Debt & Credit
What a credit file actually records, and what it does not
Credit scores are widely misunderstood, partly because the number most people see is not the one lenders use.
Debt & Credit
Interest, repayment order, credit files and getting out from under it.
21 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 1 of 2
Debt & Credit
The avalanche and snowball methods, and when each is right
One pays less interest, the other is finished more often. The evidence on which works is not what the arithmetic suggests.
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Debt & Credit
APR, AER and the flat rate are three different numbers
Lenders quote whichever rate makes their product look cheapest, and the differences between the measures are not small.
Debt & Credit
Minimum payments are calculated to keep the balance alive
The smallest permitted payment on revolving credit is a product feature, and the feature is duration.
Debt & Credit
A longer loan term lowers the payment and raises the price
Stretching a loan is sold as affordability. Arithmetically it is a transfer from your future self to the lender.
Debt & Credit
Zero per cent is a rate, and the price can be somewhere else
Interest-free offers are real, and the cost is usually relocated rather than removed.
Debt & Credit
Overdrafts became one of the most expensive ways to borrow
The borrowing most people use without thinking of it as borrowing is frequently priced above credit cards.
Debt & Credit
Buy now, pay later is credit with the word taken out
Splitting a purchase into instalments is borrowing, and the differences from other borrowing are mostly in what protections apply.
Debt & Credit
Paying a debt early saves less when the interest was charged upfront
Some agreements accrue interest daily and some calculate it at the start, and the difference decides whether overpaying is worth…
Debt & Credit
Consolidation relocates debt without reducing it
A single lower payment can be a genuine improvement or an expensive extension, and the difference is visible in two numbers.
Debt & Credit
Guaranteeing a loan makes somebody else's debt yours
Joint and guaranteed borrowing carry obligations that most people signing them have not been told about clearly.
Debt & Credit
Income-contingent student loans behave more like a tax than a debt
Where repayment is a percentage of income above a threshold and the balance is eventually written off, standard debt arithmetic…