Dawn Papandrea M.A. Expertise: Credit cards, mortgages, personal finance Title: Personal Finance Writer & Journalist Education: St. John's University, New York University Location: Staten Island, New York Highlights As a freelance writer and journalist Dawn Papandrea has covered credit cards, mortgages, and other personal finance topics for 10+ yearsIn addition to her bylines on The Balance, Dawn's work has been featured on Bankrate, CreditCards.com, U.S. News & World Report, CompareCards.com, and many othersDawn has written scores of credit card and financial product reviews for The Balance and other outlets Experience Dawn's career began in the traditional print journalism way, honing her reporting skills while earning her master of arts in journalism and mass communications from New York University. She worked her way up from her first internship to become the managing editor of The CollegeBound Network. The company published national and regional print magazines called CollegeBound, which aimed to help teens with their high school-to-college transition. After the print magazine folded, she managed a suite of related websites and their associated social media accounts.During this time, Dawn began freelance writing, expanding her expertise to credit score repair, consumer finance issues, talent acquisition technology, and more. Today, she runs a full-time freelance content business, writing for numerous clients, mostly in the personal finance, careers, and B2B spaces. Education Dawn has a B.A. in English from St. John's University, and an M.A. in journalism and mass communication from NYU. About The Balance The Balance, a Dotdash Meredith brand, makes money easy to understand. We give people tools they need to not only make smart financial decisions but also prepare for the experiences they will have along the way. Our team of expert writers and editors have extensive qualifications in the topics they cover, and many of them have MBAs, PhDs, CFPs, and other advanced degrees and professional certifications. We require our writers to use primary sources in their articles, which are also approved by our Financial Review Board and fact-checked. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our editorial policy.