Credit Scores & Guilt
I have been thinking about credit scores a lot lately. I am currently in a real estate licensing course and I am learning how complicated and confusing the process of attaining housing can be on top of needing to be nearly perfect in credit history depending on what you need. And this is across the board for housing in general whether you are looking to purchase a home or lease one.
I will admit that for many years I didn't check my credit score very often because I didn't have my own income and didn't even want to know what was happening to my credit because of it. I didn't take the time to advocate for myself as a stay-at-home and homeschooling mom in my marriage about finances and pay enough attention to financial literacy in general.
When I finally decided that I would be entering the workforce outside of the home again I realized that I needed to have a look at my credit scores more carefully and start learning more about them as well as how to increase them. I learned about the history of credit scores:
"These early reports were incredibly subjective. As such, they were colored by the opinions of their predominantly white, male reporters, as well as their racial, class and gender biases. One credit reporter from Buffalo, N.Y., for instance, noted that “prudence in large transactions with all Jews should be used.” And a reporter in post-Civil War Georgia described A. G. Marks’ liquor store as “a low Negro shop.”'
https://time.com/3961676/history-credit-scores/
This changed my perspective. I wanted to ditch ever needing this thing. There are groups dedicated to Dave Ramsey etc. who pretty much tell you credit scores should be obsolete for you. Only because you have all of your bills paid off and no debts and plenty of income coming in to get more of whatever you need without ever needing a loan again.
We know that's not a privilege many of us have so what are we going to do about it? I've learned to play the game and there are countless resources out there for this, a few of which I can add as well as personal responses from friends who have their advice.
People need housing and they need it to be affordable. But that's not all they need. Proof that they have never been late on a single bill, that they have enough income to be able to afford the housing with income to rent ratios being sky high, and they need CREDIT. You need money to make money, we all know this. Or in this case dig ourselves out of holes we were never meant to climb out of
What does make sense to me and what I really want to say is that you are not your credit score. Think of your credit score as a report card in practicing capitalism. Doesn't sound much like a reward anymore does it? It's merely a tool to use to get what you want in this white supremacist and capitalist world. It's not a good indicator of how much money you have or whether or not you will be a good homeowner.
Don't let your credit score keep you from believing that you deserve to own a home or purchase whatever it is that you want! I have had to release myself from the guilt of a so-called fair credit score because my "job" didn't allow me to play the capitalist game. And this is by design! Domestic workers were never meant to own property and capital.
So what did I do instead of letting this eat me alive from the stress? I played the game. We do it everyday. We have to make money and eat and pay for food etc. We can do this too and you absolutely don't have to do it alone.
If you are like me and have been a non-income earning worker or parent I am here to tell you that you absolutely can play this game to get to a point of more independence and I am happy to help if I can.
If you have already played this game or have had the privilege of always having enough income and ability to prevent your credit score from dropping I have something for you too! I know that as a community we are always looking for ways to help and we can't always do it financially.
But when it comes to finances, if you have the knowledge and confidence to help coach others towards financial independence, it is one of the best gifts that you could ever offer especially to BIPOC women and non men who need this in their lives at the moment.
If you have any resources you'd like to share please comment below or contact me and I can connect you with someone who needs it! You may also visit our version of a reparational time bank on HourWorld and list one of your skills and offerings to the virtual community we are building.
Decolonize Abundance on HourWorld
A few recommendations from friends of mine on Facebook! Proof that reaching out to a few friends can probably get help:
“Keeping credit utilization on ALL credit cards combined under 30%.”
“I am rebuilding my credit, 12 months of consecutive payments using Credit Strong (like Self) brought my FICO score up 93 pts in one year”
“Start early and learn early. My mom opened me my first card when I was in high school and I took a personal finance class in college that taught me about credit and all of that. Talk about privilege though.”
“Don't close credit accounts when you pay them off. The age of your good credit is very valuable. I assumed the opposite and closed my JC Penney's account ages ago and now it haunts me in my report as the closed, dead account that could be adding 9 or 10 years into my average credit age.”
“Get One credit card as soon as you are allowed to legally get one. By one tank of gas on it each month and pay it off when the bill comes in. I've had an account with that company since I was 18. Longevity matters”
