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Return on Equity vs. Return on Assets: Key Differences

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Return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) determine how efficient a company can be at generating profits. Both formulas that can help investors determine how good a company is at turning a profit. Let’s take a look at both metrics, how to use them, how they differ and what their limitations are.

If you’d like personalize investment advice, consider working with a financial advisor.

Return on Equity Definition

According to the Corporate Finance Institute, return on equity (ROE) is a percentage that expresses a company’s annual income relative to its total shareholder equity. The equation for ROE is the company’s net income for the year divided by its shareholders’ equity. ROE is a great way to calculate a company’s profitability—put simply, how good it is at making money.

A company’s net income is the amount of money it brings in after paying all its financial obligations, such as taxes and operating expenses. Shareholder equity is the sum of a company’s net worth. The idea is that if the company shut down and liquidated its assets and paid off its debts immediately, the shareholder equity would be the remaining amount that would be distributed to those who owned stock in that company.

Here’s a simplistic example to illustrate how ROE works: Let’s say Company A has a net income of $10 million. Meanwhile, their total stockholder equity—the amount the company would pay to stockholders if it liquidated all its assets and paid off its debts—is $80 million. The ROE for Company A would be 12.5%.

Thus, ROE can be a valuable metric to use as an investor. If you’re considering investing in a company, you can look at their ROE over the years to see if its growing or diminishing, which can point to whether leadership is making wise decisions that benefit shareholders. You can also compare that company’s ROE to other companies in the sector to see how their financial performance matches up.

Return on Assets Definition

Return on assets (ROA) is a different equation but serves a similar purpose: determining how effective a company is at utilizing their assets to create more value. The equation used for ROA is taking the company’s net income and dividing it by their total assets.

A company’s total assets include everything that company owns that can generate money. That might be plain old cash, inventory, intellectual property such as patents, real estate and more. If they could sell it for a profit, that’s an asset.

Let’s take a look at what a simple example of ROA might look like. Let’s say Company B has a net income of $5 million and owns $25 million in assets. When you do the math, you see that Company B has an ROA of 20%. That means for every dollar of assets, the company generates 20 cents in profit.

ROA can be helpful because it shows how a company is using its current investments to generate profits. Higher percentages mean the company is better at its assets to make more money; lower percentages mean that its worse at it.

How ROE and ROA Differ

If both of these measurements sound pretty similar to you, you’re not wrong. They do have a lot in common — both in what they measure and the purpose they serve. But they do have some important differences.

The single biggest difference between ROA and ROE is that ROA takes into account a company’s debt, while ROE doesn’t. If a company doesn’t have any debt, these two numbers would be the same for that company. Debt can add new assets to a company’s balance sheet, but of course the company also now has a financial obligation to its creditor.

Companies can use debt to artificially boost their ROE. Companies can generate profits by borrowing large amounts of money and using that to drive greater income. Of course, that money isn’t free and a company with too much debt isn’t healthy. Make sure you examine both of these metrics rather than just relying on ROE.

How to Use These Metrics

It’s important to know that there are some limitations to these metrics. Investors should not make decisions based on any one number. Any one number may not be representative of the company as a whole, and there are many ways that numbers can be manipulated by unethical accounting methods.

ROE particularly can be manipulated due to the fact it’s not impacted by how a company is leveraged—that is, how much debt it has. As mentioned above, company can borrow extensively to boost profits and artificially inflate their ROE. Stock buybacks can have a similar effect. Make sure that you’re taking a look at the company’s entire balance sheet and wider strategy before making any investment decisions.

And you may be asking: How will I know whether a certain percentage is “good?” For ROA, over 5% is good and over 20% is great. For ROE, 15-20% is considered good — in 2022, S&P 500 companies averaged a ROE of just over 21%. However, these standards can differ greatly between sectors and industries.

The Bottom Line

ROE and ROA can both extremely useful metrics for investors determining the financial health of a company. These formulas can help you determine whether a company is using their assets in a productive and efficient way—and thus, whether or not you should invest in them.

Tips for Investing

  • Investing isn’t always easy to get into, especially for beginners. But you can get personalized, detailed financial advice from a profession to help you build an investment strategy for your current and future life. Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
  • One of the most important lessons in investing is to maintain a diverse portfolio. A variety of investments in different sectors, industries, locations and risk levels can help you create a portfolio that minimizes risk while still generating strong profits. Use SmartAsset’s asset allocation calculator to help determine a well-diversified portfolio that works for you.

Photo credit: ©iStock.com/Delmaine Donson, ©iStock.com/ChayTee, ©iStock.com/Kobus Louw

Hilary Collins

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Most of the time when you apply for a life insurance policy, you need to provide a urine sample as part of your medical examination.

This is one way the insurance company reviews your health along with also giving you a short physical, check your medical records, and drawing a blood sample.

There are a few important reasons why insurance companies perform a urinalysis as part of their application process.

Why Do Insurance Companies Use Urinalysis?

Insurance companies usually perform two main types of tests as part of a urinalysis. First, they do a chemical analysis of your urine. This is so they can check for nicotine or illegal drugs in an applicant’s system.

They also perform a microscopic review of your urine to check for a number of diseases and health conditions.

When you apply for a policy, the insurance company will send over a medical professional to give you a quick medical exam. You can usually pick where and when you want to meet.

Part of this exam will be to take a blood and urine sample. The medical professional will then take these samples back to a lab for the actual testing.

Urinalysis Medical Tests

A urinalysis can detect several health problems. First, the insurance company will check whether there is sugar in your urine. This is known as glycosuria and could be a sign of undetected diabetes.

The urinalysis will also review the proteins in your urine for signs of kidney disease. The urinalysis will also check whether red and/or white blood cells are showing up in your urine. Red blood cells could be a sign of a blood disorder or problems with one of your organs. White blood cells could be the sign of an infection.

Beyond these medical tests, the urinalysis also tries to detect traces of nicotine and illegal drugs as some applicants lie about their tobacco and drug use on their applications.

What Happens After the Urinalysis?

The whole medical review process, including the urinalysis, takes some time, usually a few weeks. The insurance company will use the results of the tests plus your medical records to come up with your insurance rating. This will determine whether you qualify for a policy and at what price.

Once the insurance company comes up with your rating, your insurance agent will reach out to you with the decision. If you don’t have any major health problems, you’ll likely qualify for a normal rating or may even get a discounted policy. If the urinalysis or other reviews showed some health problems, you may get a more expensive, rated policy or may be denied coverage.

In all cases, the insurance agent will tell you why the company made its decision so you’ll know if a health problem showed up. If you receive a policy offer, at this point you can decide whether or not you want to buy the coverage.

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Can I Avoid the Urinalysis?

While most insurance policies require a urinalysis, not all do. If you are buying a small insurance policy, usually one that is for less than $50,000, the insurance company might not require a urinalysis. They’ll make a decision based only on your medical records.

There are also no medical exam life insurance policies that offer coverage without any sort of testing. These policies are more expensive than regular life insurance because they take on all applicants.

There will also likely be restrictions on your coverage like your coverage only applies if you live at least two years after buying the policy. While no medical exam policies have their flaws, they are a good choice if you can’t qualify for anything else.

However, if you don’t have any serious medical problems, you are better off just applying for a regular policy and going through the urinalysis. It’s a quick test and will ensure that you get the best price for your life insurance.

Calculating your Life Insurance Needs

When you see an ad for life insurance most of them will show a random face value, could be $300K or $500K. It makes sense then that most people assume that is the amount to purchase. But what if your needs are greater? How do you really know that proper amount of insurance to buy? Below we’ll talk through some steps on how you should calculate the exact needs of your family should one of you pass away.

You first need to figure out your current debt situation. How much is left on your mortgage, car loan, and other large expenses that need to be paid off. Adding these up should give you a baseline of the minimum amount of face value to buy.

Once you’ve looked at the major debts you then need to think about the income that will need to be replaced. Because if the insured passes away then your family will be left without a major portion of monthly and yearly salary. So think about multiplying that number by a few years. It should be long enough where you feel comfortable that your survivors will be taken care of in the event of a death.

Aside from having the perfect kind of insurance, you need to guarantee that your family will have the money that they need. Don’t purchase too little and have your family struggle with loads of debt. Take care of the situation today and feel confident you’ve provided them some financial breathing room.

Getting Affordable Life Insurance Coverage

The urinalysis is only one part of the life insurance application. However we need to talk about the other components that add up and affect how much you could end up being quoted for coverage. These tips outline several simple changes that you can make to get that affordable premium.

The first thing that you can do is to start a healthy diet and get regular exercise. Both of these are going to help you get better rates from the medical exam, which is going to translate into lower premiums and more money in your pocket. Getting the recommended amount of exercise every week, and making healthier meal choices can help you shed the pounds needed to help cholesterol levels and risk of heart disease.

We truly believe that your top chance at find affordable coverage lies in finding a helpful, independent insurance advisor. These advisors can put together a list of insurers that are highly rated, and ones that look at your health situation favorably. They also can get you a quote that shows premiums for up to 10 companies at one time! It saves you energy and frustration to reach out to our employees and have them simplify your search. .

There are dozens of different kinds of plans to compare and thousands of companies to choose between, but our agents can help you find the best plan in a matter of minutes. Help secure a great future for your family by contacting us today. If you don’t start the process now, when will you? Your family is counting on you so it’s time to count on us.

Source: goodfinancialcents.com

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Before making a commitment to their clients, life insurance companies require you to take a medical exam in order to find out the best policy for you.

To get the best possible coverage without having to pay a stiff price, you must have an idea how to pass the life insurance exams.

You have a few options when getting your medical exam but most opt for a paramedic exam to be performed at their home or place of employment.

Whichever the case may be, you should follow the proper steps on how to pass your life insurance exam as it could significantly change the cost, quality and coverage of your life insurance.

1) Know What To Expect

If you have relatives or friends who have been into medical exams from the same life insurance company, ask what tests were included. You may also get information from the insurance company by asking what you would need to bring and what you can and cannot do on the day prior to the exam.

If applying for a life insurance policy through us, here’s what you can expect.  We will schedule a free medical exam (if required) at a convenient time and location for you. The qualified medical examiner will:

  • ask you medical questions;
  • measure your height, weight, blood pressure and pulse; and
  • collect blood and urine specimens.

2) Detoxify

Having a fiber-rich diet and taking a lot of fluids will really help in flushing out toxins from your body. Do not drink coffee, tea or soda as caffeine will make you look bad on the results. Stop smoking and drinking alcohol. Having high levels of nicotine or alcohol in your system will make them consider you a high-risk client and will certainly not help in getting the best insurance policy. If you have a pre-existing condition, reference our resource page on getting approved for high risk life insurance.

Warning: Do not smoke or chew tobacco a few days before the exam. I actually had a client that did this even though they aren’t typically a smoker and it more than doubled their rate. Life insurance rates for tobacco users is not cheap!

3) Watch Your Diet

Eat the right foods well ahead of schedule. Avoid eating foods that are abundant in salt, cholesterol, fats and sugar. Insurance companies will certainly be looking if you have kidney or heart problems, hypertension and diabetes. Showing health problems in any of these areas will have a major effect on the price of the insurance policy you will be getting.

4) Have Enough Rest

You should get enough sleep and avoid strenuous activities within 24 hours of the exam. Certain critical parameters could get affected by lack of rest, like high blood pressure. Although elevated readings maybe temporary, the effect on your insurance policy could be long-term.

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5) Avoid Pain Medications

Certain medications skew the results for tests aimed at evaluating the health of your liver. Under the guidance of a medical professional, avoid taking medications at the day of your life insurance medical exam. However, if you do take pain or other medications, inform the medical staff and insurance representative about the kinds you are taking. You may also have to provide the contact information of the doctors giving the prescription.

6) Fast

Stop eating 8-12 hours before the test. This will have the direct impact of lowering the amount of cholesterol and sugar in your bloodstream. For this reason, it is also best to take the medical exam for life insurance early in the morning, so you would not have to fast until lunchtime. Knowing how to pass life insurance exam will not only help you save and get the best insurance policy. If you have the willingness to apply the ways mentioned above for the long run, they will surely have a positive impact on your overall health and well-being; enabling you to enjoy life more.

Getting Better Results from the Medical Exam

Now that you understand how to pass your life insurance medical exam, you need to understand ways that you can get lower rates for your policy. The medical exam is the pivotal part of your premiums. If you have bad results on the exam, you’re going to receive expensive quotes.

To get started, it’s time to make some hard decisions. If your’e a smoke, the first thing to do is quit that bad habit. You can either continuing smoking or you can get cheap life insurance. You can’t do both.

After you’ve stopped those bad health habits, you need to get in shape. Losing weight will save you money. If you’ve been meaning to trim down your waist, it can also trim down your premiums.

No Medical Exam Life Insurance Policies

Now that you understand what’s going to happen during the medical exam and how to pass it, you may decide that you no longer want to go through the medical exam process. One option is to purchase a no medical exam policy.

Before you buy one of these plans, you need to weigh the pros and cons. In most cases, we think the cons outweigh the pros.

No exam life insurance is more expensive and you can’t get as much protection.

No exam means higher premiums and the insurance companies are going to cap your protection at around $300,000 worth of coverage.

Life Insurance and Medical Exams

There are a lot of people that are worried about the medical exam and everything that has along with that exam. If you’re applying for insurance, don’t worry about the exam. It’s easier than having to go to the doctor. The whole process will take less than an hour.

Source: goodfinancialcents.com

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When they’re finally ready to make the jump from renting to home ownership, most first time homebuyers enlist a real estate agent to help them through the process. No wonder: buying a home is complicated and when it’s your first time, you feel like you could use some hand-holding.

Real estate agents provide a valuable service and are generally well-paid as a result. There’s nothing wrong with that. But money does have a way of distorting relationships — even when honest people are involved.

Here are some tips that will help you, as a first time homebuyer, take full advantage of today’s real estate market and get the most out of your relationship with your real estate agent.

1. Your agent is your agent

When you’re new to the process, it is easy to believe that the guy with 20 years’ experience calls the shots. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Your real estate professional is your agent: he or she works for you, gives you advice and negotiates on your behalf. He doesn’t make decisions for you and you should not expect him to.

2. Only fools fall in love

After you’ve looked at a few houses that weren’t quite right, your agent will probably tell you not to get discouraged, and that eventually you will “fall in love” with the right property.

Love makes you do stupid things. Stupid things like paying too much or looking past costly repair items. As a first-time homebuyer, you should develop a healthy ‘like’ for a property, but keep the relationship open, see other houses. There will be plenty of time for “love” after you’ve put in the 300 hours of sweat equity to make your house a home.

3. Be willing to walk away

If you never fall in love with a piece of real estate, you’ll never cry when you have to walk away from it. Real estate agents often use the phrase “my client will walk away” and some use it quite loosely to stress the importance of a point for negotiation. If you want to retain the full strength of your position as a buyer, you’ll need “I’ll walk away” to mean that you are done if your demands aren’t met.

For your agent to communicate this correctly to the seller, he needs to know that you mean what you say. And yes, if it reaches that point, you will need to walk away from a property. Not to worry: there are others out there. But don’t be surprised if you hear back from the seller a week later that he is willing to work with your demands.

4. Time is on your side

Your agent is going to tell you that you have to move quickly and make the best offer possible when you find the right property. This is not always the best advice. As a first time homebuyer, you are in a unique position of strength in terms of the real estate transaction. You aren’t selling your home, so you don’t have to move. You can look at and make offers on many properties. You can start with a low offer and negotiate upwards if the seller balks. You can table a counter-offer and look around a bit before deciding to pay more. The opposite is generally true of sellers in a buyer’s market. They need to sell the property and are motivated to move as quickly as possible. Use time to your advantage.

5. Your agent is not your friend

Your agent performs valuable services in the real estate transaction, but he really doesn’t make anything until you buy a piece of real estate. That makes him a salesman. Being a salesman, he wants you to feel like he is a friend who has your best interests at heart.

The reality is that your interests and your agent’s may not be aligned. He is actually better off financially if you make a quick decision and pay too much for a property. This is, after all, likely the largest business transaction of your life. Make sure that your agent, regardless of how personable he is, understands that you are a customer and that you need him to drive the best business deal for you.

6. The listing agent just might be your best friend

In the New York Times best-selling book Freakanomics, authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner point out that real estate agents typically market their own homes for 10 days longer than they market their clients’ homes. Is this because they are so busy with their clients that they don’t have time to market their own homes?

No, it really comes down to how we incent real estate agents with commission. When an agent is selling his own home, he enjoys the full benefit of any increase in sales price so he is extremely motivated to market for as long as possible to get the best sales price possible. But when it comes to a client’s home, an extra week on the market might lead to a higher sales price for the seller — but the agent will only enjoy a very small amount of that increase in the form of marginal increase to commission. Meanwhile, marketing a home for another week would take him away from marketing someone else’s property. As such, the listing agent is highly motivated to convince the seller that your offer is the best offer he is going to receive. Use this to your advantage and make offers that are good for you.

7. There is no such thing as an embarrassingly low offer

When it comes to a property that has been sitting with no action, there is no such thing as an offer that is too low. Some agents will tell you that that you could offend the seller or that your offer is embarrassing. A good agent will encourage you to make strategically low offers. Offers are really not a lot of work and the worst thing that can happen is that your offer is not accepted. Often, however, in a buyer’s market a low offer will turn into a counter-offer. Think of the first offer as the starting point for negotiations and be prepared to consider counter-offers.

8. Online real estate companies can save you money

Over the past decade, online real estate companies have started to take market share away from traditional brick-and-mortar agencies. They’ve grown by offering discounts and rebates on the traditional 3% real estate commission. RedFin, one of the leading online real estate companies, offers buyers a rebate of up to 50% of the commission at close. RedFin also compensates their agents with salary as opposed to commission, which alleviates some conflict of interest issues. Granted, the service may not be as extensive or personalized — but the extra cash may offset the drawbacks.

8 Home Buying Secrets Your Real Estate Agent Won’t Tell You was provided by CreditSesame.com

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Executives from two major AI companies asked senators on Tuesday to pass regulations for the ground-breaking but nascent technology as rapid innovation raises ethical, legal and national security questions. 

Speaking to a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman praised the potential of the new technology, which he said could solve humanity’s biggest problems. But he also warned that artificial intelligence is powerful enough to change society in unpredictable ways, and “regulatory intervention by governments will be critical to mitigate the risks.”

“My worst fear is that we, the technology industry, cause significant harm to the world,” Altman said. “If this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong.”

Read more:  How advisers can embrace AI tools without sacrificing human connection

IBM’s chief privacy and trust officer Christina Montgomery focused on a risk-based approach and called for “precision regulation” on how AI tools are used, rather than how they’re developed. 

It’s unclear whether Congress is up to the task. Political gridlock and heavy lobbying from big technology firms have complicated efforts in Washington to set basic guardrails for challenges including data security and child protections for social media. And as senators pointed out in their questions, the deliberative process of Congress often lags far behind the pace of new tech advancements. 

Demonstrating AI’s power to deceive, Senator Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat who chairs the panel, played an AI-written and produced recording that sounded exactly like him during his opening statement. While he urged AI innovators to work with regulators on new restrictions, he recognized that Congress hasn’t passed adequate protections for existing technology. 

“Congress has a choice now. We had the same choice when we faced social media,” Blumenthal said. “Congress failed to meet the moment on social media. Now we have the obligation to do it on AI before the threats and the risks become real.”

Read more:  Is your manager trying to replace you with AI?

As Tuesday’s hearing got underway, senators questioned the potential for dangerous disinformation and the biases inherent in models trained on internet content. They raised the risks that AI-fabricated content poses for the democratic process, while also fretting that global adversaries like China could surpass US capabilities. 

Blumenthal asked about “hallucinations” when AI technology gets information wrong. Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn asked about protections for singers and songwriters in her home state, drawing a pledge from Altman to work with artists on rights and compensation. 

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, the ranking Republican on the subcommittee, asked whether AI will serve to be as transformative as the printing press, disseminating knowledge more widely, or as destructive as the atomic bomb. 

“To a certain extent, it’s up to us here and to us as the American people to write the answer,” Hawley said. “What kind of technology will this be? How will we use it to better our lives?”

Much of the initial discussion focused on generative AI, which can produce images, audio and text that seems human-crafted. OpenAI has driven many of these developments by introducing products like ChatGPT, which can converse or produce human-like, but not always accurate, blocks of text, as well as DALL-E, which can produce fantastical or eerily realistic images from simple text prompts. 

But there are boundless other ways that machine learning is being deployed across the modern economy. Recommendation algorithms on social media rely on AI, as do programs that analyze large data sets or weather patterns. 

Read more:  No more ChatGPT? Here’s what the ‘pause’ on generative AI means for the workplace

Required Registration

The Biden administration has put forth several non-binding guidelines for artificial intelligence. The National Institute of Standards and Technology in January released a voluntary risk management framework to manage the most high-stakes applications of AI. The White House earlier this year published an “AI Bill of Rights” to help consumers navigate the new technology. 

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan pledged to use existing law to guard against abuses enabled by AI technology. The Department of Homeland Security last month created a task force to study how AI can be used to secure supply chains and combat drug trafficking. 

In Tuesday’s hearing, Altman focused his initial policy recommendations on required registration for AI models of a certain sophistication. He said companies should be required to get a license to operate and conduct a series of tests before releasing new AI models. 

Montgomery said policymakers should require AI products to be transparent about when users are interacting with a machine. She also touted IBM’s AI ethics board, which provides internal guardrails that Congress has yet to set.

“It’s often said that innovation moves too fast for government to keep up,” Montgomery said. “But while AI may be having its moment, the moment for government to play its proper role has not passed us by.”

Source: nationalmortgagenews.com

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You’ve got someone moving into one of your spare bedrooms. You’re hiring a new housekeeper or nanny. You’re renting out your house. You’re dating someone and you’re curious about his or her debt and credit management skills. Or, maybe your spouse passed away and you need to see what’s on their credit report. There are many reasons why you’d be curious to see what’s on someone else’s credit reports that have nothing to do with lending them money.

Permissible Purpose

There are dozens of websites where you can buy or claim YOUR credit reports but getting someone else’s credit report isn’t quite as easy. The only way you can legally pull someone else’s credit report is if you have what’s referred to as Permissible Purpose. Permissible Purpose is a term straight from the Fair Credit Reporting Act and it defines the conditions under which a credit reporting agency may furnish a credit report. And, as you’ve probably already figured out, getting your girlfriend’s credit report simply because she’s your new girlfriend isn’t on the list.

There is, however, more than one way to skin a cat and if you’re diligent and creative then getting your hands on someone else’s credit report might not be impossible. You can certainly ask that your prospective tenant provide you with a credit report, which they can get at any number of websites. Yu can also buy their credit report from one of the many tenant screening companies but you will need to have their permission and cooperation.

Proxy Ordering

You can also proxy order their credit report from any of the credit bureau’s websites. Proxy ordering is when you are entering the other consumer’s personal information as if you were them. You’re still going to need their permission and cooperation because you’ll have to “authenticate” their identity, which means they’ll have to answer a few questions that only they know the answers to. These questions come directly from their credit report, so it’ll be something along the lines of “Your credit report shows a mortgage loan opened in 2004, who is the lender?” I’ve done this before and it’s very efficient, as long as you’ve got a cooperative consumer.

Deceased Spouse

If you need a credit report of a deceased spouse, then you’re going to have to go directly to the credit bureaus to get it. According to Rod Griffin, Director of Public Education at Experian, “You can request a copy of your deceased spouse’s credit history by mailing a letter stating you are the deceased’s spouse and that you are requesting a copy of his or her credit report.” You will need to provide the following documentation:

For the deceased:
– Name (First, Middle, Last, Generation (Jr., Sr.))
– Mailing address at time of death
– Social Security number
– Date of birth
– Previous addresses for the prior two years
– Copy of the death certificate

For the living spouse:
– Your name (First, Middle, Last, Generation (Jr., Sr.))
– Address the report should be mailed to
– Copy of documentation verifying you are the spouse
If you are not the spouse but are the executor of the estate you will
need to send a copy of legal documentation naming you as the executor
(signed and sealed from the court).

Mail your request to:
Experian
PO Box 2002
Allen, TX 75013

Clearly, this is going to be much less prevalent than requesting a credit report for a living spouse or a roommate, but I did get several questions this past year from consumers wanting to know how to get their deceased spouse’s credit reports. But, it wasn’t nearly as common as people wanting help getting their boyfriend/girlfriend/fiancé’s credit reports.  That took the cake… by a long shot.

John Ulzheimer is the President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for Mint.com, and a contributor for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.  He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. The opinions expressed in his articles are his and not of Mint.com or Intuit. Follow John on Twitter

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