By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
Ronda Brunson, better known as the “credit queen,” has built a career on helping people settle their debts and restore their credit.
For the Baltimore native, credit repair is not just about getting your credit score back on track, it’s about changing behaviors and understanding how credit works. She delves into the emotional factors that impact a person’s financial decisions.
“You have to repair yourself first. When it comes to credit, a lot of what I do is relational. I’m trying to get people to understand how they got here,” said Brunson. “As a person who went through severe depression in 2015, I made crazy spending decisions that I didn’t have to. But, I was operating from a place of hurt.”
Oftentimes, Brunson’s clients tell her they don’t have any money. But, after analyzing their bank statements, their spending tells a different story. She believes that some people turn to charging their cards as a coping mechanism.
“Whenever you don’t feel like you’re not in control of your life in any way and your emotional cups are not being filled, you turn to money,” said Brunson. “Sometimes, it’s not that people don’t have money. It’s that we’re in such a sunken place that we’re using our resources to try to gain fulfillment, and it doesn’t work.”
Brunson lent her expertise to discuss what to do and what not to do when it comes to your credit.
AFRO: What factors have the biggest impact on your credit score?
Ronda Brunson: Your credit report is constantly telling a story that you are unable to convey to a bank. The banks use that story to determine how they do business with you, and they are all related. You can’t expect a person to give you money when you owe their sister. They’re watching how you treat their family members to determine how they do business with you.
Credit scores have never automatically equated approval. Scores only start conversations. Approvals come from financial history and your ability to repay in this market.
Beyond being the ‘credit queen,’ especially when it comes to trying to get people approved for loans or credit, I am a financial storyteller. My job is to get your story to match what banks need to see to trust you.
AFRO: What are some of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to restore their credit?
RB: Disputing. People don’t know that when you dispute information that’s factual, you have now introduced an integrity issue into your credit file. The banks now feel like maybe you aren’t a truth-teller. When they feel like you lack integrity, they drop your scores again. If something listed on your report doesn’t belong there, there’s a way to go about getting it off. But, there are a lot of banks that will not lend to you as long as you have a dispute marker on your credit report.
Also, 90 percent of credit repair companies are red flags. If they’re leading with money or not giving you the option of making a monthly payment that works toward a specific goal, they’re probably predatory. If the company is not talking to them about debt settlement, repaying accounts, creating new narratives and proving that they’re a different person, that’s a red flag.
AFRO: How important is it to make credit payments on time?
RB: Let’s say a customer comes to me and they say they want to buy a house in six months. I tell them they missed their last three credit card payments of $25, and they say it was because they forgot. Remember your credit report is telling a story that you don’t get to convey. When it goes to the underwriter, you can’t say you forgot. It’s simply going to look like you didn’t have $25.
Every account you have should be on auto-pay for your protection— at least for the minimum payment. If you choose to spend more in a month, that’s great. But, at least if you use auto-pay, the story isn’t that you don’t have the money.
AFRO: Is there an ideal target for credit utilization?
RB: In our community, we believe the rule is that we need to keep 30 percent on our credit cards at all times. But, the rule of credit is to not spend more than 30 percent of your credit limit. The goal is to keep your balance as close to zero as you can at all times.
AFRO: Are there any credit tools you would recommend to people?
RB: Everyone on the planet should have a credit-monitoring service. Not necessarily something they offer through credit card apps, but something real, like Experian or PrivacyGuard.
The reason to have them is because if someone is using your credit, you won’t know. As you do all this great work to improve your score, you make yourself more susceptible to identity theft.
With these monitoring services, understand that they have a job to do as far as money. PrivacyGuard doesn’t solicit, but Experian does. You’ll get emails from them about signing up for different products that will allegedly boost your credit score. Remember that on the back-end, everything you click and agree to, they will get paid for.
AFRO: For someone struggling with their credit right now, what are three things you would advise them to do?
RB: Face it. Feel it. Fix it. Face that everything is not as great as you want it to be. Feel all the feelings that you have because most of the time people have very emotional responses to credit. Then, move to the fix stage, and if you need help with that, call me.
Awesome and informative article!