How often do you change the oil in your car? Do you do it every 3,000 miles like clockwork? Or do you follow the three-months rule? Or maybe you just wing it and get it changed every so often when you realize you haven’t done it in a while and your car feels funny.

A popular belief is that the oil must be changed in a car every 3,000 miles or three months, whichever comes first. However, this may not be necessary depending on the kind of car you have, where you live, and your driving habit. Instead of wasting time and money changing your oil more frequently than necessary, learn the best way to take care of your vehicle.

The 3,000-mile/three-month rule isn’t necessarily wrong, it’s just outdated. If you’re driving a car that was manufactured earlier than the 2000s, you really do need to change the oil changed [...]

If your credit score isn’t where you’d like it to be and you’re planning to make a big purchase soon, you’re going to want to improve your credit before you begin shopping for a loan. Understanding your credit score and the factors that make it up is one of the first steps to improving it. Below we touch on some of the basic principles for credit scores.

Your credit score is a number somewhere between 300 and 850 that tells lenders about your borrowing and repayment history. There are many companies that calculate scores, but one of the most well-known is Fair Isaac Corporation. This is how we get the term “FICO.” Regardless of which company created the score, most use a fairly similar collection of information about you to determine yours.

How well you paid your bills is a major consideration. If you were late, have [...]