Renae, 700 is a great target. As a life insurance agent, you already know the value of reading a policy closely, and credit works the same way. Happy to cheer you on from Fort Worth. How close are you now?

I'd love a session on reading the fine print: how to spot the terms that matter in a credit card agreement, a loan offer, or a credit repair contract before you sign. Things like penalty APRs, co-signer liability, and what a company can and can't legally promise. Knowing the rules up front would save a lot of people from expensive mistakes.

The insight that sticks with me: closing your oldest card can backfire. It can raise your utilization right away, and once it eventually drops off your report, it can shorten your credit history too. If an old card has no annual fee, keeping it open with a small recurring charge on autopay is often the smarter move.

The big lesson for me: get everything in writing before you pay a collection. Ask the collector to validate the debt first, and if you settle, get the terms in writing before money moves. Paying a collection doesn't automatically remove it from your report, although newer scoring models like FICO 9 and VantageScore 3.0/4.0 ignore paid collections. Knowing which rules apply takes a lot of the anxiety out of it.

This one catches a lot of people. Even if your total usage across all cards is low, one card near its limit can still drag your score down, because many models look at each card individually as well as overall. Spreading a balance across cards, or paying the high one down before the statement closes, can make a real difference.