Here are 5 things you should know.
1. TraffickCam is an app designed to help fight human trafficking by having users upload pictures of their hotel rooms.
An estimated 24.9 million people have been trafficked worldwide annually with many of these people being forced into the sex trade. Traffickers often rent hotel rooms and post online ads that include pictures of the victim(s) posed in the hotel room. TraffickCam asks users to select their hotel and room number, and then upload pictures of specific areas and items within the room. The pictures are uploaded to a database that law enforcement can use as clues when investigating hotel rooms that are suspected of being used for sex trafficking.
Please download the app and the next time you travel, take the time to snap a few pictures of your hotel room. Your pictures could be the key piece of evidence that investigators need to take down sex traffickers and rescue their victims.
2. The worst turbulence has a plane dropping only about 40 feet. It feels much worse than it actually is.
3. If you have an iPhone with “Listen for ‘Hey Siri’” turned on, you can shout, “Hey Siri, where are you?” all around your house when you lose your phone, as Siri will respond, “I’m right here.”
It doesn’t work if “listen for ‘Hey Siri’” is turned off, which is a setting under Siri and Search. It doesn’t work if you can’t use sound to locate things, unfortunately.
It also doesn’t work if the light sensor is blocked. There is a “pocket” feature where “Hey Siri” doesn’t work if the light sensor doesn’t sense any light (next to the forward facing camera). If the phone thinks it’s in a pocket, the feature is turned off. So if your phone is under a blanket, in a bag, or in a fridge it won’t work.
4. Dog toys are meant to be destroyed and there will never be an indestructible toy.
Dogs like to destroy things. They like to chew and tear and rip and dig at things. It’s what they do. Especially prey-driven dogs. You giving them things that are specifically theirs is how they manage those base desires without ruining YOUR things. You will likely be buying toys for your dog for their whole life. So expect that. Toys for dogs are not like toys for children. You will probably find yourself buying the same dog toy over and over. They get ripped up. They get dirty. They fulfill their purpose.
There are many different types of toys out there. Standard plush-type toys are likely to survive the least amount of time. That much is obvious. But there are other types that will last much longer even with excessive or rough use. It all depends on how your dog plays and the toys they like.
There will never ever ever be an indestructible toy. Not ever. The dog toy industry would never make it because then you wouldn’t buy more toys. It’s just not a thing and it never will be. But there are some toys that are stronger than others.
ALWAYS SUPERVISE YOUR DOGS PLAY ESPECIALLY WITH NEW TOYS.
5. Your credit score is calculated using five variables: Payment history (35% of your score) Amounts owed (30% of your score) Length of credit history (15% of your score) New credit (10% of your score) Credit mix (10% of your scores).
While a credit score is certainly not the most important thing in personal finance, having a good one can help you out in more ways than just getting a low-interest rate on a loan. Knowing how your score is calculated can help you understand what you can/should do to raise your score.
The title specifically refers to the FICO credit score because it is the most widely used credit score, but it is important to note that there are a variety of credit scoring systems out there which is why you will see that your “credit score” is different depending on where you look.
So what is a FICO Score
First, FICO stands for the Fair Isaac Corporation. The FICO score was created in 1989 as a standardized way for lenders to interpret your credit report and determine whether or not to give you a loan.
How is a FICO score different than a credit report? A FICO score is simply a summarized version of your credit report. Your credit report lists all your credit history, but it doesn’t keep track of everything forever. Good credit is maintained for 10 years and bad credit is tracked for 7. What’s on your credit report? If you have a credit card, auto loan, or mortgage all of that will be included. Why does your score matter? A quick caveat, if you follow Dave Ramsey’s philosophy, be aware an undeterminable score (AKA a score of 0) is very different from having a bad score. Dave cites 6-12 months after you close your last account to reach an undeterminable score. If that’s what you want to do, that’s perfectly fine, but your credit score will potentially affect you until it reaches “zero”.
Here are some areas your score will affect: Better terms when you get a loan, lower insurance premiums, the ability to rent in some apartment complexes, and potentially new jobs that require a credit check on new employees.
Your FICO score is composed of five categories: Payment history (35% of your scores) Amounts owed (30% of your scores) Length of credit history (15% of your scores) New credit (10% of your scores) Credit mix (10% of your scores).
How do you get your credit score? There are lots of free and paid ways to get your score, but the easiest is probably through your credit card company of choice. Personally, with AMEX I can check my credit score whenever I want through their website. To get your actual credit report the three big credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion offer your credit report (different from your credit score) once each year for free as mandated by federal law.
Also, it’s a myth that checking your credit score will lower it. The reason why is because there are two different types of ways credit is checked: 1) Soft check occurs anytime you check your own score or when a lender checks your score to preapprove you 2) A hard credit check occurs when a lender checks your credit to determine if you met their lending criteria such as applying for a mortgage or new credit card, this would lower your credit score slightly.
What can you do to improve your FICO score? 1) Always pay in full and on time 2) Keep your credit utilization rate low, one way to reduce your credit utilization rate is to increase your credit limits. So long as you pay everything off every month you should be able to request a credit limit increase every 9 months 3) Keep your credit cards open for a long time 4) Only open new lines of credit when you need to, such as when applying for a mortgage.
After FICO scores, the other most widely references credit score is the VantageScore 3.0. This model was created by the big three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) which are who collect everyone’s data on credit use and are what makes up your credit report. By the way, they are required by law to provide it to you free of charge once per year if you ask for it. Here’s the link to request that https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action (no affiliation, this is the official website per federal law to request your reports for free)
VantageScore 3.0
Now, this model similarly publishes what categories are used to calculate your score, unfortunately, it isn’t broken down by percentages, rather it simply states that the top of the list is the most influential and the bottom of the list is the least influential in descending order.
- Payment History – same principle as FICO
- Age and type of credit – this is a combination of credit length and credit mix
- Percentage of credit limit used – aka credit utilization rate
- Total balances and debt – the total debt that you owe
- Recent credit behavior and inquiries – new inquiries similar to how FICO does it
- Available credit – a category separate from what FICO uses (granted this has the least influence on your score) the higher your total credit limit the better
More Info…
FICO vs VantageScore In Depth https://youtu.be/mC005wehckc
How to Get Your Free Credit Report https://youtu.be/RwApIRqVCNw
Get Your FICO Score Free https://youtu.be/hQba31MZG9o
How to Freeze/Unfreeze Your Credit https://youtu.be/QjydTqnrl-M
