Credit: The Land of Unknown

By Lisa Gonzalez

Growing up my parents had good jobs and everything seemed to come easily, I had no clue how the world really worked or how credit worked. Pretty much life was good, my parents took care of me, then I was married and my husband’s credit paved the way for the purchase of our house … until we were divorced.

I worked but I didn’t have any credit!

What was even worse was that I had no clue as to what I needed to do to get credit and the first thing I did was apply for a major credit card, I was denied with no questions asked.

Then everyone I knew said, ‘You need to finance a car’.

Off I went with the presumptuous mind that I would drive home in a new car but instead, once again I was denied for credit. After that denial I just couldn’t believe how hard it would be for me to build my credit because by that time I had been working the same job for about four years and I thought that should count … it didn’t.

I had to have credit and the only way for me was to get a secured credit card first, I charged a few things on it, I paid my bills exactly on time and gradually I applied at gas stations for gas cards, department stores, small hardware stores until one day I was approved for a major credit card.

I was a single parent working two jobs, paying rent and normal expenses … I needed credit to live.

It was hard but staying on top of the game paid off because now I’m eligible for those unheard of ‘twelve months same as cash’ deals that I often dreamed about before. I learned a valuable lesson and now I’ve established a good reputation with a good credit score.

Since then I have purchased my own home, my own car and I know that if I need emergency money, I have it.

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