A True Credit Story
I met with a past client the other day whose story inspired me, and I want to share it with you toward that same end — that you will be inspired. In the interest of space, many details that would make the toughest heart cry are not included.
At the beginning of this story this person was in her late 30′s, had 3 small children, and a hard-working, devoted husband. Things were rolling along uneventful, so to speak, when her husband was suddenly killed, almost instantly, when hit by a speeding car while checking the mail. Needless to say, her life was turned upside down and unbelievably very challenging on many fronts for a while that I won’t go into detail about. Fortunately, such disruptive, sudden tragedy does not hit us all, but you can probably imagine. The good news is, Spring comes after Winter. The morning comes after the night.
After some time grieving, this mother of three had to begin thinking of finances, and how to make a living as an only parent. Life has a way of forcing us onward. Before having children she had been a teacher and counselor for years at a junior high school, but the thought of going back to it seemed too time-demanding and stressful in conjunction with being a mother, and being there for her children was, and is very important to her. After some trusted counsel, and what seemed like an eternity, she decided to seek a career as a financial adviser– something she had always had interest in. She knew she could have a more flexible schedule, work at home a lot, and potentially make more money than as a teacher. However, she ran into a couple of snags. The first was that wherever she applied they required a credit check (since, I assume, she was applying to work in a position related to personal finance management and investments), and was, to her surprise, denied application. She thought her credit was fine–it was, before her husband’s untimely death. Understandably, during her tragedy, and the fallout thereafter, bills didn’t get paid on time, or not paid at all, and hospital bills she thought insurance was covering had stacked up . She had not checked her credit in almost two years. To make a long story short, she almost lost her home, too. The second snag was that she didn’t know what to do about it.
She eventually came to Upgrade My Credit for help, but not until she had already been forced to go back to work as a school counselor, putting two of her kids in daycare, and being gone all day. It killed her to not be there for her children as she felt they needed. Additionally, in the evenings after her kids were in bed, she continued studying toward her goal of becoming a financial adviser, fueled by her own experiences, now more than ever. A difficult time, to say the least. Remember, she had just lost her husband a little over a year ago, and suddenly thrown into all this on her shoulders alone.
To jump ahead a bit, it has now been a little over a year since I met her, and this May will be three years since losing her husband. It will also mark her last semester of school counseling, and mark jumping full time into her new dream career of financial adviser. Yes, her credit issues got solved, improving tremendously, and she passed all required tests and certifications. In fact, she has been helping people with their financial planning for months now.
Since, unavoidably, putting food on the table and a roof over our heads remains one of the basic needs of life, and does not go away just because we are grieving a loss, it was one of her most urgent, prominent challenges. However, as mentioned at the beginning of this story, going through what she has is challenging in many regards; financial and debt issues are just one group. Today, she is still challenged daily with all that is involved in being an only parent of 3, but in my book, her story classifies as a happy ending. For it is inspiring to me that she is well on her way, step by step, to some sense of normalcy on the financial front, not to mention the side benefit of a work schedule flexible enough to allow her to continue being the mother she desires to be for her children. The remaining challenges are being, and will be, overcome in time, I am sure.
We at Upgrade My Credit know that many things can happen in life to cause financial and credit crisis besides the story just told, like divorce, job loss, medical condition, loss of business, identity theft, and many others. Don’t worry, we can help you get your financial dignity back.
