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Brendan Dyer

Former Writer, Credit Cards
  • 5
    Years with Bankrate
CD Icon CREDENTIALS
  • Certified Financial Education Instructor℠ (CFEI®)
Ribbon Icon EXPERTISE
  • Credit card comparisons
  • Rewards credit cards
  • Cash back credit cards
  • Building credit
  • Credit scores
Education Icon EDUCATION
  • Bachelor of Arts, Professional Writing, Western Connecticut State University
  • Master of Fine Arts, Journalism, Western Connecticut State University

Brendan wrote for Bankrate over three years covering credit cards and personal finance. He previously wrote reviews, category page content and educational content about how to use credit cards, build credit, redeem credit card rewards and how to choose the right card. Before Bankrate, Brendan wrote for FiOS 1 News, a hyper-local news network in the New York City metropolitan area. He covered breaking news and transcribed television broadcasts for the web. He was also a freelance journalist for the Putnam Examiner in the Hudson Valley region of New York.

In 2020, Brendan began a year of national volunteer service for AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), a federally-funded residential service program. During his year of community-based service, Brendan distributed food at food banks in Iowa, assisted environmental education efforts in northern Minnesota, restored historic artifacts in Nebraska and built hiking trails in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio.

His prior career in traditional journalism and his formative year of service during the COVID-19 pandemic inspired a passion for education and assisting people in need, two things that in 2021 influenced a career of service-based, educational journalism focused on one of life’s most undertaught subjects: personal finance.

Debt is an uncomfortable situation that nearly half of Americans experience, and I try very hard to avoid it. I never spend more than I can pay off in a single billing cycle, even if it means trimming my grocery haul or my Amazon cart. If I ever choose to borrow money that isn’t going to come in on my next paycheck, it’s probably not a wise financial decision. I want to give myself plenty of breathing room for emergency spending.

— Brendan Dyer

“"The road to excellent credit is paved with good credit habits."”

– Brendan Dyer

It took me five years to achieve excellent credit. Now what?

Excellent credit can make your experience with cards and other lending products much more enjoyable. I spoke with an expert from Experian about what the real benefits of excellent credit are and what someone with a perfect score can do.
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Brendan's latest articles