Carol Pope

Hi, I’m Carol. I write about personal finance for LendingTree, mostly covering personal loans, auto loans, debt management and budgeting. My work has been cited by NPR, and I’ve shared expertise with Newsweek and Kiplinger. I'm also proud to announce that my first book — 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵 101 — is slated for release through Adams Media/Simon & Schuster in May 2026.

When I tell people what I do for a living, they typically respond in one of two ways: "That's super cool!" or "That's super boring!" I'm in camp cool (I said what I said).

Writing about personal finance is anything but boring, but it is a responsibility. I craft my words carefully because I know firsthand the power of financial advice.

I grew up poor. The only money lesson I learned as a kid was that we never had enough.

Fast forward.

With the help of student loans, grants, scholarships, a full-time gas station job and five-hour energy drinks, I was the first in my family to go to college. I had just enough to scrape by, but if you've been there, you know how stressful "just enough" can be.

That's when my sister-in-law introduced me to the envelope budgeting method, and personal finance finally clicked.

Money isn't everything, but it's a lot of things. It's freedom from freaking out about that next flat tire. It's breaking the cycle of robbing Peter to pay Paul. It's peace of mind.

I’m also a total dork for insurance. I’ve held my property and casualty license for going on 16 years, at one point across 36(!) states. I sincerely enjoy helping others understand what they're paying for and why. That's what I did as an in-house insurance content writer for Bankrate.

When I’m not writing or researching, you’ll probably find me running, playing mediocre banjo or reading about rock and roll history.