Credit: Ruler of the World, Demon Spawn for Survivors
If there is anything that holds a lasting affect on sex trafficking victims, it’s navigating the world with terrible credit.
There are only a few things on the earth that really get me down. The affect that my credit score, or lack there of, has on my life, really puts a damper on my life goals.
Oh, I’ll buy a house! No, no you will not Ms. Under 700.
Okay, that’s fine, I can wait. I will need a car though. One that runs, one that I don’t have to worry about breaking down on me after 3 days or wonder if the dealership wiped the engine codes. HA! You have below 600? Go to Junker America, they take bad credit. Get yourself into one of those “nice cars” with a 24% interest rate.
Here in Minnesota, credit affects where you can get an apartment. I’m not talking about renters history. I’m talking about that Home Goods purchase you let lapse or the mini-fridge you bought with your credit card and didn’t pay off. Or in mine and other survivors’ cases, the electric bill her pimp put in her name and never paid. The cars, the credit cards, any bill that he could. The collateral to keep you in the life that you sacrifice to get the hell out of. And boy, did I suffer.
I left my pimp not even considering this at all. Debt bondage is a real thing, people. It’s not just for the mafia. So here I go, out into the big ol’ world, with debt up to my eyeballs that I can’t pay, and the “nice car” with a 24% interest rate, back to the Twin Cities.
Wait for it.
Then the go-get-a-jobs and why-didn’t-you-leave’s start rolling in.
All of a sudden, everyone has this bright idea to tell a woman who has spent years in mental and physical enslavement to go get a job. Luckily for me, I had one while I was still being prostituted. Well paying, no. A job none the less.
I’m searching for solutions. Because right now, (I am writing this with aspirations of a better future and will look back on this as a faint memory), I have a car that costs more to fix than it’s worth. I can’t afford to pay two car payments, insurance for two cars and gas even if I could go find one at the dealership. So do I settle for the beater car from someone’s backyard sale? Facebook marketplace, be ready for me.
I’m desperately pressing my LifeAlert button, because I really feel like have fallen and I can’t get up. I can’t get ahead.
It takes roughly 7 years to fix just one credit mistake. Even if you pay off every dollar of debt you have, your history is still heavily affected. So take that electric bill, phone bill, car note, insurance, apartments and poor money managing skills all into one and you have the recipe for SOL soup. There is no system in place to help victims. It’s fraud and coercion. It’s okay baby girl, we are going to get us a nice place, whatever you want. It’s only for a little while. Yeah, okay Daddy. Sure, let’s get us all that stuff. In reality, we are doing the dirty work for his pockets, not ours.
How does someone even fall for that? I know what you’re thinking. She chose that, it’s her fault. Let me put this into perspective. You’re miserable, below the poverty line, maybe living paycheck to pay check. You have kids that are hungry, or maybe you are putting yourself through college. Someone offers you a really good paying job, like $100 in 15 minutes good, and you wonder what credentials you need. You have a vagina and know how to speak? Okay, you’re qualified. Easy as that.
She didn’t have any self respect. For sure Sally, I see you had your parents pay for your college and you drive a reliable car that you bought from your grandpa. Looks like you are doing pretty good over there. She had a choice, she chose to get into that prostitution stuff. Alright Janet, with you’re qualified skills and your husband’s business, I’m glad you have options. I was homeless, hungry, abandoned and left to figure out my life at 20. News flash, no one at 20 knows shit about anything let alone credit, or how to build it, or how to even get it. I walked down that street on the hot pavement looking for a pawn shop to sell my belongings that no one wanted, frustrated and alone. Then along comes Prince Charming in his fancy Lexus, and tells me about this big money opportunity. I’m sorry, but I think you’d go along with it if you were sleeping in your car, too.
It’s not choice, it’s lack of choice.
I could have left at anytime. I wasn’t chained to a bed or locked in a basement. I did have choices. Even throughout my time in the life, I had to choose whether to sleep through that 2 a.m. post to Backpage or get choked out when my pimp finds out I didn’t. Or if I skip that date and risk not being able to afford a hotel room to sleep in that night. Choices. Everyone has choices. The ladder was fear induced, and it worked. I couldn’t leave, he had all my info, my tax paperwork, my debit card. Everything was in my name, if I can’t pay it, it ruins my life. So you stay. Until maybe one day you think that your life is worth more than a mediocre credit score, and you leave. People celebrate you. You made it out, the lucky 2%! Yet you look at your options and realize your new pimp is this complicated number that seals the fate of the next 7–10 years, maybe longer.
Survivors need help. We need resources, forgiveness, and settlement options. We aren’t asking for handouts, or telling you to give us everything. We are simply asking you to understand that someone took advantage of us in our weakest state, exploited us, and now the system continues to make it difficult to stay out of that fast money lifestyle. Please, understand us.
If you’d like to listen to my podcast, head over to Soundcloud, Spotify, and iTunes. I chat about survivor stories of redemption and help others see survivors as victims, not criminals. If you have any info on anyone who can help survivors of sex trafficking with credit and settlements, please contact me at namingjanedoe@gmail.com. Help us rise, we deserve new life. ❤
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