Jessica Sain-Baird is a Certified Financial Education Instructor℠ and senior managing editor at LendingTree, where she’s dedicated to empowering readers with clear, actionable insights to navigate their financial lives. Jessica leads the creation of practical, reader-focused content on topics from getting the best interest rates to maximizing savings through deposits.
Before joining LendingTree, Jessica spent over a decade as a writer, editor and content strategist in multifaceted settings including Columbia University in the City of New York and the Central Park Conservancy. While working full-time, she earned her master’s degree in digital content strategy.
When she’s away from crafting financial content, Jessica spends her time volunteering with animal rescues and listening to podcasts on pop culture.
Specialties
- Personal and auto loan product reviews
- Credit improvement and debt management strategies
- Deposit and investment accounts
- Federal Reserve policy
- Rate shopping for loans
- Product rating systems and methodologies
Achievements
- 4 years of professional personal finance experience
- 13 years of professional writing and editing experience
- 100+ articles edited for LendingTree
Education
- BS, University of Kansas
- MS, University of Kansas
Jessica’s tips for improving your credit score
Maintaining a great credit score can help you secure low interest rates and get approved for loans, rental properties, and more. Though there are short-term actions that affect your score, keeping a high credit score is partially a long game.
Having a long credit history improves your credit score, so you can indefinitely maintain a credit card with no annual fee — just be sure to always pay your bill in full each month or don’t use the card at all.
Also, don’t be afraid to regularly review your credit reports (it’s free). If you have any missed payments or other blemishes on your reports, it doesn’t hurt to ask lenders to consider removing them if they were rare missteps.
