Financing Coding Bootcamp With Subpar Credit
And how difficult it is, despite claims by entities claiming to increase access.
I had amazing credit. I’ve never had trouble paying anything on time. I use credit cards to pay for everything and auto-pay the full statement. I’m a pretty frugal person — doing research on things before making purchases, looking for alternatives, deals, etc. I perform the maintenance on most of my items — when I had a car, I did the oil and filter changes, tire rotations, etc. When my laptop took a bath, I purchased a toolkit and some 99% Isopropyl Alcohol and repaired it.
My credit has always been either Good or Excellent without any bad marks.
Until we bought a house.
Sometimes doing all the research and DIY-ing your way through things doesn’t always pan out. In 2014, we bought a house after securing financing and having it inspected. The inspector told us about a couple of things, but his poor-quality images and his lack of concern lead us to believe they were minor things. Turns out, the heater was actually just an auxillary air handler unit (cue $400 electric bill), the corner joist in the kitchen was rotted, there were two colonies of carpenter ants in the walls, the new plumbing wasn’t coupled with the old cast-iron plumbing so anytime we flushed or drained a sink or tub, the crawlspace below the house was getting fairly flooded, the backyard was once a blackberry bush haven (those don’t just go away when you chop them out) so those kept coming up, the house was in a pretty rough neighborhood (newbie mistake), and I could go on…
The biggest issue was that we couldn’t keep warm in the winter. Couple that with having been in a car accident that left our car totaled, and having to finance another vehicle (insurance said I hadn’t finalized the comprehensive coverage…), we found ourselves in a sticky financial situation.
We filed for bankruptcy and completed it in 2015.
We’ve never had consumer debt. We’ve always stuck to a budget.
Fast-forward to 2018 when I’m trying to go to coding school.
Despite Skills Fund’s claims to increase access to funds used to further your career, their credit requirements are pretty strict. Other than the bankruptcy, there are no bad marks on my history from before or after. Obviously, it’s common to be rejected for pretty much everything with a bankruptcy. We haven’t applied for financing for anything since before the bankruptcy. They do allow a co-signer, but as my only co-signer is my partner (whom is listed on the bankruptcy), that’s a no-go.
My partner was, however, able to secure a loan through Prosper with decent terms.
So, we did it.
I’ll be starting at Thinkful by the end of this month or the beginning of the next. I’m trying to hammer out the details, make sure the kiddo is prepared for it, and trying to get recommendations on reading materials for while I’m in school. Things that could help guide my thought processes. I have The Pragmatic Programmer, but I’m not sure it’s great for while I’m learning.
Here we go!
