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Six moves you’re making that can ruin your credit score

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One of the most important lessons regarding your finances to understand is to preserve and protect your credit score, as it can affect many directions and decisions throughout your life.

“Your credit score is one of the most important numbers in your financial life; it goes a long way toward determining whether or not you’ll be approved for loans and lines of credit, along with the interest rates you’ll pay,” Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.com told FOX Business.

In addition to a credit score being considered to qualify you for mortgages and car loans, Rossman explained that your credit can be checked for other reasons, including apartment rentals and utility and cell phone providers when you open a new account.

“If you have a low credit score, you might be denied or a larger security deposit might be required,” he said.

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With all this on the line, protecting your score should be a top priority. Even those with favorable credit scores and those who practice sound money habits can sometimes make foolish choices regarding their credit scores. To put you in a better position to not make these foolish choices, read more about what you shouldn’t do. 

Here are six foolish flubs that could sink your credit score

Co-signing a loan

Rossman said co-signing a loan is “potentially a very big mistake” as people don’t realize this is a sizable legal commitment.

“You’re on the hook to pay that money back if the other borrower doesn’t,” he said. “Your funds and credit score are on the line.  You’re not just vouching for someone or giving them a reference. You’re legally responsible for that loan, and it should show up on your credit reports just like the primary borrower.”

A man works from home on his laptop.

A man works from home on his laptop. (iStock / iStock)

Applying for too much credit in too short a time span

If you’re opening a bunch of new credit cards, this could backfire.

“In general, it’s suggested to apply for credit no more than every six months or so and this is all types of credit combined,” said Rossman. “If you get rejected for a credit card and then try again quickly, you might have two rejections and two hard inquiries which negatively affect your credit score and no new card to show for it.”

Not staying on top of your statement due dates

Set up alerts to make sure you’re paying your credit card statements on time.

“Our time and energy are pulled in a million directions every day, which makes it easy to accidentally miss a credit card payment due date,” said Sara Rathner, credit cards expert at NerdWallet. “If you’re more than 30 days late, your credit score could drop by a substantial amount.”

Visa Credit Cards

Visa Inc. credit and debit cards are arranged for a photograph in Washington, D.C., on April 22, 2019. (Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

To prevent this, Rathner suggested logging into your account and set up text or email alerts so you know when the next due date is approaching.

“You can also set up autopay so you can take that task off your plate entirely,” she suggested.

Not paying all your obligations in a timely fashion

Credit card and loan payments aren’t the only things that can affect your credit, said Rathner.

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“Utility bills, rent and other monthly payments can be reported to credit bureaus. Set up calendar reminders for those due dates so you don’t miss payments,” she added.

Failing to monitor your credit

Get into the habit of glancing at credit reports and bank statements so you can report fraudulent activity ASAP, she said.

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“Signs of identity theft can be as subtle as an unexpected small charge, or as glaring as an unfamiliar account opened in your name,” said Rathner.

A woman holds credit cards.

Get into the habit of glancing at credit reports and bank statements so you can report fraudulent activity ASAP. (iStock / iStock)

Spending to get rewards when you have debt

Chasing rewards can be a slippery slope, particularly if you have debt.

“The interest you’re paying on that debt can wipe out the value of any rewards you’d earn in just a few months,” said Rathner.

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She recommended that instead of running after points that are worth a penny each, look into lowering your interest rate with a balance transfer card or personal loan.

“Then, pay that debt down as aggressively as you can to save hundreds on interest,” she said.

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Tariffs may raise much less than White House projects, economists say

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President Donald Trump speaks before signing executive orders in the Oval Office on March 6, 2025.

Alex Wong | Getty Images

President Donald Trump says that tariffs will make the U.S. “rich.” But those riches will likely be far less than the White House expects, economists said.

The ultimate sum could have big ramifications for the U.S. economy, the nation’s debt and legislative negotiations over a tax-cut package, economists said.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Sunday estimated tariffs would raise about $600 billion a year and $6 trillion over a decade. Auto tariffs would add another $100 billion a year, he said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Navarro made the projection as the U.S. plans to announce more tariffs against U.S. trading partners on Wednesday.

Economists expect the Trump administration’s tariff policy would generate a much lower amount of revenue than Navarro claims. Some project the total revenue would be less than half.

Roughly $600 billion to $700 billion a year “is not even in the realm of possibility,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s. “If you get to $100 billion to $200 billion, you’ll be pretty lucky.”

The White House declined to respond to a request for comment from CNBC about tariff revenue.

The ‘mental math’ behind tariff revenue

There are big question marks over the scope of the tariffs, including details like amount, duration, and products and countries affected — all of which have a significant bearing on the revenue total.

The White House is considering a 20% tariff on most imports, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. President Trump floated this idea on the campaign trail. The Trump administration may ultimately opt for a different policy, like country-by-country tariffs based on each nation’s respective trade and non-trade barriers.

But a 20% tariff rate seems to align with Navarro’s revenue projections, economists said.

The U.S. imported about $3.3 trillion of goods in 2024. Applying a 20% tariff rate to all these imports would yield about $660 billion of annual revenue.

“That is almost certainly the mental math Peter Navarro is doing — and that mental math skips some crucial steps,” said Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at the Yale Budget Lab and former chief economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the Biden administration.

Trade advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump Peter Navarro speaks to press outside of the White House on March 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. 

Kayla Bartkowski | Getty Images

That’s because an accurate revenue estimate must account for the many economic impacts of tariffs in the U.S. and around the world, economists said. Those effects combine to reduce revenue, they said.

A 20% broad tariff would raise about $250 billion a year (or $2.5 trillion over a decade) when taking those effects into account, according to Tedeschi, citing a Yale Budget Lab analysis published Monday.  

There are ways to raise larger sums — but they would involve higher tariff rates, economists said. For example, a 50% across-the-board tariff would raise about $780 billion per year, according to economists at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Even that is an optimistic assessment: It doesn’t account for lower U.S. economic growth due to retaliation or the negative growth effects from the tariffs themselves, they wrote.

Why revenue would be lower than expected

Tariffs generally raise prices for consumers. A 20% broad tariff would cost the average consumer $3,400 to $4,200 a year, according to the Yale Budget Lab.

Consumers would naturally buy fewer imported goods if they cost more, economists said. Lower demand means fewer imports and less tariff revenue from those imports, they said.

Tariffs are also expected to trigger “reduced economic activity,” said Robert McClelland, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

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For example, U.S. companies that don’t pass tariff costs on to consumers via higher prices would likely see profits suffer (and their income taxes fall), economists said. Consumers might pull back on spending, further denting company profits and tax revenues, economists said. Companies that take a financial hit might lay off workers, they said.

Foreign nations are also expected to retaliate with their own tariffs on U.S. products, which would hurt companies that export products abroad. Other nations may experience an economic downturn, further reducing demand for U.S. products.

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“If you get a 20% tariff rate, you’re going to get a rip-roaring recession, and that will undermine your fiscal situation,” Zandi said.

There’s also likely to be a certain level of non-compliance with tariff policy, and carve-outs for certain countries, industries or products, economists said. For instance, when the White House levied tariffs on China in February, it indefinitely exempted “de minimis” imports valued at $800 or less.

The Trump administration might also funnel some tariff revenue to paying certain parties aggrieved by a trade war, economists said.

President Trump did that in his first term: The government sent $61 billion in “relief” payments to American farmers who faced retaliatory tariffs, which was nearly all (92%) of the tariff revenue on Chinese goods from 2018 to 2020, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

The tariffs will also likely have a short life span, diluting their potential revenue impact, economists said. They’re being issued by executive order and could be undone easily, whether by President Trump or a future president, they said.

“There’s zero probability these tariffs will last for 10 years,” Zandi said. “If they last until next year I’d be very surprised.”

Why this matters

The Trump administration has signaled that tariffs “will be one of the top-tier ways they’ll try to offset the cost” of passing a package of tax cuts, Tedeschi said.

Extending a 2017 tax cut law signed by President Trump would cost $4.5 trillion over a decade, according to the Tax Foundation. Trump has also called for other tax breaks like no taxes on tips, overtime pay or Social Security benefits, and a tax deduction for auto loan interest for American made cars.

If tariffs don’t cover the full cost of such a package, then Republican lawmakers would have to find cuts elsewhere or increase the nation’s debt, economists said.

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Investors hope April 2 could bring some tariff clarity and relief. That may not happen

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Cliff Asness’s AQR multi-strategy hedge fund returns 9% in the first quarter during tough conditions

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Cliff Asness.

Chris Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty Images

AQR Capital Management’s multistrategy hedge fund beat the market with a 9% rally in the first quarter as Wall Street grappled with extreme volatility amid President Donald Trump’s uncertain tariff policy.

The Apex strategy from Cliff Asness’ firm, which combines stocks, macro and arbitrage trades and has $3 billion in assets under management, gained 3.4% in March, boosting its first-quarter performance, according to a person familiar with AQR’s returns who asked to be anonymous as the information is private.

AQR’s Delphi Long-Short Equity Strategy gained 9.7% in the first quarter, while its alternative trend-following offering Helix returned 3%, the person said.

AQR, whose assets under management reached $128 billion at the end of March, declined to comment.

The stock market just wrapped up a tumultuous quarter as Trump’s aggressive tariffs raised concerns about an severe economic slowdown and a re-acceleration of inflation. The S&P 500 dipped into correction territory in March after hitting a record in February.

For the quarter, the equity benchmark was down 4.6%, snapping a five-quarter win streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 10.4% in the quarter, which would mark its biggest quarterly pullback since a 22.4% plunge in the second quarter of 2022.

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