Have Good Credit and Get Everything You Want.

Or Have Bad Credit and Give Them Everything They Want.

By Michael J. Herman ©2020 Michael J. Herman

Ever wonder how big companies leverage their assets against losses and optimize their financial realities and peculiarities to their own advantages?

Ever wish you could run your small business, solopreneurship, or home-based enterprise like the big boys do it?

Ever wish you had the gravitas and positioning to make giant leaps rather than the drip and drab advances your company sometimes experiences?

It comes down to GOOD C-R-E-D-I-T.

Do you have it?

Do you utilize it properly, and can you get it when you need it?

It’s something we’re all faced with at some point of wealth building. If you have a business, or if you ever want to have nice things or go to nice places, it’s important to build and maintain good credit.

But in an economy where almost 40 million Americans are out of work, it’s easier to run up credit debt than it is to build and maintain good credit. Good credit opens doors like business opportunities, lower fees, lower interest rates, memberships, ease, and more.

Bad credit can cost you job opportunities, insurance policies, admission to colleges, employment, career advancements, and places to live. It’s a big deal that does not get the consideration it deserves.

For this reason here are some short cuts to help ensure your credit represents the person or business you really are.

Good credit is not a roll of the dice in hopes of box cars and doubling down on a good roll. It’s a careful and deliberate strategy of business management and wealth building that the rich and influential rarely share with the poor and burdened.

Watching good businesses fail and hard working entrepreneurs crash and burn because of bad credit is a travesty and one that should not be as common as it is.

The following points can help people in business or wishing to start a business succeed more quickly and with better results.

1 Get to know your credit reality.

Many people live in bubbles thinking their credit is fine when in reality, it’s a severe liability. It’s easy to get a real view of your credit by obtaining a free copy of your credit report.

The 3 main credit reporting agencies are Experian.com, Equifax.com, and Transunion.com. They all provide a free annual copy of your credit report by visiting their respective web sites.

As a business owner/operator though there is a 4th that can be a great value and asset to you and it is Dun & Bradstreet dandb.com. D&B has been collecting and reporting on business credit for more than a century and if you’re in business you want your dandb report to have a good reflection.

*Ninja Factoid 1: All these companies have mobile apps and web sites that can serve you well. The important thing to remember is if you’re not in the game you can’t win it. So establish your free accounts with each one and request and review your respective reports on a regular basis.

*If there are discrepancies deal with rectifying them right away.

There are ways to clear up errors on credit reports, but they must be managed quickly and not be allowed to bleed into other business relationships. The longer something inaccurate or detrimental remains on your report the harder it is to get removed.

*Do some online research.

Between Google, YouTube, credit forums, and even the company’s own sites, you can quickly educate your own best practices and short cuts to a perfect credit score.

2 Credit reporting is not perfect. Mistakes happen and sometimes, good people get hurt by bad information. It’s not always your fault, but it’s your responsibility to get it fixed as quickly as possible.

3 Have Patience.

While some things happen quickly, some things take time. You may take steps to repair errors on your credit files and be deterred by the lack of results.

Be patient.

While it can take only a single mistake to put a blemish on the report, with other items it could take time to fix. Or it could also happen very quickly.

4 Do the requisite research.

Look not only on the web, but review what stories have been reported in the media. How have others rectified bad reporting? Where can you go to get help? What’s the fastest way to the results you desire?

The Fair Credit Reporting Act contains a great deal of valuable information.

5 Remember that CREDIT is nothing more than a game. Similar to Chess, Shoots & Ladders, and Monopoly, Credit is more a game of strategy and skill, than wealth and finance. However, win at this game and your wealth and finances will benefit greatly.

My friend Dylan Rigsby had a lot of credit card debt. Yet, he phoned the companies and continually negotiated with them until his credit score was well over 800 and his balances were in sight of being eliminated. This was a daily discipline he mastered and in a very short time, a gentleman with very little income and no net worth to speak of had more credit than most people or medium size groups.

It can happen. And it can happen for you.

6 Besides paying your bills on time or early; and whenever possible paying off the entire balance in full, learn how to use credit to your advantage. As previously mentioned, there are experts with tons of knowledge (a lot of it free) to help you learn how to use credit as an asset or a tool.

Credit is a complex concept that should be studied and understood in order to maximize your chances for success. Many people don’t know the difference between good debt and bad debt.

Learn these distinctions.

Find out how to maximize any debt to your advantage. Learn how to get benefit out of every transaction.

7 Perhaps more than any other tactic in this report, the following cannot be emphasized enough…

BEWARE CREDIT SCAMS!

An entire industry has been borne out of naïve “suckers” wanting a fast ticket to perfect credit who shovel over mounds full of money to shysters with no ability to deliver on their promises. More often than not the victims end up worse than when they started. Take it from me. I learned the hard way.

Again, before engaging in any kind of credit repair or credit processing services, research the company and find out their own credit worthiness. Know exactly what they a will do and not do, and before you sign anything or pay any money up front, know what you’re getting and what you will owe.

Read everything you ever sign before signing it.

If you do not clearly understand every term of the agreement, DO NOT SIGN IT! Being under the thumb of a bad deal takes away your mojo to do the things you were put here to do.

In summary, Credit can be both a lasso that can save you from a pit of quicksand, or a noose to hang you from your own mistakes. The smart players will find ways to optimize their own good fortunes and learn from their mistakes while the losers in the game will be harnessed by debt and limitation.

I believe in you.

You can have the credit you deserve.

Good luck.

Michael J. Herman is the author of 14 books and the author of the forthcoming Side Hustle with Muscle: Stop Putting Your Talents to The Side and Start Your Small Business. Michael is a licensed Financial Services Expert with specialization in launching and growing entrepreneurs and business assets.

Find him on LinkedIn.com/michaeljherman.