Brianna McGurran is a freelance writer and editor with expertise on the U.S. consumer credit landscape and how to save money, stay out of debt and pursue long-term goals like home ownership.
She started her personal finance writing career in 2015 at NerdWallet, where she was a lead writer and spokesperson. In her time at NerdWallet, she was the founding writer for the student loans vertical; appeared as an expert on the Today Show and ABC World News Tonight; and wrote “Ask Brianna,” a financial advice column for young people nationally syndicated by the Associated Press. She then served as an assistant editor and spokesperson on the Loans team at Forbes Advisor.
Now a full-time freelancer, her writing clients have included Stripe, ResearchGate, Andreessen Horowitz and Experian, and she is a freelance editor at LendingTree. In her free time, she loves to sing, do yoga, work on her novel and go hiking with her husband and daughter.
Specialties
- Credit scores and building credit
- Paying off debt
- Mortgages
- Student loans
- Personal loans
Achievements
- 10+ years personal finance experience
- Served as broadcast media spokesperson for NerdWallet and Forbes Advisor
- Developed and wrote nationally syndicated financial advice column, which regularly appeared in more than 250 news outlets
- Developed original ratings methodologies and performed data analysis for multiple “Best Student Loans” lists
Education
- Bachelor of Arts, New York University
- Master of Arts with a concentration in Business and Economics Journalism, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Brianna’s thoughts on building credit
“Building and maintaining a good credit score opens up so many doors in your financial life, and you can keep things simple and still do it successfully. Keep your oldest credit accounts open and use them occasionally, put all your bills on autopay and pay off your credit card bill in full every month. The factors that contribute to a good credit score can seem mysterious, but following a few basic principles is all you need.”
