, I would not be racking up a lot of cashback. So when I personally shop for credit cards in the Credit Karma app, I am looking for credit cards that have stellar perks for entertainment, for all of my binge watching needs. But just because that one's right for me doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be right for you. So you should just try to, of course, find what's right for you. Then Credit Karma helps you understand your approval odds, which sounds like is a little source of anxiety for you. Do you remember what it was like when you were applying for your first credit card?Yeah, I remember I was at the cash register and they had me sign a few things and they were like, okay, well, you're approved. So here's your discount for today. And And we'll send you the credit card. And I remember when I got the credit card, I didn't even know how to log into the account to check what my balance was, what I was spending. It was a slow process.Do you remember if you were wondering if you were going to get rejected or approved?I wasn't at all. In my head, you had to have such bad credit to get rejected for a credit card because I was taught that credit card companies want you to have credit cards because you spend money, you pay interest, and they get to pocket some of your money. So it's ideal for them to approve you. So I don't even think I thought about that at all. And then when my credit tanked, I was 22, and again, it was like, your credit is your debt to income. So how do I raise that? Well, I need more credit cards, so then my debt on this card doesn't seem too bad. But then I was getting rejected for credit cards. And that was when I learned, oh, wow, no, they really do. They will tell you no.Right. Exactly. Okay. Okay, I'm glad you mentioned that. So it sounds like this anxiety of being rejected with a sub-720 score has happened more recently. You went into your credit card experience out of the gate at that Barnes & Noble, blissfully unaware with how What happened? Then you got screwed, and the X thing happened, and now you're nervous, it sounds like, about getting rejected. Yeah.I have a lot of credit anxiety in general. I don't like the idea of being rejected. So I haven't signed up for a new credit card. In quite some time, actually, I feel like once my credit started to get above 650, I was like, Okay, we're finished. We're done.You're right. Credit score does factor into the likelihood of being approved for a credit card. It can be really stressful because also when you apply for that credit card, you're going to get that hard credit check, which probably contributes to some of that anxiety, too. So if you get rejected for the card, then your credit score might just take a hit for nothing, which might have contributed or is contributing to some of this inertia.Oh, yeah, definitely. Because then my credit is now even worse when I was trying to make it better, and I didn't even have the credit card for it. It's like a lose-lose.Well, we're going to make it a win-win, Anna, because the Credit Karma marketplace shows you your approval odds. So instead of anxiously just guessing when you apply, you can apply for your next credit card with more certainty. So before you even apply, it can tell you the likelihood of whether or not you're going to get approved. Does that help with feelings of anxiety and stress?That helps a lot. That eases a lot of the anxiety behind, why am I going to ding my credit score to get nothing out of it?So now you can go find the card that makes sense for you with the perks, but also look before you leap. On the credit card app, there's a cashback category where you can go directly because that sounds like the one that's right for you. If you see in your phone, too, you can also compare and contrast ask those cashback card offers. But before we dig into the perfect luckiest card that is going to find its way into your wallet next, I'll just pause. How are you feeling about all of this right now?I feel so broadly relieved. It's a really nice feeling to know that there is an option where I can look at what's best for me and not just be sold on something for what's best for some credit card company. Yeah.Hopefully, this takes a lot of the guesswork out of it. There's so many different options and places you can go, and I think that that's contributing to some of these feelings of overwhelm and this credit anxiety is real. You're definitely not alone out there, but it sounds like you have your phone open. So do you want to play around with it and let me know how it goes?Yeah, let's do it. So I see the ones that I'm getting recommended the most. There are a lot of Capital One. Well, there's three Capital One.I mean, it's interesting that you're specifically getting Capital One recommendations because when I look at mine, I get different ones, and that could just be based on what your credit score is right now. Yeah.My top three are Capital One. These actually look pretty good.But the marketplace is personalized for you and your credit score.Yeah. Well, it's nice, too, because a lot of these for the cashback ones have no annual fee on them, I'm noticing, which is really nice because that's for sure a pet keep of mine with credit cards is charging me interest and you're taking a fee. This is very cool.Well, I think of it as a credit card dating app because you can see a lot of different options. You can know if you matched with somebody before. It lessens a lot of the anxiety for it.Credit card hinge.Yes. I love that you are obsessed with your Credit Karma app.I feel like everyone else whenever they're in line waiting for something, pulls out Instagram and I'm just like, Let me check my Credit Karma before I actually buy this coffee.I love that. That's who I want to go to coffee with. It's so important. These are great, great financial wellness and health habits. I'm so glad that you're doing this. No one is going to care as much about your money as you do. So the fact that you're putting your research into it, spending the time doing it, is only going to pay dividends later on.Yeah. Honestly, I feel like a big thing that was helpful for me was actually learning about the different types of debt that I have and the impact of my credit card. I more recently learned that as long as I keep my credit utilization under 30%, my credit stays in a very happy place. And 30% is quite a bit to be able to spend. So I'm like, That's wonderful. I also learned that I'm allowed to request for them to increase my credit limit.If you can do it responsibly, it just helps that utilization because if you have more allowable credit and you're spending less, then your utilization score goes down if you can be really diligent about it.Well, it's really interesting because I feel like a lot of my credit cards, because they're older, I had a $1,500 spending limit and things like that, which doesn't exactly fit my lifestyle now. I have a very big car payment that just would take up that whole credit card in one swipe. So whenever I found out, Oh, I actually am supposed to tell these people that I'm making more money now and I'm supposed to let them know. I had no idea. And no one teaches you. No one really sits you down and tells you this. I'm trying. I'm trying, sister.I know. I just had this conversation with my card company for one of our business cards, too, and I wanted an increase, and they You have to send a few months of bank statements and things like that. There's things that you can do if you're proactive. But yeah, I'm trying. I'm trying to spread the good word.It's honestly been very helpful. You had in your Rich Bitch book, I think, a template for spending. And that was actually very helpful for me because I took the money that should have been going to life costs. Because at the time, I was living with my sister and piecing everything back together so I didn't have a rent or utilities. And I put all that into paying off my debt and kept the rest of this as my spending money budget, as my savings budget. And that helped me pay off most of my debt, which having some set platform of like, this is around how you should be budgeting your money. It's not just if you have the money, you should put it all in one place. Because I was doing nothing, going nowhere, enjoying none of the things because I was like, well, I have to put all my money into paying off this debt. If I'm not doing that, then I'm just going to suffer forever. And it's like, no, take a little bit for yourself. It's okay.I love that I can do some of this and be part of this journey with you. The stuff truly gets me so excited. I would truly want to hang out with the girl in line at coffee who is checking their credit card map versus Instagram. So I love it. I'm super, super proud of you. I know this has been an area of anxiety for you. I'm really honored that we could take this jump together.And I hope you're proud of yourself, too.I am super proud of myself. And I appreciate it. All of the different templates of this is how to make money easy have been so helpful for me. So I'm really grateful that it exists, especially being a woman in STEM, where no one really wants to discuss their own finances with you because they're making a little bit more than you are. It's like, okay, how do we do this?We do it one step at a time. That's how we eat an elephant, one bite at a time. I would love to follow up and how the car is going and what you ended up finding. And I think you can get into a situation that you're really excited about.Yeah. I mean, I'm already feeling pretty excited right now, so I'm happy with that. I think it's a good start. It's a good step in the right direction of easing the financial anxiety.We don't need any of that. We have so much other kinds of anxiety, probably. Finance doesn't have to be one.We're like a woman in the modern world. I feel like between my cell phone, my air conditioning, my hair.It's a lot. How do we do it? How do we drink eight glasses of water? I never know. I don't know.I don't know. I balance it my glasses of wine.Perfect. This is a calculus I can get behind.For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. If you want to see if you're leaving money on the table, check out Credit Karma's credit card marketplace at creditkarma. Com/moneyrehab. Your wallet will thank me. And again, special thanks to Credit Karma for sponsoring this podcast episode. Credit Karma's approval odds is not a guarantee.Credit Karma looks at how your credit profile compares to other Credit Karma members who were approved for the specific card shown or whether you meet certain criteria determined by the lender.Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan Lavoy. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your moneyquestions, moneyrehab@moneynewsnetwork. Com, to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram Instagram @moneynews, and TikTok @moneynewsnetwork for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.

we're missing this whole world of opportunities, right?

Definitely. I mean, I know from For me, my base level for each credit card is whatever I get back in points, miles, rewards should at least cover the cost that I'm paying yearly for the fee for the card. Oh, yeah. It really doesn't all the time. It's frustrating.

I love that rule of them because some of those annuals can get really high, and you want to make sure that you're getting your money's worth. So before we get into more credit card stuff, let's talk about you for a second, Anna. Tell money rehabbers about yourself. What do you do? How are you feeling about your money journey right now? Give us the T.

So I have had quite the money journey, and it's really played a role into every aspect of my life. I had a very bad relationship in my early 20s, and we had a joint credit card. I didn't even know that he could do this, but he pulled his name off of the credit card after spending all kinds of money. So I was stuck with that debt, and I didn't know anything whenever it came to financial aid or grants or things like that. So I had to drop out of school. I was really just working all the time to try to pay off this debt. But my APR was so ridiculous. I want to say it was 28.99% or something like that. So it's like every small chunk I took out of it, it kept building back up. And I'm so fortunate. I ended up starting a small business, and I did that for quite a few years, and it helped me pay off my debt enough to to save money and go back to school and really go back to square one. So now my financial health is medium. We're still rebuilding a lot, but my credit score has greatly improved, which I'm so grateful for.

And I'm able to split putting money into savings as well as paying my regular expenses. And to this day, I'm still working on paying off of this debt. It was $25,000 over the last eight years. It's been a lot.

I'm so sorry that you went through that. And I'm so proud of the progress you're making and travel or cashback, whatever your main goal is. And then from there, you can confirm which cards have that. So you can compare and contrast those perks that you're getting now versus what might be better out there. Because maybe a credit card that you have now is right for you. It does not sound like that, Anna. So if you're leaving money on the table, you'd want to know that. Right?Yeah, definitely. I actually have not used that part of my Credit Karma app before, but you might if I pull my phone out and I look at it. Let's do it. Totally.So on Credit Karma's credit card marketplace, you'll be able to compare offers with the best perks for each of those categories. So let's do a little brainstorming about what might be important for you so we can find the right one for you. Maybe make it a lightning round game. Ready? Okay. So would you You'd rather go on a road trip or fly somewhere far away?Road trip.Are you a homebody or a social butterfly?A homebody.Do you prefer to shop or eat out? Shop. I would ask you if you're an employee of a company or if you run your own business, but we already know the answer to this one. Based on your answers, especially that you're a homebody like I am, you want to check out cashback credit cards and filter through there, I would assume, right?Yeah, I'm a big fan of the cashback.Awesome. And to nerd out again, this is why I think Credit Karma is super helpful. Its recommendations are very personalized. Nothing about your financial life should be one size fits all. I'm also homebody. I like, for me, a perfect day is never leaving the house and binging comedy specials. So if I had a gas rewards card, I would not be racking up a lot of cashback. So when I personally shop for credit cards in the Credit Karma app, I am looking for credit cards that have stellar perks for entertainment, for all of my binge watching needs. But just because that one's right for me doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be right for you. So you should just try to, of course, find what's right for you. Then Credit Karma helps you understand your approval odds, which sounds like is a little source of anxiety for you. Do you remember what it was like when you were applying for your first credit card?Yeah, I remember I was at the cash register and they had me sign a few things and they were like, okay, well, you're approved. So here's your discount for today. And And we'll send you the credit card. And I remember when I got the credit card, I didn't even know how to log into the account to check what my balance was, what I was spending. It was a slow process.Do you remember if you were wondering if you were going to get rejected or approved?I wasn't at all. In my head, you had to have such bad credit to get rejected for a credit card because I was taught that credit card companies want you to have credit cards because you spend money, you pay interest, and they get to pocket some of your money. So it's ideal for them to approve you. So I don't even think I thought about that at all. And then when my credit tanked, I was 22, and again, it was like, your credit is your debt to income. So how do I raise that? Well, I need more credit cards, so then my debt on this card doesn't seem too bad. But then I was getting rejected for credit cards. And that was when I learned, oh, wow, no, they really do. They will tell you no.Right. Exactly. Okay. Okay, I'm glad you mentioned that. So it sounds like this anxiety of being rejected with a sub-720 score has happened more recently. You went into your credit card experience out of the gate at that Barnes & Noble, blissfully unaware with how What happened? Then you got screwed, and the X thing happened, and now you're nervous, it sounds like, about getting rejected. Yeah.I have a lot of credit anxiety in general. I don't like the idea of being rejected. So I haven't signed up for a new credit card. In quite some time, actually, I feel like once my credit started to get above 650, I was like, Okay, we're finished. We're done.You're right. Credit score does factor into the likelihood of being approved for a credit card. It can be really stressful because also when you apply for that credit card, you're going to get that hard credit check, which probably contributes to some of that anxiety, too. So if you get rejected for the card, then your credit score might just take a hit for nothing, which might have contributed or is contributing to some of this inertia.Oh, yeah, definitely. Because then my credit is now even worse when I was trying to make it better, and I didn't even have the credit card for it. It's like a lose-lose.Well, we're going to make it a win-win, Anna, because the Credit Karma marketplace shows you your approval odds. So instead of anxiously just guessing when you apply, you can apply for your next credit card with more certainty. So before you even apply, it can tell you the likelihood of whether or not you're going to get approved. Does that help with feelings of anxiety and stress?That helps a lot. That eases a lot of the anxiety behind, why am I going to ding my credit score to get nothing out of it?So now you can go find the card that makes sense for you with the perks, but also look before you leap. On the credit card app, there's a cashback category where you can go directly because that sounds like the one that's right for you. If you see in your phone, too, you can also compare and contrast ask those cashback card offers. But before we dig into the perfect luckiest card that is going to find its way into your wallet next, I'll just pause. How are you feeling about all of this right now?I feel so broadly relieved. It's a really nice feeling to know that there is an option where I can look at what's best for me and not just be sold on something for what's best for some credit card company. Yeah.Hopefully, this takes a lot of the guesswork out of it. There's so many different options and places you can go, and I think that that's contributing to some of these feelings of overwhelm and this credit anxiety is real. You're definitely not alone out there, but it sounds like you have your phone open. So do you want to play around with it and let me know how it goes?Yeah, let's do it. So I see the ones that I'm getting recommended the most. There are a lot of Capital One. Well, there's three Capital One.I mean, it's interesting that you're specifically getting Capital One recommendations because when I look at mine, I get different ones, and that could just be based on what your credit score is right now. Yeah.My top three are Capital One. These actually look pretty good.But the marketplace is personalized for you and your credit score.Yeah. Well, it's nice, too, because a lot of these for the cashback ones have no annual fee on them, I'm noticing, which is really nice because that's for sure a pet keep of mine with credit cards is charging me interest and you're taking a fee. This is very cool.Well, I think of it as a credit card dating app because you can see a lot of different options. You can know if you matched with somebody before. It lessens a lot of the anxiety for it.Credit card hinge.Yes. I love that you are obsessed with your Credit Karma app.I feel like everyone else whenever they're in line waiting for something, pulls out Instagram and I'm just like, Let me check my Credit Karma before I actually buy this coffee.I love that. That's who I want to go to coffee with. It's so important. These are great, great financial wellness and health habits. I'm so glad that you're doing this. No one is going to care as much about your money as you do. So the fact that you're putting your research into it, spending the time doing it, is only going to pay dividends later on.Yeah. Honestly, I feel like a big thing that was helpful for me was actually learning about the different types of debt that I have and the impact of my credit card. I more recently learned that as long as I keep my credit utilization under 30%, my credit stays in a very happy place. And 30% is quite a bit to be able to spend. So I'm like, That's wonderful. I also learned that I'm allowed to request for them to increase my credit limit.If you can do it responsibly, it just helps that utilization because if you have more allowable credit and you're spending less, then your utilization score goes down if you can be really diligent about it.Well, it's really interesting because I feel like a lot of my credit cards, because they're older, I had a $1,500 spending limit and things like that, which doesn't exactly fit my lifestyle now. I have a very big car payment that just would take up that whole credit card in one swipe. So whenever I found out, Oh, I actually am supposed to tell these people that I'm making more money now and I'm supposed to let them know. I had no idea. And no one teaches you. No one really sits you down and tells you this. I'm trying. I'm trying, sister.I know. I just had this conversation with my card company for one of our business cards, too, and I wanted an increase, and they You have to send a few months of bank statements and things like that. There's things that you can do if you're proactive. But yeah, I'm trying. I'm trying to spread the good word.It's honestly been very helpful. You had in your Rich Bitch book, I think, a template for spending. And that was actually very helpful for me because I took the money that should have been going to life costs. Because at the time, I was living with my sister and piecing everything back together so I didn't have a rent or utilities. And I put all that into paying off my debt and kept the rest of this as my spending money budget, as my savings budget. And that helped me pay off most of my debt, which having some set platform of like, this is around how you should be budgeting your money. It's not just if you have the money, you should put it all in one place. Because I was doing nothing, going nowhere, enjoying none of the things because I was like, well, I have to put all my money into paying off this debt. If I'm not doing that, then I'm just going to suffer forever. And it's like, no, take a little bit for yourself. It's okay.I love that I can do some of this and be part of this journey with you. The stuff truly gets me so excited. I would truly want to hang out with the girl in line at coffee who is checking their credit card map versus Instagram. So I love it. I'm super, super proud of you. I know this has been an area of anxiety for you. I'm really honored that we could take this jump together.And I hope you're proud of yourself, too.I am super proud of myself. And I appreciate it. All of the different templates of this is how to make money easy have been so helpful for me. So I'm really grateful that it exists, especially being a woman in STEM, where no one really wants to discuss their own finances with you because they're making a little bit more than you are. It's like, okay, how do we do this?We do it one step at a time. That's how we eat an elephant, one bite at a time. I would love to follow up and how the car is going and what you ended up finding. And I think you can get into a situation that you're really excited about.Yeah. I mean, I'm already feeling pretty excited right now, so I'm happy with that. I think it's a good start. It's a good step in the right direction of easing the financial anxiety.We don't need any of that. We have so much other kinds of anxiety, probably. Finance doesn't have to be one.We're like a woman in the modern world. I feel like between my cell phone, my air conditioning, my hair.It's a lot. How do we do it? How do we drink eight glasses of water? I never know. I don't know.I don't know. I balance it my glasses of wine.Perfect. This is a calculus I can get behind.For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. If you want to see if you're leaving money on the table, check out Credit Karma's credit card marketplace at creditkarma. Com/moneyrehab. Your wallet will thank me. And again, special thanks to Credit Karma for sponsoring this podcast episode. Credit Karma's approval odds is not a guarantee.Credit Karma looks at how your credit profile compares to other Credit Karma members who were approved for the specific card shown or whether you meet certain criteria determined by the lender.Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan Lavoy. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your moneyquestions, moneyrehab@moneynewsnetwork. Com, to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram Instagram @moneynews, and TikTok @moneynewsnetwork for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.

travel or cashback, whatever your main goal is. And then from there, you can confirm which cards have that. So you can compare and contrast those perks that you're getting now versus what might be better out there. Because maybe a credit card that you have now is right for you. It does not sound like that, Anna. So if you're leaving money on the table, you'd want to know that. Right?

Yeah, definitely. I actually have not used that part of my Credit Karma app before, but you might if I pull my phone out and I look at it. Let's do it. Totally.

So on Credit Karma's credit card marketplace, you'll be able to compare offers with the best perks for each of those categories. So let's do a little brainstorming about what might be important for you so we can find the right one for you. Maybe make it a lightning round game. Ready? Okay. So would you You'd rather go on a road trip or fly somewhere far away?

Road trip.

Are you a homebody or a social butterfly?

A homebody.

Do you prefer to shop or eat out? Shop. I would ask you if you're an employee of a company or if you run your own business, but we already know the answer to this one. Based on your answers, especially that you're a homebody like I am, you want to check out cashback credit cards and filter through there, I would assume, right?

Yeah, I'm a big fan of the cashback.

Awesome. And to nerd out again, this is why I think Credit Karma is super helpful. Its recommendations are very personalized. Nothing about your financial life should be one size fits all. I'm also homebody. I like, for me, a perfect day is never leaving the house and binging comedy specials. So if I had a gas rewards card, I would not be racking up a lot of cashback. So when I personally shop for credit cards in the Credit Karma app, I am looking for credit cards that have stellar perks for entertainment, for all of my binge watching needs. But just because that one's right for me doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be right for you. So you should just try to, of course, find what's right for you. Then Credit Karma helps you understand your approval odds, which sounds like is a little source of anxiety for you. Do you remember what it was like when you were applying for your first credit card?

Yeah, I remember I was at the cash register and they had me sign a few things and they were like, okay, well, you're approved. So here's your discount for today. And And we'll send you the credit card. And I remember when I got the credit card, I didn't even know how to log into the account to check what my balance was, what I was spending. It was a slow process.

Do you remember if you were wondering if you were going to get rejected or approved?

I wasn't at all. In my head, you had to have such bad credit to get rejected for a credit card because I was taught that credit card companies want you to have credit cards because you spend money, you pay interest, and they get to pocket some of your money. So it's ideal for them to approve you. So I don't even think I thought about that at all. And then when my credit tanked, I was 22, and again, it was like, your credit is your debt to income. So how do I raise that? Well, I need more credit cards, so then my debt on this card doesn't seem too bad. But then I was getting rejected for credit cards. And that was when I learned, oh, wow, no, they really do. They will tell you no.

Right. Exactly. Okay. Okay, I'm glad you mentioned that. So it sounds like this anxiety of being rejected with a sub-720 score has happened more recently. You went into your credit card experience out of the gate at that Barnes & Noble, blissfully unaware with how What happened? Then you got screwed, and the X thing happened, and now you're nervous, it sounds like, about getting rejected. Yeah.

I have a lot of credit anxiety in general. I don't like the idea of being rejected. So I haven't signed up for a new credit card. In quite some time, actually, I feel like once my credit started to get above 650, I was like, Okay, we're finished. We're done.

You're right. Credit score does factor into the likelihood of being approved for a credit card. It can be really stressful because also when you apply for that credit card, you're going to get that hard credit check, which probably contributes to some of that anxiety, too. So if you get rejected for the card, then your credit score might just take a hit for nothing, which might have contributed or is contributing to some of this inertia.

Oh, yeah, definitely. Because then my credit is now even worse when I was trying to make it better, and I didn't even have the credit card for it. It's like a lose-lose.

Well, we're going to make it a win-win, Anna, because the Credit Karma marketplace shows you your approval odds. So instead of anxiously just guessing when you apply, you can apply for your next credit card with more certainty. So before you even apply, it can tell you the likelihood of whether or not you're going to get approved. Does that help with feelings of anxiety and stress?

That helps a lot. That eases a lot of the anxiety behind, why am I going to ding my credit score to get nothing out of it?

So now you can go find the card that makes sense for you with the perks, but also look before you leap. On the credit card app, there's a cashback category where you can go directly because that sounds like the one that's right for you. If you see in your phone, too, you can also compare and contrast ask those cashback card offers. But before we dig into the perfect luckiest card that is going to find its way into your wallet next, I'll just pause. How are you feeling about all of this right now?

I feel so broadly relieved. It's a really nice feeling to know that there is an option where I can look at what's best for me and not just be sold on something for what's best for some credit card company. Yeah.

Hopefully, this takes a lot of the guesswork out of it. There's so many different options and places you can go, and I think that that's contributing to some of these feelings of overwhelm and this credit anxiety is real. You're definitely not alone out there, but it sounds like you have your phone open. So do you want to play around with it and let me know how it goes?

Yeah, let's do it. So I see the ones that I'm getting recommended the most. There are a lot of Capital One. Well, there's three Capital One.

I mean, it's interesting that you're specifically getting Capital One recommendations because when I look at mine, I get different ones, and that could just be based on what your credit score is right now. Yeah.

My top three are Capital One. These actually look pretty good.

But the marketplace is personalized for you and your credit score.

Yeah. Well, it's nice, too, because a lot of these for the cashback ones have no annual fee on them, I'm noticing, which is really nice because that's for sure a pet keep of mine with credit cards is charging me interest and you're taking a fee. This is very cool.

Well, I think of it as a credit card dating app because you can see a lot of different options. You can know if you matched with somebody before. It lessens a lot of the anxiety for it.

Credit card hinge.

Yes. I love that you are obsessed with your Credit Karma app.

I feel like everyone else whenever they're in line waiting for something, pulls out Instagram and I'm just like, Let me check my Credit Karma before I actually buy this coffee.

I love that. That's who I want to go to coffee with. It's so important. These are great, great financial wellness and health habits. I'm so glad that you're doing this. No one is going to care as much about your money as you do. So the fact that you're putting your research into it, spending the time doing it, is only going to pay dividends later on.

Yeah. Honestly, I feel like a big thing that was helpful for me was actually learning about the different types of debt that I have and the impact of my credit card. I more recently learned that as long as I keep my credit utilization under 30%, my credit stays in a very happy place. And 30% is quite a bit to be able to spend. So I'm like, That's wonderful. I also learned that I'm allowed to request for them to increase my credit limit.

If you can do it responsibly, it just helps that utilization because if you have more allowable credit and you're spending less, then your utilization score goes down if you can be really diligent about it.

Well, it's really interesting because I feel like a lot of my credit cards, because they're older, I had a $1,500 spending limit and things like that, which doesn't exactly fit my lifestyle now. I have a very big car payment that just would take up that whole credit card in one swipe. So whenever I found out, Oh, I actually am supposed to tell these people that I'm making more money now and I'm supposed to let them know. I had no idea. And no one teaches you. No one really sits you down and tells you this. I'm trying. I'm trying, sister.

I know. I just had this conversation with my card company for one of our business cards, too, and I wanted an increase, and they You have to send a few months of bank statements and things like that. There's things that you can do if you're proactive. But yeah, I'm trying. I'm trying to spread the good word.

It's honestly been very helpful. You had in your Rich Bitch book, I think, a template for spending. And that was actually very helpful for me because I took the money that should have been going to life costs. Because at the time, I was living with my sister and piecing everything back together so I didn't have a rent or utilities. And I put all that into paying off my debt and kept the rest of this as my spending money budget, as my savings budget. And that helped me pay off most of my debt, which having some set platform of like, this is around how you should be budgeting your money. It's not just if you have the money, you should put it all in one place. Because I was doing nothing, going nowhere, enjoying none of the things because I was like, well, I have to put all my money into paying off this debt. If I'm not doing that, then I'm just going to suffer forever. And it's like, no, take a little bit for yourself. It's okay.

I love that I can do some of this and be part of this journey with you. The stuff truly gets me so excited. I would truly want to hang out with the girl in line at coffee who is checking their credit card map versus Instagram. So I love it. I'm super, super proud of you. I know this has been an area of anxiety for you. I'm really honored that we could take this jump together.

And I hope you're proud of yourself, too.

I am super proud of myself. And I appreciate it. All of the different templates of this is how to make money easy have been so helpful for me. So I'm really grateful that it exists, especially being a woman in STEM, where no one really wants to discuss their own finances with you because they're making a little bit more than you are. It's like, okay, how do we do this?

We do it one step at a time. That's how we eat an elephant, one bite at a time. I would love to follow up and how the car is going and what you ended up finding. And I think you can get into a situation that you're really excited about.

Yeah. I mean, I'm already feeling pretty excited right now, so I'm happy with that. I think it's a good start. It's a good step in the right direction of easing the financial anxiety.

We don't need any of that. We have so much other kinds of anxiety, probably. Finance doesn't have to be one.

We're like a woman in the modern world. I feel like between my cell phone, my air conditioning, my hair.

It's a lot. How do we do it? How do we drink eight glasses of water? I never know. I don't know.

I don't know. I balance it my glasses of wine.

Perfect. This is a calculus I can get behind.

For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. If you want to see if you're leaving money on the table, check out Credit Karma's credit card marketplace at creditkarma. Com/moneyrehab. Your wallet will thank me. And again, special thanks to Credit Karma for sponsoring this podcast episode. Credit Karma's approval odds is not a guarantee.

Credit Karma looks at how your credit profile compares to other Credit Karma members who were approved for the specific card shown or whether you meet certain criteria determined by the lender.

Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan Lavoy. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your moneyquestions, moneyrehab@moneynewsnetwork. Com, to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram Instagram @moneynews, and TikTok @moneynewsnetwork for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.