I remember the very first time I considered seriously using credit beyond just charging something on a credit card as a consumer, and I was terrified. The terror I felt was deeply out of proportion to the action I was taking by applying for a Small Business Administration Loan (SBA Loan) to grow my law practice.
Now, after 15 years of the full range of using credit to manage my life and fund and grow my businesses, including borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars, filing bankruptcy in 2012 and now having a business that does $5M a year in revenue without debt and another business that has no revenue and is carrying about $130,000 of debt, I understand where my terror came from.
I didn’t trust myself when it came to accessing or using credit. And, that terror was well-placed. I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
But now I do, and I’m sharing it all with you because accessing credit and using it wisely is a critical personal resiliency system for you to have in your life.
So here are the 3 basic steps to start to get you into right relationship with credit and your credit score.
a. Remember, You Are Not Your Credit Score
