Hi, I’m Carol! I write about personal finance for LendingTree, mostly focusing on credit, debt, and how people spend their money. I also wrote Credit 101 (Simon & Schuster/Adams Media), a plain-language guide that helps readers understand and build credit from the ground up.
My writing spans from practical consumer-facing advice to buzzworthy data-driven insights. I’ve spoken about my work in podcasts and on the news, had a study cited by NPR, and have served as a subject matter expert for Newsweek and Kiplinger.
Before writing, I spent years in customer-facing and quality roles in financial services, including more than a decade as a GEICO agent. At one point, I held my property and casualty license in 36 states.
I’ve had direct exposure to tens of thousands of customer interactions, watching how people misunderstand and respond to financial products in real time. That experience shapes how I write today. In fact, that’s how I got into writing about money. I turned my insurance experience and a gardening website I built for fun into my first staff writing job at Bankrate.
When I’m not writing or researching, you’ll probably find me running or reading about rock and roll history.