Good news. The U.S. economy is improving. Nearly 3 million jobs were added in 2014 while the unemployment rate closed the year at 5.6 percent. In addition, consumer confidence is returning. How do we know? Well, that’s the bad news.

So you’d love a new set of wheels, but your credit score is a clunker. Don’t despair — there are things you can do to help put the odds more in your favor at the dealership when trying to get an auto loan with bad credit.

Eighty percent of Americans are paid biweekly. Why, then, is it so common to budget on a month-to-month basis? Matching payments to paychecks with biweekly loan payments can make fulfilling all of your financial obligations easier and much less time consuming.

America has a credit card problem. Credit cards are the third leading form of debt in the U.S., after student and home loans. Just as the national credit card debt has quintupled since the 1980s, so too can a small balance become a very large one if you’re only making minimum monthly payments.

Understanding how your loan is amortized is an important part of being an educated financial consumer, as it will help you understand exactly where your money is going each time you make a payment. And it just may give you some important clues about how you might be able to save big on your mortgage.

You may also be surprised to learn just how many different loan types are available. Understanding the similarities and differences among them can help make you a more educated financial consumer and a smarter shopper the next time you need to borrow money.

The credit information of more than 200 million Americans is in the hands of a triumvirate of powerful reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The information these giant companies collect and disseminate can affect the ability of consumers to rent an apartment, obtain financing for a car or home loan, get car insurance or even find employment. What if that information is wrong?

Interest is the percentage of principal charged by a lender to a borrower on an annual basis. When you borrow money to buy something, interest rates are important to understand because they significantly affect the amount you’ll pay over time.

So you're getting ready to buy a new car. It's an exciting time! While it's a lot more fun to think about what color you want, which audio system to install, and whether to go with the performance upgrade package, it's time to pay close attention to your loan options. If you’re financing the vehicle, the deal you're about to make will impact your financial life, possibly for years into the future.

Getting prequalified and preapproved for your home loan can help you be a more informed real estate buyer, avoid last-minute problems when purchasing a home, and even help your negotiating power when making an offer on a property. So what exactly are mortgage prequalification and mortgage preapproval? How do they differ? And how do they fit into the overall mortgage approval process?