Credit: The King We All Love to Hate

Credit: The King We All Love to Hate

I know, I know. No one wants to read an article about the always-looming credit score. But here’s the skinny: as much as we’d all love to avoid the topic, this one little number is king when it comes to renting or buying a home. So here we are—taking a dive into credit, and more importantly, how you can improve yours.

My Credit Journey (a.k.a. Lessons Learned the Hard Way)

To make this a little more tolerable, let me share a bit of my own journey with credit.

Like many brand-new adults stepping out into the world at 18, one of my first financial decisions was to buy a car. I’d been working full time since I was 15, stashing away literal cash from my tip money into a bank cash bag. When I found the cutest white sedan that felt so me, I knew I had to have it. I marched that bag of cash into the bank, deposited it, got a cashier’s check, and proudly bought my first car (which I later totaled—but that’s a story for another day).

I felt invincible. Cash was king, I was debt-free, and I thought I was doing adulthood exactly right. That “debt-free motto” carried me well into my early twenties. I believed it would open every door of opportunity for me.

Until it didn’t.

When my (now ex) husband and I went to buy a house, the door of possibilities slammed in my face. With no debt, there was no debt-to-income ratio for a lender to consider. And with no debt came… no established credit history. Thankfully, my husband had history—six more years of adulthood, plus student loans—that carried us through the mortgage process. But it stung. I hated that I had to rely on him financially. As a fiercely independent person, that moment lit a fire in me. I promised myself I’d never again be in a position where I had to rely on someone else to get approved.

So what did I do? Well, I went all in. I had a mortgage. I financed a new red SUV (thinking I was building a family). I opened credit cards. Then life threw me medical complications and the mountain of bills that followed. Before I knew it, I had credit all right—but not the kind I wanted. Between medical debt and struggling to keep up with payments, I tanked my shiny new credit history.

To skip the rabbit hole of “too much information,” I’ll just say this: I hit rock bottom. Hard. And in those humbling moments of realizing I didn’t know everything, I swallowed my pride, sought out financial advice, and started the long climb back.

How I Turned It Around

How did I climb out? Slowly, and with intention.

• I leaned on the kind of tips you’ll find in the article linked here. https://shelby-rappenecker.bestagents.us/unexpected-factors-that-can-sabotage-your-credit-score?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8RUdjJy_9-SMU2C9CdvImFSxrbW2JGoS_AVyvaVKfe-I6MhWDwpHuWOHg65bBH2UWg4G_GcVaxUjE3rFh4GpPcPxfDEqr54xjZAkMwxtBMSvtQQI8&_hsmi=292019005&utm_content=292019005&utm_source=hs_automation

• I gamified the process, tracking my score with credit apps and celebrating each time the needle moved up.

• I tackled debts in priority order, paid off what I could, and focused on maintaining a mix of credit accounts.

• I stopped overspending, paid balances early, and left only a small amount to establish healthy credit history.

It took time. It still takes time. Honestly, it’s something I’ll never stop working on.

And here’s the truth: there’s no shame if you’ve found yourself upside down before you even realized what was happening. The silver lining is that you can rebuild. You can establish a healthy credit score again.

I’m not a financial advisor, and if you need serious guidance, I encourage you to talk to an expert. What I am is someone who learned the hard way, hit the wall, and clawed back. If sharing my story helps you avoid the mistakes I made—or simply gives you hope that your score can bounce back—then I’ve done my job.

Because in this game of chess we call life, credit is king.