Carol Pope

Carol Pope is a senior staff writer for LendingTree, where she focuses on personal and auto loans. Her goal is to help readers manage debt, improve their credit scores and find the lowest rates on loans. She is also the author of “Credit 101: From How to Build Credit and Improve Your Credit Score to Reducing Credit Card Debt and Preventing Fraud, Your Essential Guide to Using Credit to Build Wealth,” which is slated to be released in May 2026 through Adams Media/Simon & Schuster.

Carol got her start as an insurance writer for Bankrate. Since she’s a Floridian, her favorite beat was the Florida homeowners insurance crisis and flood insurance. She also served as a media spokesperson, giving and conducting interviews with other industry experts.

In 2023, Carol exited the insurance space and joined LendingTree’s personal and auto loans teams. With the right know-how, she’s confident that many readers can find a loan within their budget. And if a loan is out of reach, she can give you tools that may help make loans more affordable down the line.

Before writing professionally, Carol was a Geico auto insurance agent. She sold and serviced thousands of policies and trained newly-licensed agents.

When she’s not writing, you’ll find Carol running and volunteering with the Lakeland Runners Club.

Specialties

• Personal and auto loan lender reviews
• Consolidation and debt management strategies
• Rate shopping
• Credit score improvement
• Budgeting techniques

Achievements

• 3+ years of personal finance writing experience
• 15 years of insurance experience
• 100+ articles written for LendingTree
• Created a study to find the average car payment for some of America’s most popular makes and models

Education

• BA, University of Michigan – Flint
• Licensed insurance agent (2-20, general lines)

Carol’s favorite strategy for improving credit scores

If you have little-to-no credit, I’d suggest a credit-builder loan. According to a study conducted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, borrowers were 24% more likely to have a credit score after using a credit-builder loan as intended. 

For those looking to improve their credit score, becoming an authorized signer on someone else’s credit card can be a quick way to get a boost (assuming the cardholder has good credit).