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Curriculum Credit & Debt

Credit & Debt

Credit scores, borrowing costs, and how to tell useful debt from expensive debt.

  1. Credit Scores Explained What a credit score measures, what moves it, and how to build one from nothing. 📄 Read-aloud
  2. How Credit Cards Actually Work The mechanics behind a credit card - borrowing, grace periods, and how interest actually gets charged. 📄 Read-aloud
  3. The True Cost of Minimum Payments Why paying only the minimum on a credit card is one of the most expensive financial decisions available. 📄 Read-aloud
  4. Credit & Debt: Checkpoint 1 Covers credit scores, how credit cards work, and the cost of minimum payments. 5 questions
  5. Good Debt vs Bad Debt Not all borrowing is equal - a framework for telling debt that builds value from debt that just costs money. 📄 Read-aloud
  6. Student Loans: What to Know Before You Borrow The key differences in student loans, and questions worth asking before signing anything. 📄 Read-aloud
  7. Debt Repayment Strategies: Snowball vs Avalanche Two proven approaches to paying off multiple debts, and how to choose between them. 📄 Read-aloud
  8. Credit & Debt: Checkpoint 2 Covers good vs bad debt, student loans, and strategies for paying off multiple debts. 5 questions
  9. Understanding Your Credit Report What a credit report actually contains, and why checking it regularly matters even with good credit. 📄 Read-aloud
  10. Collections and What to Do If You Fall Behind What actually happens when a payment is missed, and the steps that limit the damage. 📄 Read-aloud
  11. Co-signing: The Risk You're Taking On For Someone Else What co-signing a loan actually commits you to, and why it's riskier than it's usually described. 📄 Read-aloud
  12. Credit & Debt: Checkpoint 3 Covers credit reports, falling behind on payments, and the risks of co-signing. 5 questions
  13. Bankruptcy: What It Is and Isn't A plain-language look at bankruptcy - what it actually does, its real cost, and when it's genuinely a reasonable option. 📄 Read-aloud
  14. Debt Consolidation: When It Helps and When It Hurts How combining multiple debts into one payment can lower interest costs - and the ways it can quietly make things worse instead. 📄 Read-aloud
  15. How Hard and Soft Credit Inquiries Differ Why checking your own credit score is harmless, but applying for new credit can temporarily lower it - and what counts as which. 📄 Read-aloud
  16. Medical Debt in the US Why medical debt behaves differently from other kinds of debt, and what actually happens when a medical bill goes unpaid. 📄 Read-aloud
  17. Debt Settlement: Negotiating to Pay Less Than You Owe How debt settlement works, why creditors sometimes agree to accept less than the full amount owed, and the real risks involved. 📄 Read-aloud
  18. Payday Loans and the Cost of Short-Term Credit Why a small, short-term loan meant to bridge a few weeks can end up costing far more than its stated fee suggests. 📄 Read-aloud
  19. Secured vs Unsecured Debt: What's the Difference Why some loans require collateral and others don't, and what that difference means for interest rates and risk. 📄 Read-aloud
  20. Debt-to-Income Ratio and Why Lenders Care What debt-to-income ratio actually measures, why lenders rely on it, and how to calculate and improve your own. 📄 Read-aloud
  21. Rent-to-Own and Buy-Here-Pay-Here: High-Cost Credit Alternatives How these alternatives to traditional financing work, why they charge so much more, and when they're the only real option. 📄 Read-aloud
  22. Credit Card Rewards: Who Really Pays? How credit card reward programmes are funded by merchant fees and interest, and why they can transfer money from some shoppers to others. 📄 Read-aloud
  23. Gold Loans How borrowing against gold jewellery works in India, why it is popular, and the risks of losing the gold if the loan is not repaid. 📄 Read-aloud
  24. Loan Apps and Digital Lending Risks How smartphone lending apps offer quick loans, how illegal apps trap borrowers with high charges and harassment, and how RBI rules aim to protect borrowers. 📄 Read-aloud
  25. No-Cost EMIs: Is It Really Free? How "no-cost EMI" offers on phones and appliances actually work, where the interest goes, and the hidden costs to watch for. 📄 Read-aloud

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