Speaker 1: It's time for the b a q a a b
Speaker 1: a q a, which is said the b a q
Speaker 1: eight man day to b a q eight with definite
Speaker 1: the b a q a A. If you've got questions,
Speaker 1: we don't necessarily have answers, but what we do have
Speaker 1: it's just smart opinions that we just share casually. Not
Speaker 1: for you to necessarily take every little piece of advice,
Speaker 1: just entertainment person purposes only. Okay, okay, so your grandma.
Speaker 1: But if you'd like to ask us questions, you can
Speaker 1: slide in our d MS at I G. Brand and
Speaker 1: Pision Podcast. You can email us Brand and Pitsion Podcasts
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. You go to our website briandimichon
Speaker 1: podcast dot com and click contact us. We really like
Speaker 1: the d the I G d M sliding you know,
Speaker 1: that's the easiest way. But whatever floats your boat.
Speaker 2: But we don't we have some updates, right, mandra.
Speaker 3: Oh, we have. First of all, we love listener up
Speaker 3: So if you sent us a question in the past,
Speaker 3: it helps if you, you know, remind us where we
Speaker 3: found that, where to find that original.
Speaker 2: Question episode that it was, you know, etc.
Speaker 3: The episode you know, even just copy and paste here's
Speaker 3: what Well, my first question was because how many years
Speaker 3: have we been doing this for a lot? But this
Speaker 3: lovely listener, let me see, Oh, she's anonymous, so we'll
Speaker 3: keep her anonymous. But this is the original question for
Speaker 3: y'all who may may or may not remember. It's a
Speaker 3: career question. She was a contractor at a fortune five
Speaker 3: hundred bank. She had her first interview with the recruiter
Speaker 3: for a permanent position with the company, and then she
Speaker 3: reached out because her credit score wasn't great at the time.
Speaker 3: It was like almost around five hundreds to low six hundreds.
Speaker 3: So at the time she was asking do you think that, well,
Speaker 3: she'll get rejected because of her like low credit score.
Speaker 3: And we talked about how when you're in a job,
Speaker 3: especially at a bank or like a financial institution, even
Speaker 3: like an attorney, like sometimes at law firms, they will check,
Speaker 3: they'll do like a credit check to see Basically, I
Speaker 3: think they're just looking for how do you manage your
Speaker 3: own finances? And I guess maybe are you bribeable? I
Speaker 3: don't know, But she followed up she said, first of all,
Speaker 3: thank you so much both for your time and dedication.
Speaker 3: I can't stress how helpful it has been for me
Speaker 3: having this podcast to listen to for the past two years.
Speaker 3: I did not get that job, but I wanted to
Speaker 3: thank you both for your advice. Tiffany, you told me
Speaker 3: this might be the thing before the thing which prompted
Speaker 3: me to go on a YouTube deep dive of how
Speaker 3: to get certain things removed from my credit. It helped,
Speaker 3: and I was able to get two to three accounts
Speaker 3: removed across all credit bureaus. My credit profile is a
Speaker 3: much better, much better shape. Fast forward. My contract ended
Speaker 3: with that company a month earlier than it was supposed
Speaker 3: to you, But God, I applied for a position with
Speaker 3: a fintech company shortly after the contract ended. I interviewed,
Speaker 3: and less than a week later I had a full
Speaker 3: time salaried offer. Yes, yeah, I am so grateful to
Speaker 3: God and you both. Thank you for doing this, and
Speaker 3: please continue. You're truly helping me and I'm sure many
Speaker 3: other women do great things. Also, please throw in that
Speaker 3: I did not get the job due to my credit.
Speaker 3: So y'all were right, Well, that's a good case study
Speaker 3: to confirm what we suspected.
Speaker 1: Yes, but that time was like there to prompt you
Speaker 1: to get your credit together. So the next job can
Speaker 1: hire you.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 1: We've been on in a little bit, not legally, but
Speaker 1: you know, so, I wanna do some money questions this week.
Speaker 3: Yes, put you in the hot seat.
Speaker 2: Okay, hot flee? How flee? Okay? All right, So let's.
Speaker 3: Look at which one do we want to do first?
Speaker 3: The longer one? Sure, all right, I will read it
Speaker 3: for you, serve it to you in a silver platter.
Speaker 3: All right. This question comes from listener who wants to
Speaker 3: be called Sandy. All right, So Sandy says, I'm looking
Speaker 3: into buying a car later this year. It'll be about
Speaker 3: thirty thousand dollars. Okay, Sandy and Tiffany, what do you
Speaker 3: say to Sandy's question? Should she be? I feel like
Speaker 3: this is a good example of a question we probably
Speaker 3: would have answered a lot differently at the beginning of
Speaker 3: this podcast versus yeah maybe now.
Speaker 1: So thirty thirty k would be a twelve month emergency fund.
Speaker 3: No, thirty k is like the cost of her of
Speaker 3: the car.
Speaker 1: No, no, but I'm looking at it further down. She
Speaker 1: explains that she's stepped free. But she said, but thirty
Speaker 1: thousand would be a twelve month emergency fund.
Speaker 3: Oh, that would like that's enough to last her for
Speaker 3: a year.
Speaker 2: Yes, gotcha?
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, So I'm just because she just was sharing
Speaker 1: kind of like her bare bones living expenses, which is
Speaker 1: important to know. So basically, should she take one year's
Speaker 1: worth of savings to buy this car cash?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And I say.
Speaker 1: So, I just recently bought Supergirl a car. My stepdaughter, Alyssa,
Speaker 1: she was at school. I know, she's so big now,
Speaker 1: and we were asking ourselves this very same question. So
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this, but back in
Speaker 1: the day, like it used to be that cash was
Speaker 1: king right, that if you went with cash, you actually
Speaker 1: had a better deal.
Speaker 2: That's not the case anymore.
Speaker 1: That like, if you buy a car with cash, now
Speaker 1: that more and more dealerships, you really don't make money
Speaker 1: off the car, like the actual physical car.
Speaker 2: They're making money off the financing.
Speaker 1: And so if you let's just say a thirty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars car, if you're financing, might be thirty thousand after
Speaker 1: you know, like let's just say that includes the tax
Speaker 1: and fees and blah blah blah. But if you say, oh,
Speaker 1: I want to buy cash, You're like, oh, then it's
Speaker 1: thirty seven. You're like wait, what when did me buying
Speaker 1: cash become a penalty? So one, cash doesn't do what
Speaker 1: it used to do. That oftentimes there's actually a penalty now,
Speaker 1: especially with the bigger dealerships. If you're going to like
Speaker 1: the Ford dealership, the Lincoln dealership, the whatever, you know
Speaker 1: name the dealership. So that's one that I would consider. Two,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what kind of car you're trying to get.
Speaker 1: Thirty thousand, that's a break, that's a healthy, healthy number.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, like you know what kind of car
Speaker 1: you're you're trying to get.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's the average cost of a car these days,
Speaker 3: which seems so high, like a used car.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm wondering if she's buying want, assuming she's buying
Speaker 2: used at thirty.
Speaker 1: So this is what I would say at this point,
Speaker 1: this was me. Now, I would put probably finance a car.
Speaker 1: I would put down a significant down payment, and I
Speaker 1: would commit to so because you're financing, you'll be able
Speaker 1: to negotiate them typically a better deal. Not always, but
Speaker 1: typically these days now a better deal. Just to someone
Speaker 1: who literally just purchased my stepdaughter's car last week, and
Speaker 1: I would get the best deal possible from you know,
Speaker 1: definitely go to your credit union if you don't have one,
Speaker 1: to see like you know, what your what interest rates
Speaker 1: are available. Oftentimes too, if you agree to get financing
Speaker 1: from the car dealership, they will even sometimes lower the
Speaker 1: price even more than to another like a negotiable component,
Speaker 1: and then you could just go refinance at your credit union.
Speaker 1: And also too, like I like, if my plan was
Speaker 1: if we had not got the car that we found,
Speaker 1: we end up paying cash because she got like some
Speaker 1: little like you know, two thousand and seven seventeen. But
Speaker 1: my plan was to we were going to finance the
Speaker 1: car and then just pay it off like the next month,
Speaker 1: so I wouldn't have to pay any of them to
Speaker 1: get the car down to the price that I wanted
Speaker 1: because financing is what they wanted to hear, and then
Speaker 1: just go ahead and pay it off. So the good
Speaker 1: thing too is you want to make sure that if
Speaker 1: you if you do decide to get to finance a car,
Speaker 1: and you decide, you know, a year or two later,
Speaker 1: that you know, I'm just gonna go ahead and pay
Speaker 1: it off, that there's no prepayment penalty. So make sure that.
Speaker 1: But that's probably what I would do, only because one
Speaker 1: of the things that you that you wrote here, Sandy,
Speaker 1: is that thirty thousand would be a twelve month emergency fund.
Speaker 1: I just don't know how I feel about you spending like,
Speaker 1: you know, a year's worth of emergency fund with this
Speaker 1: un you know, uncertain financial times ahead on a car
Speaker 1: are when you have it set aside. If you would
Speaker 1: have told me, because I know you have a fifty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars of emergency fund right now, so you it
Speaker 1: would leave you with I don't know what what twenty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars would be. I just would just feel more
Speaker 1: comfortable if it'd be like, Okay, I'm gonna put down
Speaker 1: a good amount, but I'm going to pay this car
Speaker 1: down in a year or two and be able to
Speaker 1: still maintain my twelve month emergency fund as I pay
Speaker 1: it down.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But honestly, all the rest of your numbers look really great.
Speaker 1: The fact that you're maxing out everything you make it
Speaker 1: really good money. Your debt free, which is great. I
Speaker 1: know some people like us oftentimes don't like to carry debt.
Speaker 1: And there's a guy which I would highly recommend Sandy
Speaker 1: on TikTok so this is who helped Alyssa and I
Speaker 1: get mentally ready to negotiate at the at the car dealership,
Speaker 1: almost said drug dealer.
Speaker 2: Okay, I know, And so his name is.
Speaker 1: I don't know him or anything, but I just follow.
Speaker 1: His name is Billy the car Kid, and I yes.
Speaker 1: I really love about Billy is that he used to
Speaker 1: be a car salesman for many, many, many, many many years.
Speaker 1: And the tips that he gave us. She and I
Speaker 1: listened to like at least thirty forty minutes worth of like,
Speaker 1: you know, three or four minute clips of tips.
Speaker 2: And it was so helpful. And what I really like
Speaker 2: is that it empowered her. When we went to the dealership.
Speaker 1: She was using the tactics that we listened to in
Speaker 1: the car to ask, well, what about this, Like for example,
Speaker 1: Billy said, you know, so they're going to say thirty
Speaker 1: thousand on the website, you have to know like what
Speaker 1: your end number is at the bottom, because that thirty
Speaker 1: thousand doesn't include registration, it doesn't include feed, it doesn't
Speaker 1: include all these other.
Speaker 2: Things they're going to add on to it.
Speaker 1: That's going to add at least five to sometimes seven
Speaker 1: eight nine thousand dollars onto the bottom line, and to
Speaker 1: not actually nickel and dime each line item, but instead,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Once they give you the spiel, you test your the
Speaker 2: car you like it.
Speaker 1: And really work on that bottom line, how close can
Speaker 1: we get this to thirty two thousand, you know, and
Speaker 1: then let them do the math, you know, like, well
Speaker 1: maybe we could get you a better interest rate, maybe
Speaker 1: we could get you were better And so he was
Speaker 1: just really instrumental and healthy helping us feel really comfortable.
Speaker 1: We were able to get the car she wanted at
Speaker 1: basically the price that she wanted. My budget was about
Speaker 1: fifteen thousand, and we got it for sixteen to five.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm talking about the walk out the door number.
Speaker 2: So I felt really good about it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's my advice to you is that, like
Speaker 1: I'm not opposed to you financing and then just paying
Speaker 1: it off earlier so you don't have to have all
Speaker 1: the financing fees. Financing will allow you to negotiate a
Speaker 1: little bit better. Watch the car kids, so you could
Speaker 1: really feel really empowered. Make sure that there's no prepayment penalty,
Speaker 1: and happy car shopping.
Speaker 3: Did y'all? So you went in there thinking you were
Speaker 3: going to finance or pay cash, which one.
Speaker 1: Well, I ideally wanted to pay cash. But what I
Speaker 1: found is that the big dealerships I'm talking about, like
Speaker 1: the name of the car brand dealerships, that cash costs more.
Speaker 1: But then what I what we found was that the
Speaker 1: smart because we want to at least ten different dealerships,
Speaker 1: the smaller dealerships that like you know, like the local dealership,
Speaker 1: that actually cash still helped.
Speaker 2: At those smaller ones.
Speaker 1: And so when we were at like she, I wanted
Speaker 1: her to get a Honda or Toyota. That way, you know,
Speaker 1: the car would last a long time. So we went
Speaker 1: to the Honda dealerships. They don't want to hear nothing
Speaker 1: about nobody's cash. They're like, sure, here's the up up
Speaker 1: charge fee.
Speaker 2: And I was like, Dad, Bill, Billy the.
Speaker 1: Kid, I know, Billy the Kid actually said that he
Speaker 1: was like cash us and do what he used to do.
Speaker 1: That you're actually going to probably have to finance and
Speaker 1: just pay it off the next month, so you know,
Speaker 1: maybe you have one month or you actually have that
Speaker 1: finance charge and you still get your price, because that's
Speaker 1: the only way you're going to get that number down.
Speaker 1: But these local dealerships cash still and I'm not really
Speaker 1: sure why for them, Maybe because most of these local dealerships.
Speaker 1: Obviously that's not their car. They purchased it, and so
Speaker 1: they have.
Speaker 2: A little more wiggle room.
Speaker 1: But we were able to, like, you know, we were
Speaker 1: able to negotiate a cash price that made sense, and
Speaker 1: so that was just kind of an AHA moment for us, Like, Okay,
Speaker 1: the smaller the dealership, the more likely that cash will
Speaker 1: need something. The bigger the dealership, the more likely that
Speaker 1: in order to get your price, you're probably gonna have
Speaker 1: to finance, even if you want to pay cash and
Speaker 1: just paid off later.
Speaker 2: But I really encourage you.
Speaker 1: It was he has these like five step five ways
Speaker 1: to buy a car from home. So one thing that
Speaker 1: Alyssa and I did is that so we don't get
Speaker 1: wheeled and deals when we got to the dealership, is
Speaker 1: that we made a lot of phone calls ahead of time,
Speaker 1: got some numbers ahead of time, done a little research
Speaker 1: ahead of time. So by the time we came in
Speaker 1: we felt like more empowered to say no, no, no,
Speaker 1: even like getting them to text you some of those
Speaker 1: numbers because they don't want to do that. But the
Speaker 1: way you open the text messaging up is that you
Speaker 1: say is this car still available? They say yes, I'm like,
Speaker 1: can you show me? Can you go and take a
Speaker 1: video and pictures of a car in real time and
Speaker 1: send it to me. Now we're on text, so now
Speaker 1: when they're calling me, I'm like setting up the voicemail
Speaker 1: and texting them.
Speaker 2: So what's the price? So what about this?
Speaker 1: And so that way, when I come in and everybody
Speaker 1: forgets the numbers, I'm like, well the text doesn't forget.
Speaker 2: So Billy the Kid got me all the way together.
Speaker 2: It's go ahead. Yes. So I was so excited. I
Speaker 2: was like, it works so.
Speaker 3: Such an infrequent negotiating I'm the negotiation queen, but I
Speaker 3: don't negotiate. I think I've bought. We've bought two car
Speaker 3: in the last decade, like anyway. But the one thing
Speaker 3: that I love that you mentioned is just shopping around
Speaker 3: for your financing and getting pre approved, Like you can
Speaker 3: call your credit to walk in there with a certain
Speaker 3: amount that you're pre approved for. It is so important
Speaker 3: because even like to negotiate the rate down with the dealers, yes,
Speaker 3: because they really don't want you to come in there.
Speaker 3: They found that you can shop around and compare raids,
Speaker 3: which you absolutely yes.
Speaker 1: So Billy the Kid, one of the things he said
Speaker 1: was to say, like, you know, I'll finance with you,
Speaker 1: especially if you know you're going to pay it off later.
Speaker 1: But if not, I mean I know already that my
Speaker 1: credit union said five percent or four point you know,
Speaker 1: five point six percent.
Speaker 2: And then they'll go back because he said, what they're always.
Speaker 1: Going to do is that when they go to run
Speaker 1: to see don't let them run your credit. You don't
Speaker 1: have to unless you're like, okay, we're ready to move forward.
Speaker 1: One of the things he said was that they're the
Speaker 1: banks just because a bank offers. So a bank might
Speaker 1: offer eight percent financing, and the margin is way better
Speaker 1: on the eight percent than it is obviously on the
Speaker 1: five percent financing, but maybe the six percent financing.
Speaker 2: The margin for them is like someplace.
Speaker 1: In the middle, you know, And so they're always going
Speaker 1: to hit you with the financing option that that that
Speaker 1: bank gave them. Where they get better. They have to
Speaker 1: have a better margin of earning for themselves. And so
Speaker 1: if you kind of push back, then they'll go to
Speaker 1: the second best bank, and then if you really push back,
Speaker 1: then they'll go to the third less bank, you know
Speaker 1: for them, So just know that like whatever first numbers
Speaker 1: that you're I like to get them on the phone.
Speaker 1: And like I said, when I got into got in there,
Speaker 1: then you kind of do kind of like your final
Speaker 1: negotiating if even that, getting everything in paper, giving everything signed,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I mean it was lirve racking. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie because to your point, Mandy, I'm not usually
Speaker 1: nervous about negotiating. But it's not a small purchase. And
Speaker 1: also it's not something you do all the time, you know,
Speaker 1: like how often. You know, I haven't bought a car
Speaker 1: on like seven eight years. So I just felt so
Speaker 1: out of practice. And you know, this is what they
Speaker 1: do all day every day. You know, they see you coming, They're.
Speaker 3: Like, yes, yeah, they pro thought they were. And it's
Speaker 3: great that Alyssa was involved too. Yeah, such a good
Speaker 3: step mom.
Speaker 1: It was so cuye because I was really going to
Speaker 1: be like, Lista, don't say nothing. I'm gonna take care
Speaker 1: of so I'm in there. She's like, no, I'm talking
Speaker 1: about the bottom line price.
Speaker 3: I looked at her like, see, I have never been
Speaker 3: the better car. I remember when we negotiated a car
Speaker 3: we got when I was pregnant. I was like about
Speaker 3: to pop with Rio and I was so good at
Speaker 3: negotiating because I was I did not want to be there.
Speaker 3: I did not want to re get it buy a car.
Speaker 3: And it was like I remember the I was just
Speaker 3: I just would I was just sat there like if
Speaker 3: we were having like really long conversations, and I could
Speaker 3: just tell the guy was like, get out of my dealership.
Speaker 3: So we got a really good deal on the lease.
Speaker 3: But anyway, that's great, that's really helpful. Billy the kid,
Speaker 3: we should have him on the show.
Speaker 2: We should.
Speaker 3: I love that. All right, Well, congrats to Alyssa and
Speaker 3: her new her new HRV, her new responsibility, her new burden.
Speaker 3: This is what being y'all all want to be all
Speaker 3: growed up and.
Speaker 2: Cars keep them up, that's what I saw. I don't
Speaker 2: keep them out and says you got two jobs. You
Speaker 2: know Lissa work. She works at foot locker at chugg
Speaker 2: Echee's Boy.
Speaker 3: Her daddy would be so primal. All right, well, let's
Speaker 3: take a quick break and we'll come right back. We
Speaker 3: have another question. Let Tiffany put Tiffany in the hot
Speaker 3: seat today for y'all's money questions. We'll be right back
Speaker 3: and we are back to the ba QA. If y'all
Speaker 3: forgot already. What Please go to our Instagram brand a
Speaker 3: Mission Podcast. You can submit your questions there to be
Speaker 3: answered on the show or sorry to be entertained on
Speaker 3: the show, because we don't answer things. We just entertain,
Speaker 3: you know, for entertainment purpose. Right. This question comes from
Speaker 3: listener Christy. Christy says, I need help. I have fallen
Speaker 3: behind on my credit cards. I had a medical emergency,
Speaker 3: I was out of work for a month with no savings,
Speaker 3: could barely pay my necessities. Now I'm at least thirty
Speaker 3: days behind on my credit cards too, have already been
Speaker 3: reported to credit bureaus. What's the first thing I should
Speaker 3: do to get back on track? I'm so overwhelmed, Christy.
Speaker 1: Well, first, I hope you are feeling better, and so
Speaker 1: I'll say this, like, let's just I'm gonna rewind back.
Speaker 1: You can't do this now, but just if this should
Speaker 1: ever happen again, when you kind of know when you're probably.
Speaker 2: Not going to be able to pay a credit card.
Speaker 1: So if ever anyone listening is like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I lost my job or something has happened, and I
Speaker 1: pretty much I feel pretty confident I'm not going to
Speaker 1: be able to pay what I did when that happened
Speaker 1: to me is I had this thirty five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in credit card debt because of a scam, and then
Speaker 1: I lost my job. But I had this window when
Speaker 1: I wasn't late yet. So what I did was I
Speaker 1: still had good credit, my score was still good because
Speaker 1: I wasn't late, that I opened up two balanced transfer
Speaker 1: cards and transfer them. And because my credit score was
Speaker 1: so good, I was able to find two balanced transfer
Speaker 1: cards with zero percent interest, and so I made the
Speaker 1: transfers and then properly, you know, was late.
Speaker 2: So I will say that that was.
Speaker 1: Such a lifesaver because it allowed that one without the interest,
Speaker 1: I didn't have to pay any interest, and so it
Speaker 1: meant that my monthly payments were more reasonable.
Speaker 2: And so I did just.
Speaker 1: Pay the minimum, you know, like so, but still it
Speaker 1: was the minimum on the actual balance itself, not balance
Speaker 1: plus interest.
Speaker 2: So that's that's too late for you now.
Speaker 1: But I just want to put that out there that
Speaker 1: if you ever find yourself in this position, like preemptively
Speaker 1: to kind of get your cards to a less expensive
Speaker 1: way to pay them off. So that's one, because you know,
Speaker 1: you could have also too potentially.
Speaker 3: Love a balance transfer. I too found myself in credit
Speaker 3: card debt more than once these past few years, and
Speaker 3: balance transfers. I'm like, this is why I have a
Speaker 3: good credit score, so I can restructure my debt literally restructure.
Speaker 1: And so if not balance structure, there's also the potential
Speaker 1: of like, say you have a really great credit union
Speaker 1: and maybe like getting like a personal loan while your
Speaker 1: credit score is still good and sure in your debt
Speaker 1: that way, and if the interest rate is going to
Speaker 1: be lower. So these are just things to think about
Speaker 1: because oftentimes we know something is going to happen, and
Speaker 1: so we can restructure before the thing hits, and then
Speaker 1: you know, we could write it out.
Speaker 2: But now that you're here and we hope that you
Speaker 2: are feeling better, that.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to worry so much about, like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, my credit because credit is one of
Speaker 1: the easiest things. It's really just a series of tips
Speaker 1: and tricks, you know. And so as far as raising
Speaker 1: your credit score, so certainly this is going to be
Speaker 1: a ding and it will stay for some time, but
Speaker 1: know that.
Speaker 2: Really it's going to be two years.
Speaker 1: For it to like really materially matter to your score,
Speaker 1: and really six months for it for when it hits
Speaker 1: its hardest. So I want you to think about credit
Speaker 1: about they like to see experience in history, right, So
Speaker 1: something that happened to you seven years ago is not
Speaker 1: as material as something that happened to you six months ago.
Speaker 2: And so what you can do is.
Speaker 1: To offset, you know, what recently happened by if you
Speaker 1: have any other credit card that like the balance is low,
Speaker 1: by paying it off in full every single month. So
Speaker 1: let's just say you have these two credit cards where
Speaker 1: you were late, but you have one that's kind of
Speaker 1: paid off.
Speaker 2: Then this is one of the ways I was ready to.
Speaker 1: Raise my credit score despite being late late late on
Speaker 1: some of my other cards, is that I got a
Speaker 1: new card. I put like my cheapest bill on it.
Speaker 1: It was like, I don't know, Planet Fitness, nine bucks
Speaker 1: or whatever, and I paid it off every month in
Speaker 1: full because as I was getting f's over here, I
Speaker 1: was offsetting that kind of was getting an A and
Speaker 1: paying off a debt in full every month over here.
Speaker 2: So that kind of kind of helps to offset.
Speaker 1: Call the credit card companies and see if they have
Speaker 1: any sort of program, especially during a pandemic, many of
Speaker 1: them had. If they didn't have programs. They created programs
Speaker 1: from people who didn't who couldn't pay. You don't say
Speaker 1: the position you're in now, like are you able to
Speaker 1: pay now? You know? So I would call them to
Speaker 1: see about getting on track. And if it's thirty days,
Speaker 1: sometimes you could write a good will letter that you know,
Speaker 1: it's like I've never.
Speaker 3: Been late before, you know your situation.
Speaker 1: Yes, and then see if like you know, they're able
Speaker 1: to kind of like you know, they're not like, you know,
Speaker 1: six monthsly, eight months late, you know, because ultimately the
Speaker 1: credit bureaus or credit card companies, they don't care about
Speaker 1: anything about getting their money. So if you're like, I
Speaker 1: do have your money now, I'm on track. Now can
Speaker 1: you do this thing for me as long as you
Speaker 1: they hear I got my money now, many times they're like, okay,
Speaker 1: here's what I can do.
Speaker 2: We could take this off.
Speaker 1: We can, we can as long as you have my money,
Speaker 1: then we're we're in good standing. So just something to
Speaker 1: these kind of things to kind of think about. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to think, like, so I would start with calling
Speaker 1: the credit card company asking for some leniency and grace
Speaker 1: paying off a credit card in full every month if
Speaker 1: you have one, if you don't have one, considering it,
Speaker 1: it sounds crazy if you have the discipline to open
Speaker 1: one and paid off in full every single month. And yeah,
Speaker 1: just the two and core components of your credit score
Speaker 1: are on time payments. Thirty five percent of your score
Speaker 1: and thirty percent of your score is you or how
Speaker 1: much you owe versus how much you could of. They
Speaker 1: call this utilization and so, meaning keeping your balances as
Speaker 1: low as you can versus how much your limits are.
Speaker 1: So if you focus on those two things, and that's
Speaker 1: sixty five percent of your score, and you'll be able
Speaker 1: to raise your credit score fairly quickly. Like I'm going
Speaker 1: to give you a little bit of hope. I had
Speaker 1: a full full closure on my credit you know, like
Speaker 1: I lost my condo.
Speaker 2: They came and snatched that baby and I had it.
Speaker 1: So it took my credit score from like an eight
Speaker 1: to ozh something down to a five thirty.
Speaker 2: And it took me two years.
Speaker 1: But I really I did them, you know, I slowly
Speaker 1: but surely was paying like the minimums on my credit cards.
Speaker 1: But I had two credit cards that I was paying
Speaker 1: off in full by putting something cheap on them and
Speaker 1: opened them up specifically for that purpose because of my
Speaker 1: friend who was a He was a bankruptcy lawyer, suggested
Speaker 1: that to me. This is what he suggested his clients
Speaker 1: to get back on track. And in two years, my
Speaker 1: five OZHO two or five thirty credit score was a
Speaker 1: seven fifty with an active foreclosure, so it still said
Speaker 1: foreclosure on my credit score, and I was still in
Speaker 1: the seven hundreds because those two cars of me paying
Speaker 1: ten bucks off every single month, there's something magical about
Speaker 1: paying a debt off in full, whether it's ten bucks,
Speaker 1: ten thousand, one hundred, and so that helps significantly. This
Speaker 1: is why I tell people, don't stress so much about
Speaker 1: your credit scorees just tips and tricks, and I just
Speaker 1: hope you're not trying to buy anything anytime, so in
Speaker 1: like a house or a car, other than that, you know,
Speaker 1: just do that. Just make your own time payments, automate them,
Speaker 1: and you should be okay in a few months, if
Speaker 1: not a year or so.
Speaker 3: And don't let anybody make you feel like you're alone,
Speaker 3: because especially in this economy, I'm concerned for myself for
Speaker 3: others I have just I feel like so many Americans
Speaker 3: like we're just really close to the edge, like that
Speaker 3: that the savings that we were able to accumulate. I
Speaker 3: mean data has already shown this, like the savings that
Speaker 3: we were accumulating during the pandemic. We've had to tap
Speaker 3: into that savings. And like I think more Americans are
Speaker 3: shown now to be relying on credit cards to be
Speaker 3: and when we do take out debt because of the
Speaker 3: high interest rates, it's even more expensive than it was
Speaker 3: before with low savings and high debt. Like I just think,
Speaker 3: be easy on yourself, but also for anyone listening if
Speaker 3: this sounds like you, if it resonates, it's just a
Speaker 3: really good sign to start thinking about. Okay, your credit
Speaker 3: score hasn't taken a hit yet, but what are some
Speaker 3: things you can do now to start paying that debt down,
Speaker 3: restructuring it, doing a balance transfer, consolidating whatever it can
Speaker 3: be to set yourself up so you're a bit more
Speaker 3: financially resilient, you know, if things keep going the whether
Speaker 3: they're going economy wise. So thank you so much for
Speaker 3: your question and for being candid, Christie, and thanks for
Speaker 3: all the support and for sending your question. Y'all be
Speaker 3: like Christy, Okay, smart girl, send us your questions so
Speaker 3: we cannot answer them, but entertain you. Okay, Yes, Brand
Speaker 3: Ambition Podcast on ig or. You can hit us up
Speaker 3: Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com and.
Speaker 2: Leave us a review.
Speaker 1: First of all, sharing with hello share this said prode
Speaker 1: Hello right with your fabe because you know everybody has
Speaker 1: credit issues, so share it. And that's a car buying girl.
Speaker 1: It's a frightening mess, so shad it too, and yeah,
Speaker 1: leave us a review.
Speaker 2: We love reviews.
Speaker 3: It's been a while since I read a review, and
Speaker 3: we have several new ones that I kept me.
Speaker 2: Oh you you want to read a couple? I would
Speaker 2: love to.
Speaker 3: So This one from Barry twenty one to ninety nine
Speaker 3: says huge Impact by far my favorite. By far, this
Speaker 3: is my favorite podcast. I love being able to navigate
Speaker 3: my twenties with the great advice and overall positivity these
Speaker 3: ladies disperse weekly. I was able to switch jobs and
Speaker 3: negotiate a salary twenty thousand dollars more than what I
Speaker 3: was making while staying in the same field. Being able
Speaker 3: to do that as a twenty three year old black
Speaker 3: woman in the legal profession, which was a huge boost
Speaker 3: to my confidence. I don't think I would have been
Speaker 3: able to do that without the guidance I've received simply
Speaker 3: by listening to this podcast. Thanks for being my role models.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, very staffing. Keep it going, Staffing.
Speaker 3: You more, please, I thought is amazing. Twenty k at
Speaker 3: the beginning of your career. Girl, all you are just wow.
Speaker 3: Chef's kiss. They're gonna they're not gonna know what to
Speaker 3: do with you. Yes, all right? AJ podcasts that I
Speaker 3: really enjoyed the podcast. They cover so many important topics
Speaker 3: and then read a check says inspiring and real. I
Speaker 3: feel at home with this podcast. I learn loads of
Speaker 3: information in an authentic way. I love the transparency and
Speaker 3: kindness these ladies give, along with vital personal finance, business
Speaker 3: and career advice for the Brown community. Thank you so much,
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Yes, we love y'all, ba fam.
Speaker 3: Don't forget to leave us a review. It's completely free
Speaker 3: for y'all to do, and so is this show. So
Speaker 3: show us some love so that someone else can pay
Speaker 3: our bills. Okay not, y'all. Go to browndin Ambision podcast
Speaker 3: dot com or anywhere you listen to the podcast, especially
Speaker 3: on Apple podcasts. Leave us a review, share it with
Speaker 3: a friend, Tell a friend to tell a friend, you guys,
Speaker 3: some LAS week Hollo back Monday, Yes all right, Bye
Speaker 3: bye m