Make your credit cards work for you in your overall financial health. Don’t let them become an interest-generating burden.
— Courtney Mihocik
Courtney Mihocik is a senior credit cards editor for Bankrate. She specializes in helping people with limited or no credit understand their options for improving their credit scores. She focuses on the subprime category and provides guidance to people on their credit-building journeys.
Courtney is passionate about creating a space where people can learn more about managing their personal finances, specifically helping her peers achieve their credit card and credit score goals. She believes that public education fails to teach the essentials of personal finance to students and wants to make up for it in her editorial work.
Previously, she led insurance content at Reviews.com and worked as the loans editor at The Simple Dollar, where she produced daily personal finance articles from founder Trent Hamm in addition to student, personal, business and bad credit loan articles. Before entering the digital media space, Courtney worked in hyper-local print journalism, covering arts, culture, food, news and more for publications in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Courtney graduated college with a 750 credit score, which quickly plummeted to the 500s when she nearly defaulted on her high student loan payments she couldn’t afford. After applying for an income-driven repayment plan and six years of careful budgeting, hustling and responsible credit use, she’s happy to report her credit score is back hovering around 720 and she can qualify for better financial products.
Make your credit cards work for you in your overall financial health. Don’t let them become an interest-generating burden.
— Courtney Mihocik
Inflation is hitting Americans hard despite finally slowing to pre-pandemic levels as of September 2024. And many people are feeling it most when paying for essentials like housing, utilities and insurance. [...]
Both cards are extremely similar and only differ in fees, benefits and ongoing rates.
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A great option for anyone who loves to travel and prefers to stay at Choice Hotels.
Though it's relatively low-cost for an unsecured credit-building card, the Mission Lane Visa is pricier than most secured cards.
The Home Depot Credit Card is one of a few big brand-name home improvement credit cards out there. Read a full review here.
A no-frills card that does not offer rewards but advertises a low range of APRs, making it a good card if you anticipate carrying a balance.
With excellent credit, you will qualify for the best credit card offers on the market in 2025. The experts at Bankrate have chosen the best credit cards for excellent credit available from our partners.
The Citi Diamond Preferred Card offers one of the longest introductory balance transfer periods on the market. Here's why that might not be good enough.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® has long been a favorite among fans of flat-rate cash back credit cards, but the card may soon hold even greater appeal for rewards-savvy cardholders looking to get started with Chase Ultimate Rewards.
A powerful combination of bonus rewards, annual credits and bonus points, transfer
The Chime Credit Builder Secured Visa® Credit Card is a low-cost card that could make building credit more accessible.
The Petal 2 Visa Credit Card allows cardholders to build credit while earning cash back along the way.
Buying an Airbnb property can be lucrative.
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A credit card may be a financial tool at your fingertips.
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