Stephanie Colestock

Our goal here at Credible Operations, Inc., NMLS Number 1681276, referred to as "Credible" below, is to give you the tools and confidence you need to improve your finances. Although we do promote products from our partner lenders who compensate us for our services, all opinions are our own.

Buying a home is an involved process, from choosing a neighborhood to calculating your budget and, of course, actually looking at properties. Knowing how to get pre-approved for a mortgage can make the who...

As your home loan is paid down, or the value of your home increases due to market changes (or both), you’ll build home equity in the property. This equity can be tapped in a variety of ways, giving you access to cash if you have unexpected expenses or want to jump into certain investments.
If you’re going to use your home equity for investments, be sure you’ve properly vetted the scenario before making a decision. After all, home equity is incredibly valuable to have, and losing that equity i...

Slide 1 of 15: When I was growing up, my grandmother kept her cash in a coffee can above the fridge. I never knew how much money was in that old blue Maxwell House tin, but I was always worried that one day it would somehow disappear and her hard-earned savings would be lost.It wasn’t until I got older that I realized why my grandmother kept her money in that can. Eight years before she was born, her parents lost all their savings when their bank failed in the wake of the Great Depression.Whe...

Family life insurance provides not only protection for one parent, but the entire family. This can be done through a branded family policy or by adding spousal and child riders to an existing policy, some of which can be converted into their own stand-alone policies down the line. Family coverage can be temporary (term), permanent, or even a blend of the two, depending on the needs of you and your loved ones.
To help you choose the right life insurance policy for your family, we have compared...

If you’re looking to tackle your mortgage balance faster without feeling the strain of extra payments, paying your mortgage biweekly (every other week) could help you do just that. Not only can this be a great way to sneak in additional loan payments, but there are also a number of other financial advantages it provides.
Let’s discuss what it means to make biweekly mortgage payments and how beneficial this repayment method can be.
How does paying a mortgage biweekly work?
If you’re like most ...

While there are some outliers, the majority of mortgage loans are 15- or 30-year products. That’s a long time to be paying off a home, especially if you’ve decided to utilize it as a rental property. Before you reach the end of that scheduled loan, in fact, you might even consider refinancing.
But the question then becomes, should you ever refinance a rental property? Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons you might consider a refi on your investment home, and how to decide if a new mortga...

Short Answer
You may have asked yourself whether you need to buy life insurance yet. Maybe you’re still young, in good health, and don’t have a family or debt. So, what’s the right age to buy coverage?
While there is no perfect age for purchasing life insurance, there are milestones in life that warrant coverage. If you want to pay less in the end and ensure that your loved ones are protected, you need to buy young, buy while you’re healthy, and buy from a company that will grow with you thro...

You don't always need a huge down payment to flip houses. Find out how to flip houses with no money and what you need to get started.
In this article:
Flipping houses, or the process of buying a home with the goal of improving it and selling it for more than the purchase price, is a very lucrative strategy for many real estate investors. For some, it may even mean earning a profit on a property in a matter of weeks or months.
However, buying any home (even a fixer-upper) usually requires sign...

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It’s an ironic reality of banking: You may have to pay in order to use your own money, even if you open a “free” account.
Both online and brick-and-mortar banks may charge monthly maintenance fees (among other types of fees), which ca...

Life insurance is an important financial product that can protect your family if something were to happen to you. One of the biggest considerations when buying life insurance—and calculating how much coverage you need—is your mortgage.
Mortgage insurance is a term policy that provides declining coverage as your mortgage value declines over time. While mortgage protection insurance products were available not that long ago, they have been steadily phased out by carriers because most people don...

Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the best products; you can learn more about our review process here. We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links.
Whether you are a buyer, seller, renter, landlord, or happy owner, real estate websites can be an invaluable information tool. These sites offer a variety of resources, helping you not only determine a home’s value but also gauge the market, evaluate an area, and even connect with trusted local agents.
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Filing the FAFSA is an integral part of the student financial aid process. But what if your parents make too much money for you to qualify for aid? Should you still bother filling out the form?