How To Survive (And Fully Recover From) Your Bad Credit History

I recently shared my full debt story on Chain of Wealth Podcast. This interview inspired me to create this series. Rise From Rock Bottom tells every story from my failure years - and how I overcame it.

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Two days after I got my first job offer, the recruiter told me that the company would not be able to hire me. I had too much debt and my credit was so bad that many of their clients would not allow me to work on their accounts. 

I knew when I decided to quit my three jobs and stop paying my debts to go back to school I would have some set backs, but I didn't think that this - my big break that I worked so hard for - would be taken from me in the process.... all because I had bad credit.

I had character references lined up to attest that it was extreme circumstances (not immaturity or lack of responsibility) that sent my finances spiraling out of control. 

That way not the first time I had to sacrifice something I wanted because of bad credit. In fact, in one year of bad credit, I has the displeasure of experiencing every single one of these.

You can't buy a car.

Well, you COULD, but it would have to be in cash to make any financial sense (and if you're here, reading this, I'm sure you have a fair amount of financial literacy). With interest rates up to 24.99% for people with bad credit, car purchases don't make sense on any level. 

 

How to survive -

Focus on living and working in big cities.  Large cities (like DC, Chicago and New York) have amazing train systems that can allow you to get around without a car while you stash cash away for that car purchase. Trust me, your future self will thank you when your monthly payments don't go directly to paying only the interest on your fancy new car. 

Make Uber and Lyft your best friends. Pro Tip: Use UberPOOL! This will save you extra money to put toward that car you're saving for. 

Buy an old, crappy car for pennies. If you find yourself in a position where you need a car (like if you happen to land your dream career... in a city with no public transportation) your crappy car will be your best friend. You won't have car payments and you can still get to far away places without the requirement that they be accessible by public transportation.

You can't get a credit card.

When you have bad credit and you reach a position where you're ready to start re-building your credit, you'll find it's nearly impossible for anyone to trust you with their virtual cash. It's not happening... so don't even think about it. You'll get rejected for lines of credit until you show that you can be responsible with other people's money - and that takes time (a lot of time).

 

How to survive

Do it that hard way. Start paying off your debts, one by one. Slowly but surely your credit score will rise and eventually someone will trust you with a credit card. You may get a card with a $5 credit limit, but we all gotta start somewhere.

Get a pre-paid credit card. If no one is going to trust you, show some initiative and trust yourself with your cash money. Put $300 - $500 towards a line of credit for yourself and start practicing some of those good money habits you know you have. Over time, your credit score will rise.

You can't refinance your credit.

I always thought it's hilarious that credit refinancing will look at your credit to determine whether you're worthy of refinancing.

The people with bad credit are probably the ones that could benefit the most from a lower monthly payment. Unfortunately, you have a history and (in case you don't get it by now) no one trusts you with money.

How to survive

See above. #SorryNotSorry

 

You Can't Rent A Car

Have you ever tried renting a car without a credit card? After being super frustrated with my debt levels, I turned off - and then cut up - all of my credit cards. 

My goal was to pay for everything in cash and if I didn't have the money that simply meant I could not afford whatever I wanted.

That was certainly not a smart decision for when I inevitably needed a rental car. Showing up for a rental car without a credit card is (simply put) a death wish. Some places will demand you show them a pay stub to verify your address. Many places will refuse to rent a car to you at all.

How to Survive

Rent from Dollar or Thrifty rental car. They will allow you to rent a car while placing a $350 hold on your car until you return the car. These are the only two places I've seen that will give you a rental car with very little (to no) hassle. 

You can't get a student loan.

When I decided to go back to school, I had to sacrifice a lot to have the time to dedicate to learning a new craft and start applying for full time jobs in my field. I finally knew what I wanted out of life and I wanted to channel the force of Hercules if I needed to.

I successfully got into a program, paid the fee (with the help of my friends).

How To Survive

Ask your family. My dad was able to get a parent loan for me (in his name) so I could get the remaining $5k to complete my education.

Sometimes (if you're really unlucky) you can't get a job.

At the beginning of 2016, I had a target number for the salary I wanted. Months before graduation I was offered a job at that target number.

I was blown away that all of my hard work had finally paid off. When HR rescinded my offer due to poor credit, I felt helpless. The one thing that could help me fix my poor financial situation slipped right from under my fingers... because of my poor financial situation. 

How To Survive

Keep this in mind while applying for jobs. I never met anyone that this had happened to so I thought it was an urban myth. Knowing that this is a possibility will help you manage expectations better during the application and interview process. It will also help you cope with losing a job offer.

Be wary of jobs with banks, financial services firms, government, and consulting firms that work with banks. Instead, look for larger firms rather than boutique firms. Even if these firms work with banks, they will likely be able to put you with another team that does not judge you based on your credit.

Stay positive! Cast a wide net and look forward to the journey. If you are offered a job, take the time to talk with HR and let them know your situation BEFORE they check your credit. Trust me, if they offered you a job, they WANT to work with you! They will do anything in their power to close the deal.

Yes, if you have bad credit America hates you! Understand it and get over it! With one foot in front of the other, you will walk right out of this bad credit situation and live to tell the tale.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

How Much Does It Cost To Host A Vision Board Party

I'm going to let you in on a little secret... I hate event planning! 

Even though I love vision boards (and I firmly believe you get much more value by doing them with friends) the entire planning process ends up being a pain in the butt. 

Luckily, I love getting friends together for events way more than I hate event planning so I have accumulated a ton of great lessons learned on my event-planning journey. 

In this post, we're going to talk about the absolute worst thing in event planning: The Costs. 

Planning The Event

Marketing

The goal of any event is to put people in seats. While your event has the best of intentions, your message won't reach anyone if you don't sell tickets. 

Here are a couple of options you can use for your marketing: 

• Social media ads

• Email advertising

• On-site advertising (like a local website or event website)

• Influencer marketing

• Affiliate marketing

On occasion you can find a listings website that will allow you to post your event for free, but it's not likely you'll see many sales from there. However, you might also throw money at advertisers - and still not see a huge return on your investment. 

Marketing is tricky - and it will take your time, your money or both. 

Event Planner

For my last event, I reached out to an event planner to help me with the organizing, décor and making everything happen. That meant that all I needed to focus my time and energy on was making sure that people came in the door and I had butts in seats. 

Someone else would worry about what type of décor was at the event, what food and drinks we had to offer and coordinating schedules. Most importantly, the only thing I would have to worry about on the day of the event was looking good.

 

The Event Site

Venue

Your venue will typically come with a price tag unless you're hosting it at home or you get your event location sponsored. The venues I've worked with typically charge by the hour and you typically get what you pay for. That means, if you want that beautiful rooftop overlooking the city, it's going to cost you five times as much as that co-working space that rents out their medium-sized meeting room. 

Furniture

Venues will typically come with certain types of furniture already there -- if you want anything fancy (or even if you need some additional chairs) you're going to have to get that yourself from a different company.

Moving Truck

If you have to move a lot of furniture to design your space to your liking, you will have to order a moving truck for everything. (This is something we didn't consider for our first event and it definitely bit us in the butt!)

Decor

Many party hosts like to add a special touch of inspirational quotes around the room. I personally like to have a mini photo booth where people can grab a few props and take some pics. 

Food and Drinks

No event is complete without food and drinks so this one really goes without explanation. Along with the food you're going to need cutlery, napkins, plates and cups. 

 

Presentation

I'm going to be honest here, you can't go out to the store and buy a box of chicken and then leave the box out for attendees to pick out their breast or thigh. You have to put in a little more effort than that. 

Get serving trays to present the food in a way that looks appetizing. You might need a water dispenser for the beverages. 

Entertainment

Having speakers at an event can raise the perceived value of the event. (That means you can charge more.) Speakers will also be able to connect with the audience, share stories and inspire them to work towards their goals in the new year.

Gifts & Giveaways

Whenever you host speakers (especially if you're not paying them) it's a great idea to give them gifts as a special thank you for speaking at the event. You don't have to go crazy, but a nice $10 coffee mug that follows with the theme of the event will do. 

 

Materials

Vision Board Materials

Unless you're hosting a party where you've told people to bring their own magazines and poster boards, you're on the hook for providing those. You'll also need about 1 glue stick and pair of scissors for every 4 attendees.

Printing any Workshop Materials

Depending on the layout of your event, you may have some handouts or worksheets. All of these will have to be printed and brought with you to the event. If they're writing things down, you'll also need enough pens for each person.

Event Agenda

If you're hosting a formal event, you'll want to make sure each attendee has an agenda. These don't have to be expensive. You can get beautiful and reasonably priced agendas from Etsy. You could also design them yourself on Canva if you want to remove the cost all together.

Vision board parties and events can be incredibly fun and super inspiring to your guests. I hope this list of costs will help you in the planning stages! 

xoxo

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

How I Increased My Debt Payoff by $1100 Per Month - Without Making More Money

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Freakin' DEBT. 

Many Americans are walking around with a huge cloud following them everywhere they go. Some are fortunate enough not to think about it often though they know it exists. 

I am not one of those people. 

From the moment I realized what my $42K in debt was costing me from month to month, I decided there was no way in HELL I was going to keep living my life this way... especially since (for the first time in my life) I could finally afford to start paying it. 

Once I dedicated my entire life to paying off my debt, I realized one crucial thing: 

I didn't have enough money left over at the end of each month to make a dent in my debt. 

Every month, I was struggling to find new ways to pay my debt off. I cut back on everything I could think of.

• I started turning the lights off during the day time and instead opening every window possible.

• I didn't use the heat in the winter or the air conditioner in the summer unless I was dying.

• I went on a strict (read: cheap) diet and stopped going out to eat.

Then, when that money wasn't adding up to much savings, I got a little more drastic.

I even let my girlfriend's 80-year-old grandfather move in with me for 5 months. 

After all of that, I STILL only managed to save a tiny bit. 

I realized as passionate as I was, my lifestyle would not allow me to pay any more. 

So I did what any reasonable person paying off debt would do: I decided to change my lifestyle. 

Over the next few months, I implemented a few tiny lifestyle tweaks that took me from making tiny payments on my debts... to massive ones. 

In this article, I'm going to walk through exactly how I did this:

How Did I Get Here In The First Place? 

Student Loans

I went to four years of undergrad, mostly with scholarships, and was able to graduate with only $15K of student loan debt. Unfortunately, companies didn't give a crap about my degree after college and I struggled to find a job. 

I began working as a babysitter while I tried to figure my life out. I loved the families I worked with and I got really comfortable. 

After my last babysitting gig, I was coming up on 25 (prime quarterlife crisis years) and I knew it was time I found one of those adult jobs.

Still, not one job would call me back. So I did what any self respecting woman with no job prospects would do:  I went back to school. 

That would buy me enough time to figure out how to put a resume together that made me look good, make some high-powered connections (after I learned how to properly network), and get some type of internship under my belt that would knock the socks off these hiring managers. 

My trip to grad school worked. I got the piece of paper and landed the job... and it only cost me $25K.

Undergrad + Grad + Interest = Total Student Debt 

In total, I ended up with $42K in student loan debt when I finally had enough income to start paying. 

 

Why I Committed To Paying Off My Student Loan Debt

To be honest, the concept of capitalized interest pissed me off. 

I got an email saying

Hi, your principal has been updated... and we're adding $1000! 

I might be paraphrasing a bit, but you get the gist of it. 

So I called my student loan company and realized that my loans had 25 year loan terms where I'd end up paying 3x what I took out at the end of the term. I felt like the entire loan system was a scam. 

... and I don't like being scammed. 

Plus, I now had this cushy adult job. I figured that now was as good a time as any to get started paying that debt off. 

Before I Made These Life Changes

I made the decision to pay off my student loan debt in January 2017. Over the next few months I struggled to make larger payments on my loans. I would pay an extra hundred here and there as I could, but the interest was increasing at $210/month (and accruing daily) so every payment felt like throwing money into a black hole.  

That's when I realized if I was going to get out of debt, I would have to do soemthing drastic.

What I Did To Crush That Debt

In the top image, in 274 days (10 months), I paid off $4,021. That's an average of $402 per month. Now let's take a look at what happened next:

In the ten months that followed, I paid $15,582 in student loans. That's an average of $1,558 per month --- and an increase of $1,156 towards my debts. 

Here's what I did to get there:

 

Radically Reduced My Rent with Geo-Arbitrage

My largest expense was the same as many Americans: Housing.

Every month, I was spending about 50% of my income on housing. I had rent, heat and electricity, valet trash (which was rolled into rent and you couldn't opt out) and water.  

While I could pay it every month, it was a struggle to pay that and make higher payments towards my student loan debt. 

On a vacation trip to New York, I visited an aunt and realized that she has a guest bedroom. That's when the idea hit me. I pitched her to move in and pay her a fraction of my current rent. That would mean that she got some extra money coming in - and I would be able to put all of those housing savings toward my student loan debt. 

She agreed. 

This move meant that I would be able to reduce my rent and stop paying for utilities, valet trash and internet all together. 

Total Savings: $900

Got Rid Of My Car

To be honest, I've always hated cards. I mean, I could literally rant for hours on the topic. But for the purpose of this post, I'm only going to talk about the costs. 

Car Note: Fortunately I bought my car cash so I didn't have a car note, but that's not typical. 

Car Insurance: My least favorite of the car expenses. You pay a monthly car insurance hoping that you never actually have to use it. Because if you do get into an accident, your car insurance will increase and you'll still have to pay a deductible to get your car fixed. 

Gas: If you're fortunate to live close to your job (or not have to go into an office at all) you can still easily spend $20-$30 per week on gas. Many people have to spend much more than that commuting to and from jobs that are an hour or more away.

Maintenance: Generally speaking, cars have something weird that goes wrong every 2-3 months. Whether it's breaks, tires, windshield wipers, oil changes, miscellaneous fluids or random noises that go bump in the night - you will have to get something fixed on your car. 

Tickets: I was living in Maryland, in between DC and Baltimore. Both areas have great opportunities for you to accumulate tickets. There are strategically placed cameras pretty much everywhere to surprise you and take your hard-earned money. 

Side note: In addition to all of these expenses, you'll also have to give up some of your time. Cars take time to clean, maintain and process. I hated that micro pain I would feel when I got yet another ticket in the mail. You'll spend a lot of your time at a dealership or body shop or in line registering tags or whatever random things you need to do to simply own a car. That's on top of the time you spend earning the money to spend on it. 

I got rid of my car - and earned my inner peace. 

Monthly Savings: $200-$300 (and a hell of a lot of peace of mind)

 

Once I lowered my expenses, I had a giant gap between how much I was earning and how much was going to bills every month. I started to put all of those savings towards my student loans. With my rapid pay down strategy, I plan to be out of that 42K of debt in less than 2.5 years from start to finish. 

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

Planning The Perfect Vision Board Party Agenda

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

The goal of every vision board party that was ever created is to help people get clarity on their goals and walk away with ideas of what they want out of life - and how to get there. The best vision board parties will help people make new friends, build their network and believe in their vision more than ever before. 

This is all driven by the way you set the event up. As the host, you get to choose how you want your event to flow, here's some tips on how I structure the agenda for my vision board parties.

 

Time To Mix and Mingle

Any good event gives enough unstructured time (where there are no activities scheduled) for people to walk around, randomly lock eyes with others and spark up a conversation. This is the opportunity for random people to become acquaintances. 

Food and Drinks

By setting out the food at the beginning of the event, people will naturally gravitate towards the food and entertain themselves. I'm a huge fan of making new friends in the drink line. (Hey handsome guy, do you come here often?) 

Activities & Ice Breakers

Some people are more inclined to sit in the back of the room and not really talk to anyone. (Full disclosure, I used to be one of those people.) Plan to have a few engaging activities to get the entire room familiar with each other and ready to tackle a larger goal.

Speakers

Depending on how you set your event up, it could be a great idea to invite someone to speak. It's great to bring in your speaker right after networking and an ice-breaker or two.

Your speaker will bring the audience back into focus by sharing an inspirational story or message that your audience can identify with. (That's why it's super important to choose the right speaker for your audience.)

 

Vision Board Tutorial

Even though a vision board seems straight forward, it's always great to give a quick reminder of what a vision board is and how to create one. I will usually bring my vision board from the previous year  to show it to attendees and walk through exactly how they can create a vision board that changes their own life.

The tutorial will get your attendees primed to switch gears and start creating. 

Time To Build Vision Board

Your attendees will need a minimum of one hour to get started building their vision boards. This is time for people to start looking through the magazines and pulling their top quotes and images to design their life.

Side note: During my tutorial, I always tell people it's OK if they don't finish their boards at the party. It's most important that people get the idea of the vision board and feel empowered to go home and create one.

Share Your Vision Board

If you have a small group (6-8 people), you could ask each person to talk about the goals they put on their boards and why. This is a great experience for everyone that attends because they get to know more about each other - and that part may foster more long-lasting friendships.

Mix n' Mingle

If there's still time (and people aren't too tired or too drunk) give about a half hour or so for some last minute mingling. Throughout the event, you've given people several chances to learn about each other. This is their last chance to act on the things they've learned about the other people in the room. If they have similar goals, they could become accountability partners. If they have already accomplished something that someone else in the room is striving towards, they can swap tips. 

The agenda you set for your vision board party will make all the difference in the experience your attendees have. Give them just enough time to engage with the people around them. Encourage them to think about their goals and how they can contribute to the goals of others. 

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!