The road to military financial success is paved with a history of good credit.
In today's economy, always paying your bills on time - paying more than the minimums due on your credit cards - presents a challenge, whether you're on military deployment or stationed at home.
But timely bill payments are key to your credit rating. And a high credit rating is vital to your financial success. Banks and other lenders will offer you more credit lines at better interest rates, simply because you have proven your creditworthiness by consistently paying back your debts on time.
Creating good credit is more than good sense; it's simply one of your best military money management strategies today.
When you apply for a military loan, you want to come to the lender with a history of on-time payments. If you start planning for a loan far in advance, you can insure a six-month payment history of timely bill paying.
If you've made mistakes in the past that affect your credit, you're not alone; thousands of military servicemembers get nervous when filling out a credit application. Here's the good news; there are ways to salvage your credit and make yourself more attractive as a borrower.
If you have good credit and are in the military, credit-card issuers will tempt you with endless new credit offers. It's easy to end up with a wallet full of credit cards. Securing and maintaining the best credit cards is just one more smart military money move.
You need to be military smart about protecting your credit from identity thieves. And fortunately, there are some simple steps you can follow that can lock up your data, keep tabs on your credit, and protect your greatest asset: your well-earned military reputation and credit rating.
Today's military personnel are spending more time on the road: during relocation, training or in support of US military initiatives. To accommodate you, the military gives members a convenient way to manage the costs of your official military travel, with the Government Travel Card program.