If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that no one likes talking about things they don’t know something about… Especially when they think they should be an expert.
Take credit, for example…
I once had a client with roughly fifty collection accounts on his credit report. His scores were what industry professionals call “in the toilet” (yes, that’s a professional term). For the purposes of this article, we’ll call him “John Smith”.
Now, my job was to coach people like John on how to improve their credit scores so they could qualify for home loans. In most cases, they were more than willing to take whatever help they could get. A great student mentality usually led to great results.
John, however, was way beyond help. Not because there weren’t glaring opportunities to improve his scores, but because he wasn’t even willing to talk about it. In short, he lacked that ever-important student mentality.
“There’s no way to fix it,” John informed me. “The whole system is rigged! Credit’s just a big scam.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I replied in effort to relate to his frustration. “There’s a lot of fraud and shady practices out there, but that’s why you should let me go over your report with you… We can come up with a plan together!”
“I’m just going to pay everything off.”
“Alright,” I said, “if that’s what you want… But, it’s not going to help you get the scores you need. Not by a long shot. You need to build some positive credit too.”
The tone in his voice sounded like a teenager whose grandmother was telling him to take his vitamin “D”.
“Yeah, that’s what my loan officer said– that I need to open a credit card. But, I’m not going to do that. Credit cards are a scam! I pay cash for everything.”
“Oh, ok. Well… Are you going to pay cash for your house?”
I already knew the answer…
“No! I’m just going to keep on renting.”
You see where this is going… There’s no way to help someone who doesn’t want to be helped. The truth was that John didn’t have money to buy a house with. Heck, he could hardly afford to pay his rent! But, for him, it was more important to save face than it was to admit he didn’t know what he was talking about.
It’s in that spirit that I propose we examine the educational system within the United States.
In my view, it fails people like John every day.
Why wasn’t he taught in school how to manage his personal credit? Why did it have to get to the point that he had fifty collections on his credit report before he talked to a guy like me? Why do you either have to be rich or willing to start your life in debt to receive a higher education?
I mean, had he given me the chance, I would have told him that with a name like “John Smith”, he was almost guaranteed to have identity fraud on his credit report! Odds were really good I would’ve able to help him.
Unfortunately, he’d been turned down and kicked in the teeth so many times that he didn’t want to give me the chance. Like a kid who’s slipped through the cracks their whole life learns to believe that teachers just don’t care, John was jaded. There’s no way to help someone who’s jaded because they don’t want to risk being told that they’re the problem. Not again… They’ve heard it too many times before.
Does that mean that the entire system is broken, though? Or is it just in need of a few adjustments?
Without credit reporting, it would be extremely difficult for lenders to evaluate risk and hold borrowers accountable. In fact, it’s part of what keep the economy strong. Just the same, a quality education affords people the opportunities they need to achieve personal and professional success.
The catch with both of them, is that they have to be accurate and reliable.
A credit report full of errors, inaccuracies and mistakes doesn’t do borrowers or lenders any good whatsoever. Likewise, an education that doesn’t teach useful skills, honest history, or relevant facts isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.
Most importantly, however, it takes people who care to make these systems work; Lenders who take the time to actually coach their borrowers… Teachers and administrators who full-heartedly believe in their students. Those are the advocates who make success stories out of people who are otherwise destined to become jaded souls.
Take the case of the alternative high school where I once taught a basic credit class…
I’ll admit it– at first I was terrified! More so than with any of the other thousand credit classes I’d taught to working business professionals. After all, these were kids.
The guy in front row had a fluorescent green mohawk for crying out loud! The girl in the back was wearing a Slayer shirt! And, I could tell immediately- the well dressed Indian kids were only there because their mom was forcing them to attend… This was going to be the longest hour of my life.
Imagine my surprise when the auditorium lit up with questions. They were all hungry for knowledge…
The punk rocker wanted to know what he should ask before taking out student loans… The cheerleaders asked what the ideal credit utilization was… And the Indians? Oh the Indians… All they only wanted to know was if they should put freezes on their credit bureaus.
My heart was filled.
But, this isn’t a story about me. It’s about us. How do we create an educational system that serves everyone– even the John Smiths of the world? The comments section is open!
Also, be sure to join the project so you’ll get notified of future articles! After all, I’m feeling a post about the train wreck we know as “credit” coming on soon…
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