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If you're looking for a simple way to potentially boost your credit score, you may want to try the 15/3 credit card payment hack. This popular strategy involves making two payments towards your credit card bill each month instead of just one lump-sum payment.
You know you need to pay your credit card bill on time, and that you should always pay enough to avoid keeping a balance. The 15/3 rule recommends making an initial credit card payment around 15 days before your statement due date. You then make a second payment about three days before the due date to pay off the remaining balance.
For example, if your statement closing date is the 1st of the month and the payment is due on the 25th, you would make one payment around the 10th and the final payment around the 22nd.
The logic behind the 15/3 hack is that it can help minimize your credit utilization ratio, which is the percentage of your total credit limit being used. Credit utilization makes up 30% of your FICO credit score calculation.
When your statement balance gets reported to the credit bureaus, a lower balance (from making that payment around 15 days early) means your utilization will be lower for that snapshot in time. Since utilization has a significant impact on your score, the 15/3 strategy may help keep your credit utilization ratio down and your credit score up.
However, the impact can vary depending on the credit scoring model used and your overall credit profile. Those with higher credit limits may see less of a boost compared to those with lower limits where utilization changes make a bigger difference.
While results aren't guaranteed, the 15/3 hack is certainly worth trying if you're looking for ways to optimize your credit score. It's a simple adjustment to how you make payments, without any cost to you. Just be sure to make at least the minimum payment each month and automate payments if you think you might forget. Consistent, on-time payments are ultimately what matters most for your credit score.
Two years ago I was pushed out of a writing job at a software company. A couple weeks later I fired my therapist.
My job, it turns out, was causing the bulk of my mental health issues. Therapy sessions where I'd previously talk endlessly about how conflicted I felt, how insecure I felt, how unloved I felt—these sessions were suddenly awkward because couldn't think of anything to talk about. Life was suddenly just...good. It has been ever since.
But here's the thing: I agonized over leaving that job. I spent a weekend spiraling, trying to think of schemes to stay in (my sincere apologies to a particular group text). I was convinced I couldn't leave a job that was making me miserable, that did not align with my values, at a company where I had no long-term career goals. Alan Henry, who used to edit this very website, wrote an article that I think about every week: the company you work for is not your friend. A culty tech company can make you forget this. You shouldn't.
It was fairly common among employees to joke that the company I'm talking about was a cult. Many jokes are funny because they're not true; this wasn't one of those. I don't mean to say that the leaders of the company literally set themselves up as Messianic figures—they didn't (exactly). But this was a company that spent a lot of time talking about how unique their "values" are, how different those values made them from other companies, and how important their mission was to society in general. The company also spent a lot of time—and money—blurring the line between co-workers and friendship.
That combination, at any company, makes it hard to leave a job even if you're actively miserable. And here's the thing: I knew this. I would be the first person to tell you that the company values were propaganda used by management to shame workers, and I knew the company wasn't actually all that important. I also literally wrote articles while working this job about the importance of separating work from the rest of your life. And yet, in spite of all that, I still felt like the job was important, and that my life would be worse if I left it, despite all the evidence to the contrary. I let a Slack instance and a paycheck become my world.
That's what a culty tech company can do. You might be working at such a company. You may also, unlike me, not have the luxury of being able to leave. With that in mind I thought I'd compile a list of survival tips for anyone struggling to maintain their humanity in a similar workplace.
Culty tech companies thrive on the metaphorical Kool-Aid. They depend on members buying the hype, or at the least pretending like they are. That's why public communications—Slack, let's say, or all-hands meetings—are always uniformly positive. Everyone is SO EXCITED about how well things are going; everyone is reacting with way too many happy emojis. It's enough to make someone who is unhappy, or even just questioning the status quo, feel like they're absolutely insane. Everyone else is happy, after all—why aren't you?
You're not crazy, though. If the vibes feel off, you can be certain that you're not the only one who feels that way. It's important, if you're going to keep feeling like a person, that you find people who feel the same way as you, so that the cognitive dissonance doesn't completely destroy your sense of self.
Doing this can be tricky. I found it easiest during one-on-one conversations—meetings, for example, or Slack DMs. Start slow, making the occasional joke about how absurd the company is. You will be amazed how often people will laugh, and how relieved they will be that someone else sees what they're seeing. With any luck you'll have a work friend you can talk shit with, or even a group of friends. (Your Slack DMs, if you didn't know, aren't private—your company can read them at any time. Be careful here.)
Make sure, once you have these friends, to find places to chat with them that your work doesn't own. If you work in an actual office, that place might be a bar or coffee shop. If you work remotely, I recommend using the encrypted messaging app Signal. Install Signal on your personal phone and you've got a completely untraceable way to talk shit while everyone else is pretending things are great. This is particularly helpful during all-hands meetings, when the most ridiculously out-of-touch things tend to be said by company leadership.
If you're going to remain a person, you need to be able to laugh at the absurdity of what's happening—and to do it with others. Find those others.
I've been writing for a living full time since 2008, most of that time as a freelance journalist. It's not an easy way to make a living but I've always pulled it off. Some of this is undoubtedly due to my connections, granted, but I also happen to think I'm pretty good at this.
I forgot that while working at a culty software company, though. I was convinced that my work wasn't going well and that I'd have trouble finding work if I left. To be clear, this wasn't true: strangers still reach out to tell me how much they appreciate my writing from that time and I haven't had any trouble finding work since I left.
I'm still not sure what it is about that environment that made me doubt my self worth. There's something about the environment at a culty tech company that can make you feel worthless. Part of this is that such companies tend to attract extremely qualified people—you might find yourself wanting by comparison. For me, a big part of this was the company's constant prompts for self improvement: the performance reviews, yes, but also the way the company pushed things like coaching. There was a constant push to become better, which made me feel like I wasn't doing well in the first place.
So I'd encourage you to remember that you're good at things. You got the job you have because you're qualified and other employers would be happy to have access to those same skills. Find ways to remind yourself of this. Maybe ask your like-minded co-workers to let you know how you're doing. Maybe reach out to colleagues from past jobs. Just find some way to ground yourself in the knowledge of your own skills, outside of how the company sees you. You're good at things.
You might, if you're a well meaning person, think that any bad policies or situations at the company are your job to fix. And if your title includes the word "executive," "president," or "director," that's absolutely true. But if you are a low level employee, you need to know that it absolutely isn't your job to fix the company and that trying to do so is only going to break you.
It doesn't matter how often leadership talks about how they're different—a company is not a democracy and internal blog posts are not a free press. Criticize leadership enough and you will eventually be asked—or told—to shut up (believe me on this). More importantly, though, it's not your job to make the company better, and without actual power, trying to do so is only going to burn you out.
Improving and preserving the company culture is not your job. Focus instead on finding ways you can improve your own situation and the situation of those you're close with. Talk transparently about your salary—this can really empower you and the people you work with to ask for what you all deserve. And, if you really want to improve things for your co-workers, look into how unionization works.
A culty tech company can very easily fill your entire brain. There's the work, of course, but there's also the drama that seems to be constantly happening. I cannot overstate the extent to which none of that shit matters.
There is a whole world outside of work. If you're going to stay sane, you need to be connected to it. Go for a walk every day. Join a softball league, or a church, or volunteer at a shelter. Go to coffee shops, and bars, and concerts. Read fiction. Try to learn a musical instrument. Host a monthly party, inviting people from different parts of your life to meet each other.
The specifics don't matter: just find some sort of thing in your life that has absolutely nothing to do with work. It's going to be hard to feel like a person if you don't. And that's what you are: a person. Not an employee, and not a part of a company. You are on this planet for a limited amount of time. By some miracle or coincidence, you are capable of not only thought, but also feeling. Don't waste all of that on a company that will never love you back.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a new rule on Tuesday capping late fees on credit cards. The move slashes the typical late fee from an average of around $32 down to just $8, saving affected consumers an estimated $220 per year on average.
The new regulation comes after the CFPB reviewed data showing credit card companies have been steadily hiking late fees higher and higher over the last decade by exploiting a loophole in the 2009 Card Act. That law allowed issuers to raise fees to adjust for inflation, which they took full advantage of.
"For over a decade, credit card giants have been exploiting a loophole to harvest billions of dollars in junk fees from American consumers," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra sad in the release. "Today's rule ends the era of big credit card companies hiding behind the excuse of inflation when they hike fees on borrowers and boost their own bottom lines." Here's how the release breaks down the main takeaways of the new rule:
Lowers the immunity provision dollar amount for late fees to $8: Based on data analyzed by the CFPB, a late fee of $8 would be sufficient for larger card issuers, on average, to cover collection costs incurred as a result of late payments.
Ends abuse of the automatic annual inflation adjustment: The CFPB found that many issuers hiked their late fees in lockstep each year without evidence of increased costs. The CFPB’s final rule eliminates the automatic annual inflation adjustment for the $8 late fee threshold. This adjustment was added by the Federal Reserve Board and is not required by law. The CFPB will instead monitor market conditions and adjust the $8 late fee immunity threshold as necessary.
Requires credit card issuers to show their math: Larger card issuers will be able to charge fees above the threshold so long as they can prove the higher fee is necessary to cover their actual collection costs.
By capping late fees at a reasonable $8 level, the CFPB estimates the new policy will save consumers billions of dollars annually in excessive penalty charges. The rule is set to take effect later this spring.
However, while the late fee reduction provides some relief, remember this is only a bandage on the larger problem of credit card debt. With interest rates on unpaid balances still averaging around 20% or higher, the core issue of making it difficult for Americans to get out of credit card debt remains. As always, you should try to pay your credit card bill on time, and always pay enough to avoid keeping a balance. For more, here's the most strategic time to pay your credit card balance.