Smart Money Podcast — Deck the Bills: Smart Spending and Credit Tips for the Holidays

Learn how to avoid holiday shopping pitfalls and quickly improve your credit, with ideas for restoring your credit.

How can you avoid overspending during the holidays? How can you can help your credit score recover after missed payments? Can rental payments be reflected on your credit reports? Hosts Sean Pyles and Sara Rathner discuss optimizing your financial habits during the holiday season and overcoming credit mishaps that could show up on your credit report. They begin with a discussion of impulsive holiday shopping, providing tips for intentional spending, minimizing waste, and prioritizing experiential gifts over material items. Then, NerdWallet credit writer Amanda Barroso joins Sean and Sara to discuss actionable strategies to help your credit score recover, including writing goodwill letters, disputing errors with credit bureaus, and improving payment consistency. They also explain how renters can report on-time payments to credit bureaus with free and low-cost services, tools like Experian Boost, and the importance of credit freezes for families.

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This transcript was generated from podcast audio by an AI tool.

Managing your credit score can feel a bit like playing a game where you weren’t told the rules. And one small misstep can mean game over.

And recovering from a credit score mistake is a little more complicated than just putting a quarter into the slot and playing again. Sean, I know that you are deep in your video game era lately now that you have all this newfound spare time. Do you have any credit cheat codes for us?

No cheat codes here, sadly, but this episode we will help our listeners master the rules of the credit score game to get, shall we say, a new high score.

Oh, Sean, your supply of credit-related puns remains as robust as ever.

Thank you. Welcome to NerdWallet’s Smart Money podcast. I’m Sean Pyles.

And I’m Sara Rathner. This episode, we take on a number of your questions about credit in a lightning round. We’ll talk about how to get rent payments counted toward your credit score, how to recover from a missed payment, and we’ll clarify a bit of credit myth-busting we did earlier this year.

But before we get into any of that, let’s do a little holiday consumerism check-in. Sara, how are you feeling about holiday shopping right now? Are you still getting that dopamine boost from clicking the buy button, or does each new package on your doorstep leave you with a sense of dread?

Honestly, a new package arrives and I’m like, “What now?”

Yeah. But I am enjoying the pair of AirPods that I got on sale because tangled headphone cords is the worst.

Yeah, so welcome to the future, Sara. AirPods are the best.

Yeah, now I can walk down the street looking like that jerk with the AirPods.

Although you know what? The Gen Z folks are saying that corded headphones are back, so you might want to keep those around.

Well, I still have my skinny jeans and my low-rise socks, so…

Sorry, Gen Z. I’m just going to be a millennial. It’s fine.

You do you. On my end, I have taken up this unhealthy habit of watching QVC when I’m bored, partially as a cultural and anthropological exercise, and I gotta tell you, Sara, it is not good for my mental health.

It’s a slippery slope from laughing at one piece of junk after another being marketed as some life-saving gadget, to quickly falling into a pit of existential dread about what the creation and consumption of this junk is doing to the planet. All that said, I don’t like to spiral too much or succumb to doomerism. Actionable, forward-looking advice is where I feel most comfortable.

That’s good to hear because honestly, you were getting pretty bleak there for a moment.

Yeah, sorry about that. But I was recently reading this article in The New York Times with the headline I Haul, Therefore I Am about shopping hauls and what they say about us as consumers, and I did spiral a little bit. The article talks about this new shop from Amazon called Amazon Haul, which seems designed to get you to buy cheap stuff that you do not need to build up a haul that I guess you are then supposed to make a social media post about. Sara, all those haul videos where people post about the mounds of junk that they buy?

Yeah, I hate them. Go on.

The article goes on to discuss how fast fashion and shopping haul culture drive this self-perpetuating dopamine-fueled cycle of consumerism, which of course costs people a lot of money. In fact, NerdWallet recently released a report about the impact of impulse shopping on people’s budgets and found that more than one in five Americans have made impulse purchases that significantly impacted their finances in the past 12 months.

Not only is this form of consumption bad for the planet, but it’s hurting people’s finances too, and it’s just for this fleeting moment of excitement to post on social media and then have it disappear into people’s algorithms almost immediately.

Yeah. I’m pretty clearly at the point of the holidays where I can get a little bit grossed out by the mass consumption event that we’re all taking part in. And don’t get me wrong, I really love the holidays and I love giving thoughtful gifts that my loved ones will cherish, but it’s a fine line between buying a little holiday treat and actively participating in a capitalism-driven ecological disaster. I’m only being a little hyperbolic there. Anyway, back to the actionable part of this segment. Let’s talk about how to consume more intentionally and less wastefully this holiday season. Sara, do you have any tips here?

If there’s something specific I’m looking for, I try to find it secondhand before I go shopping for a new version of it. This is especially true for kid stuff. Oh my god, there’s so much kid stuff and it’s all plastic, and it’s all used for two seconds before the kid just stops using it. Whatever specific toy you wanted to buy your kid, somebody probably already bought it and now wants it out of their house because their kid outgrew it. Look on Facebook Marketplace, look on Nextdoor. Ask your friends who have older children than you. There might be some stuff out there that is in excellent condition that would make great gifts for the kids in your lives.

Or if you’re thinking about furniture, I’m a huge fan of antiquing. I love antiquing. I also live in a house that was built during World War I, so for the vibe that I have created in my home, it makes sense to have furniture that spans various decades. But also, you get better quality furniture for the money — significantly better. I’m talking real solid wood, well-constructed stuff. You don’t get that in furniture stores these days.

And what you’re getting has so much more character too.

Yeah, all the scratches on it tell a story. Honestly, the stuff that they sell now in furniture stores is the same engineered wood you’d get at Ikea, but they have the nerve to charge like $1,800 for a dining table now. What about you, Sean?

Well, I have a couple. One is called the three-year test. Before I buy anything either for myself or for a loved one, I try to ask myself, “Where will this be in three years?” And this can apply to anything, which is why it’s so good. Take a bottle of wine, for example. In three years, that will likely be long since consumed and the bottle will likely be repurposed or recycled. But what about an article of clothing for yourself or some plastic toy for your nephew? How likely is it that those things will end up in the garbage or shoved deep in a closet? The more I think the answer to the three-year question will be, “It’s going to be rotting in a dump somewhere,” the less inclined I am to buy it. On the flip side, if whatever I want to buy will still be in use or will have completely fulfilled its useful life in three years, that’s probably a better, more sustainable purchase. The goal for me is to get away from the purchase-use-for-maybe-one-month-and-forget-about-it lifecycle.

It can be hard to tell what you can buy that will actually stand the test of time, especially now where things seem to be more poorly constructed than they used to be. Have a plan for giving things away to friends or strangers in your neighborhood — leaving things at the curb so somebody else can take them. I live in a college town, so that’s pretty popular. If you find that items that you bought are now just taking up space in your closet, free them to find a new home instead of just letting them sit and collect dust. That way, you’re making more space in your home for the things you’re actually going to use, and you are giving all of your old things new life with somebody else.

Another thing — don’t give a gift of stuff. Give a gift of experience. Maybe that nephew that you don’t want to buy plastic junk for anymore — you can take them out for a movie, buy them some popcorn and candy. You can buy their parents a membership to the local children’s museum, which is the gift that keeps on giving when it’s cold or rainy outside, let me tell you. There are so many things you can get for somebody that is a thing that you can do together or a thing that they can enjoy for a long time that isn’t stuff.

Yeah, you’re building memories.

That brings me to my next tip, which is to give folks things that they can quickly consume, just enjoy, and then be done with. That typically means giving folks things like food or a bottle of wine, like I mentioned before. For example, my partner’s sister loves hot sauce. She is a maniac about the hottest hot sauce she can get her hands on. For the past couple of years, I have made her hot sauce from the hot peppers that I grew in my garden the summer before Christmas. And I’ll be honest — I do not really know what I’m doing when I’m making these hot sauces, but they turn out super spicy and she loves them. So there you go.

Yeah, she loves it, and it’s a frugal labor of love for you. You’re not just giving the physical objects, but you’re also giving all the time and love and energy that went into it — from growing the peppers to making the sauce. I love homemade consumable gifts because they’re delicious, and also they are a way to show your love. For me, it’s not so much hot sauce, but I do make really good rosemary brown butter chocolate chip cookies.

With rosemary I grow in my own garden. That’s usually my go-to when I need to make a big batch of cookies and give them away.

If you want to mail me some, Sara, you have my address.

Let’s also talk about a few ways to curb the impulse to shop and spend with abandon. And one classic tip is the “put the item in your cart and then wait a day” strategy. For me, I find I typically have to wait a couple of days before I’m no longer fixated on whatever I want to buy. I find it to be really, really helpful, especially when I pair it with doing some Reddit sleuthing after adding that item to my cart. I recently got enamored with this pair of shearling-lined sandals that looked so warm and comfortable. I actually almost bought them on the spot because I got so excited about how cozy they would be to wear. But then, upon digging into the shoes a little bit, I found numerous Reddit threads about how the shearling comes off and gets clumpy and generally looks gross and gets smelly after a couple months. So I will not be buying them, but if I had let the impulsive, ADHD-powered part of my brain stay on autopilot, I would’ve learned that lesson the hard way.

Definitely look up reviews for stuff. They’re not always legit, but for the most part, if you find a lot of reviews for something, they can really save you from yourself. Another tip that’s worked for me to keep temptation at bay is unsubscribing from marketing emails. You buy one blessed thing and they just spam you for the rest of your life, and it’s really annoying. If I don’t get a company’s emails and therefore I am not aware that they’re having a sale on something I don’t need anyway, I’m less likely to go to that company’s website and buy stuff. That, for me, is a really easy way to avoid this internal struggle with self-control and spending. And honestly, my favorite Black Friday activity is unsubscribing from company emails as they land in my inbox because you know they all come on Black Friday.

These tips are basically about building guardrails for yourself so you can have more self-control. That’s what I try to think about when I’m shopping — how can I make it harder for myself to get momentarily fixated on whatever shiny new thing is coming into my life or landing in my inbox and then buying it? And one last thing I also want to have folks keep in mind is that when it comes to spending and saving, there’s a simple adage that I return to a lot, which is: “Wealth is not what you have, it’s what you keep,” as in what you keep in your bank account. So if you want to build wealth, hold onto your money and invest it. Don’t spend it on what folks in the financial world call “depreciating assets” like some expensive sweater that will be out of style in a year.

Solid advice. Although if you find an expensive sweater that is of a timeless design and you can enjoy it for many, many, many years to come, you can buy it, okay?

Okay. You have Sara’s permission to buy one sweater.

You have my permission. I have some old sweaters from H&M of all places from the first Obama administration that are still going strong. Sometimes fast fashion used to be better than it is currently.

There you go. I mean those sweaters have certainly passed the three-year test.

Yeah, they’ve passed the three-administration test. I go by presidential administrations instead of years.

Anyway, I think we’re about ready to move on to this episode’s money question segment, but first, listener, you know what time it is — it’s time for you to pause, perhaps literally, and think for a brief moment about your money. What’s that nagging financial question or financial issue you have going on that you need a little help working through?

Whatever’s going on in your money life, we Nerdy money people can help. Leave us a voicemail or text the Nerd Hotline at 901-730-6373 — that’s 901-730-N-E-R-D — or email us at [email protected]. Maybe you’re trying to figure out how you can politely decline an invitation to an expensive weekend getaway that your friends are all going to, or you’re wondering what the best way to buy a new car is next year. There is a whole rainbow of money questions out there, and we nerds are here to help you no matter the color of your question.

And next year, we’ll be talking with more of you on the podcast than ever before. So if you want to chat with us live on Smart Money, let us know. One more time, leave us a voicemail or text us on the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 — that’s 901-730-N-E-R-D — or email us at [email protected]. Now let’s get onto this episode’s money question that’s coming up in a moment. Stay with us.

We’re back and answering your money questions to help you make smarter financial decisions. This episode, we are taking on a number of your credit questions in a lightning round, and we’re joined in this conversation by NerdWallet credit writer Amanda Barroso. Amanda is a personal finance Nerd who spent more than a decade covering issues facing many Americans, including her work as a writer at the Pew Research Center and as a policy analyst at the National Women’s Law Center. Amanda, welcome back to Smart Money.

I’m so happy to be back here with you both.

All right, let’s get to our first question, which comes from Abigail, who sent us an email. Here it is: “Hi. I missed some payments on my mortgage due to an auto draft problem when my mortgage company went to withdraw the funds. Then, they stopped the auto withdrawals and started sending me notices of missed payments. However, they had my wrong address on file — an address where I have never even lived — so I didn’t receive these notices. I have since paid all the missed payments and I’m up-to-date. I had a great credit score before this, and now it’s in the tank. Any ideas on how to best go about getting my credit score back up and running and the best way to dispute my credit score? Thanks, Abigail.”

Wow, this is a wild situation. You would think that a bank that has your mortgage would know your actual address. That’s kind of bonkers. But anyway, our listener is in this really frustrating situation. It seems like through no fault of their own, their mortgage payments weren’t taken out, and now they have late payments on their credit reports. So Amanda, to start, can you talk with us about how serious a negative mark like this can be on your credit reports and for your credit scores?

To echo you, Sean, this sounds like a really frustrating problem, especially since you, Abigail, automated your monthly mortgage payments to avoid this kind of situation happening in the first place. Here’s the thing: A series of missed payments not only harms your score but also stays on your credit reports for up to seven years. Abigail’s also up against a few other challenges here. Missing several payments in a row damages your score more than just missing a single payment. And missed payments hurt people with good or excellent scores more — so in other words, the higher your score, the further you have to fall.

That is tough. So what tips do you have for Abigail to better their credit score? Do they have any chance of reversing these negative marks?

First, I would definitely call your mortgage company and speak with someone about how your address got changed. That’s strange to me, and I’d want to make sure that nothing like that happened again. This mistake sounds like it could have been made by the lender, and your credit score shouldn’t have to suffer.

And are there any other steps that our listener can take to resolve this situation?

There are two steps our listener can take. My first suggestion would be to write a goodwill letter asking the mortgage company to stop reporting the late payment. NerdWallet has a template that you can use that will help you, but essentially you are simply asking the mortgage company to remove the missed payments since they weren’t your fault. I know you might be really angry — I know I would be — but don’t let it reflect in your writing. Your goodwill letter should be polite and as detailed as possible because you really want to get the sympathy of your lender.

Second, get a letter in writing from your mortgage lender stating exactly what went wrong and documenting how you’ve made up the missed payments. From there, get a copy of your credit reports using annualcreditreport.com. Those are free, by the way. There should be three reports — one from each of the three major credit bureaus, which are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

You’re going to want to look and see how these missing payments were recorded on your credit reports. From there, you’re going to want to dispute the reported late payments with each of the bureaus. Now, this is where that letter from your mortgage lender will come in handy — make a copy of it and pair it with the dispute form from each of the credit bureaus. They each have their unique process for filing a dispute, so you want to check out our website at nerdwallet.com to make sure you have all the documentation you need. I recommend sending the packets by certified mail. That way, you have evidence that someone has signed for the package. In general, when you’re filing a credit dispute, you can do it online or over the phone. Now, the credit bureaus have 30 days by law to investigate and respond to your claim, so start your watch.

What about Abigail’s chances of building up their credit again? What steps would you recommend?

In terms of building your credit back up, make sure you’re making payments on time for all your bills and keep your credit utilization under 30% or lower if you can — ideally 10% or less. Credit utilization sounds like a fancy term, but what it really refers to is how much of your credit limit you have in use at a given time. So, for example, if your credit limit on a credit card is $1,000, spend no more than $300 to keep that utilization at 30% or below. These are the two biggest credit scoring factors — payment history and credit utilization — so keeping some consistency in these areas should really help.

I’d also suggest that listeners use Abigail’s story as a cautionary tale to trust but verify when it comes to auto payments for things, whether it’s a mortgage or a credit card. Watch your account, and if an expected payment like this doesn’t go through, be proactive to resolve the situation so you don’t end up with negative marks for missed payments on your credit reports.

Yeah, Abigail, good luck navigating all of this, and I hope that it gets better for you soon. If you are looking for more ideas for building your credit, NerdWallet has an article called How to Improve Credit Fast. Couldn’t have named it better myself. We will put a link in this episode’s show notes, or you can also search online for NerdWallet “How to Improve Credit Fast.” Easy peasy.

We’re going to move on to the next question. Here’s one that Samuel emailed to us: “Hello. I have rented from small landlords for many years and I’m looking for a way to get my rent payments reflected in my credit score. I called TransUnion, and they directed me to three rent reporting companies — Rent Reporters, RentTrack, and Datalinx — that charge sign-up and monthly fees. Is there a way to do this for free?”

I think a lot of renters find themselves in Samuel’s situation. They’re making on-time rent payments, but that good financial behavior isn’t working to build up their credit, which is pretty unfair since mortgage payments are obviously counted on your credit reports. But having to pay to have these rent payments counted doesn’t sound like a great solution. Amanda, what free options do Samuel and other renters have?

There are definitely some free or low-cost rent reporting services out there that our listener can look into. For example, Self is a free option, and it reports to all three credit bureaus. Another option is Piñata. It’s not free, but it’s fairly low cost — about $5 a month or $60 a year. It also reports to all three bureaus. The perk of these is that you can utilize them no matter where you live.

There are other services that require landlord participation and are free to renters, but that, of course, means your landlord needs to be on board, so there’s some limitations there. We have an article that breaks down the kinds of rent reporting services that are available to folks, so it’s worth checking out.

Experian Boost is another free service that gives people credit for making on-time rent payments, as well as other things like your streaming service payments, utility payments, and insurance payments. Once you connect your bank or credit card, your positive payments are recorded and then added to your Experian credit report. It should be noted that it’s only going to be added to Experian if you use that service, whereas some of the others are added to all three credit reports.

That is good to know. Okay, so keeping this lightning round moving, let’s get to the next question. This one comes from a listener’s voicemail:

“Hi guys. I was just going back into your archives and I listened to the one about things you can do right now to protect yourself from identity theft. I’ve had my account frozen since probably 2021, but I have a question: Can you freeze your children’s accounts even though they don’t have credit right now? Is that something that is possible? Thanks again, have a good one.”

So Amanda, for those who aren’t familiar with credit freezes or need a refresher on why we’re big fans of them here at NerdWallet, can you please give us a brief primer on what a credit freeze is?

A credit freeze is a free and quick way to protect your credit from fraudulent activity, like someone using your personal information to open accounts in your name. When your credit is frozen, no one can open a new account in your name because when a potential lender goes to check your credit, they can’t access the information they need to approve or deny the request. It’s a great way to give yourself peace of mind, especially when data breaches leak our personal information and make us vulnerable to fraud.

To be totally secure, you have to freeze your credit with each major bureau. Again, those are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Once you create an online account, however, it’s a straightforward process that should only take a few minutes. If you’re planning on making a big purchase like a new car, you can temporarily thaw your credit for a specified timeframe, after which the freeze will automatically begin again.

Okay, and what about freezing your children’s credit? How does that work and why is it important even if your kid isn’t likely to be actively using their credit profile?

So parents and guardians can freeze the credit of a child under the age of 16. Once you request a credit freeze, the credit bureau will create a file for that child and then freeze it. Scammers could use the children’s Social Security numbers to open up a fraudulent account, and this isn’t discovered until your kid applies for college or tries to open up their first credit card.

To freeze your child’s credit, you’ll have to provide a lot of documentation — everything from copies of birth certificates and Social Security cards to a utility bill or bank statement with your identifying information on it. All of this to prove that you actually have the authority to do this, which is obviously meant to protect kids from identity theft. Equifax and Experian have child freeze request forms, which you should download, complete, and send in with all that required documentation using certified mail. TransUnion doesn’t have a form, but we’ve made life easy for you. We’ve created a downloadable letter that you can print and complete.

Well, you can make life easier for us if somebody from NerdWallet will just show up and then take your stuff to the post office for you. But we just don’t have that kind of time, listeners, I’m sorry. You’re going to have to do it yourself. All right, moving on to our final question. This also comes from a listener’s voicemail:

“Hi Sean. My name is Nikki, and I am calling not with a money question but with a concern. Because on the March 25th episode, when you guys were busting the myth about your credit card balance, I think there’s a big misunderstanding — and I totally get it. I think it’s maybe from a place of never being in a situation where this mattered. But the myth you busted could possibly be very confusing for your listeners, because what that number-one myth about carrying a balance on your credit card is — the reason that advice is out there — is because what some people are doing, in an effort to not have credit card debt, is they make a purchase and then immediately, in that moment, pay it off.

What happens then is they are not actually showing a balance when the statement hits, which means they’re not showing credit usage, which of course you know means they’re not helping their credit score. I would love to see if that is something that could be addressed in a future show, because I am concerned that that episode is definitely going to misguide some people or confuse them, because there is more to it than what was discussed in that show. And I think you guys do an amazing job at having these conversations, and I would love to see that one be revisited. Thank you so much. I hope you have an amazing day, and I look forward to listening to more of your episodes.”

So for context, for listeners who maybe missed that episode, Sara and I talked about the persistent myth that you have to carry a balance on your credit card to build your credit score. This listener seems to think that if you don’t carry a balance at the end of your statement, any activity on your account won’t be counted, and thus you won’t be bettering your credit scores with that good activity. But this kind of misunderstands how credit scores are calculated. It’s not that you need to have X number of charges or a certain amount of activity on your credit card each statement. The credit bureaus are more concerned with utilization, which Amanda talked about earlier, and is different from this.

You’re right, Sean. So let’s break this down a little bit. The listener seems concerned that paying off the balance in full erases a person’s record of ever having used the credit in the first place. They even mention a more vigilant group of people who use their credit card to make a purchase and then immediately pay it off to avoid debt.

Here’s the thing: Your credit card issuer definitely has a list of the transactions you have made alongside your payment history. That credit has been used and paid back, and they know it. However, what lenders are reporting to the credit bureaus every month is if you’ve paid on time and your balances—or how much of your limits that you’re using at that particular time.

There are two groups to think about in this case. There’s the credit bureaus, which create your credit reports each month, and then there’s the credit scoring companies like FICO and VantageScore, which take that report data and calculate your scores using their proprietary formulas. FICO and VantageScore are weighing your payment history and your credit utilization, along with a few other things like your credit age and credit mix, to calculate your scores. So there’s two things happening here: The credit bureaus are recording your history with credit —did you pay on time? —while the scoring companies like FICO and VantageScore are looking at your payment history and utilization to calculate a score for you.

That’s really helpful context. I feel like credit scoring is such a mystery. So hopefully those of you who are listening and wondering about that understand this a little bit more. So what does this mean for our listeners’ credit scores?

It essentially means that having a balance on your credit card — whether it’s accumulated spending from that month or a balance you don’t pay in full that carries over to the next month — does not help your credit score. Both the credit bureaus and lenders want to see that you’re paying back the money you borrowed on time and consistently over time. That’s why payment history is such a big piece of credit score calculations.

Also, carrying a balance, even a small one, can hurt your credit score by increasing your credit utilization. If you’re carrying a balance that pushes you over that recommended 30% threshold, it can really count against you.

Well, Amanda, thank you so much for helping us answer our listeners’ questions in this lightning round.

No problem. Thanks for having me, y’all.

Thanks, Amanda. And that’s all we have for this episode. Remember, listener, that we are here for you and your money questions. So turn to the Nerds and call or text us your questions at 901-730-6373. That’s 901-730-N-E-R-D. You can also email us at [email protected]. Also, visit nerdwallet.com/podcast for more info on this episode. And remember, you can follow the show on your favorite podcast app — including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio — to automatically download new episodes.

And here’s our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.