Kind-of-Lost

Can a Landlord Remove an Eviction from Your Record?

I get this question more than you might expect. People dealing with credit issues often have eviction history too—they tend to travel together, unfortunately. So: can a landlord remove an eviction from your record? The short answer is no, not directly. A landlord can’t reach into a court database and delete a judgment that’s already been entered. But they can do something that makes removal possible, and that distinction matters a lot.

What Credit Score Do You Need to Get a Credit Card?

People come to me with a specific goal more often than a vague one. Not “I want better credit” — more like “I need a 680 by March to apply for this card.” The credit card question comes up constantly, and the answer is more nuanced than a single number. It depends entirely on which card you’re applying for.

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How Much Cash Can You Carry on a Plane?

Someone asked me this in a comment once — I think after a post about credit cards — and I realized I didn’t actually know the answer with any precision. I knew the $10,000 threshold existed somewhere, but I didn’t know the details: whether that applied to carry-on, checked bags, domestic, international, or all of the above. So I looked it up. Turns out there’s more nuance than most people assume.

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Average Credit Score After Chapter 13 Discharge

Buyers come to me after Chapter 13 discharge more than you might expect. They’ve just finished a multi-year repayment plan, their credit took a real beating, and they want to know two things: where does my score stand right now, and will a tradeline help? The honest answer to both questions is more nuanced than what most posts on this topic give you.

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Sinking Fund Categories That Actually Make Financial Sense

I put a $2,200 HVAC repair on a credit card once. Didn’t think much of it — I’d pay it off in a couple months. But in the meantime, that card went from about 15% utilization to over 70%. My credit score dropped around 30 points. I wasn’t planning to apply for anything, so I didn’t notice for weeks. That was the last time I “just charged it” for an expense I knew was coming.

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