IMPROVING ONE LIFE AT A TIME

BY STEVE MASS

I was driving home from a date at 2am on the 91 Freeway when another car cut me off.  I swerved and hit the center divider.  At that point, my car went out of control and went back and forth across all lanes of the freeway until it finally came to a stop.  The airbags deployed and smoke was coming out of the engine.  I was afraid my car was on fire so, without hesitation, I quickly got out of the car.  As I exited my car, I looked up and saw another car coming right at me.  I started running in the opposite direction and within seconds, the car hit my car and then my car hit me, throwing me to the ground.  Fortunately for me, the car just grazed my heel and scratched it up a little bit, but otherwise I was uninjured.

That afternoon, I went to go look at my car and get my possessions.  As I was approaching my car, there were two men standing there talking about my accident.  I overheard one of the men say, “There is no way that the person in this car survived this accident”.  Hearing what he said, I replied, “I am standing right behind you”.  They were both shocked!  I could have died that day.

There was a reason I did not die that day.  Was it because my dad, who passed away a few years back, was looking over me?  Was it some higher being protecting me?  Was it not my time to leave this world?  I have often pondered this question and I would like to think it was all three.

I personally believe that things happen for a reason.  So what was the purpose of this accident?  I determined that there must be something else I need to do before leaving this earth.  Being fortunate enough to survive, I figured out that for me that one thing was helping others.  I decided that day that I would do things for others that would help them improve their own lives, one person at a time, until my work was done.

The best way to help someone is to teach them “how to” do something for themselves instead of doing that something for them.  One area of daily life that was of special interest to me was credit.  This became very apparent when I went to buy a new car. When the dealership ran my credit they were amazed at what great credit I had.  They were use to seeing people that had poor credit and financing challenges.   I realized then that my credit score affected so many aspects of my life (not just when applying for a credit card); therefore it definitely affected other people.  What better way to improve a person’s life but to help them understand the rules of credit.  My father always told me that it is better to have good credit and no money then to have plenty of money and bad credit.  This always stuck with me.  Now my work is all about improving people’s credit.

My quest began when I changed careers to begin working for a mortgage broker who hired me specifically to run his credit division.  He wanted to do seminars to help clients improve their credit score to get into a home with a good mortgage interest rate.  I began learning about the industry and we arranged our first seminar to educate our clients on credit.  Four people attended our first seminar.  At first I was disappointed at the low turnout, but then I notice that all four of them looked like they were overwhelmed and having trouble breathing before the seminar started. As the seminar proceeded, it was obvious that they all began to breathe a little easier.  By the time the seminar ended, they were all in a great mood and breathing sighs of relief.  They were able to see a new possibility for themselves.  We had made a difference in the lives of four people in one day.  Being able to help those four people breathe easier was a turning point for me.   This was how I was going to achieve my goal of improving one life at a time.  I had to learn the system and master it to make this dream come true.

In my research, I learned that according to the three credit bureaus, 50% of Americans have a less than 692 credit score and according to research 80% of Americans have an error on their credit report that they do not even know about.  In this day in age, credit is king.  Especially now in this credit crisis we are having in America.

We, as Americans, are judged because of our credit score and yet we do not know the rules of the credit game.  Imagine being judged because you do not know how to play a certain game, like croquet, for example.  Not all Americans know how to play croquet.  Would that be fair?  Everything we do involves credit.  When we rent an apartment, get a credit card, open a bank account, get a cell phone, apply for a job, get cable or internet for the house, buy a car, and buy a house, we are evaluated based on our credit score.  All of these life events are determined by our credit score.  My goal is to make these life events easier for all Americans.  All Americans should be able to breathe easier knowing that they have control over their credit score.

Educating Americans on what credit entails and how to improve their credit score will not only help them improve their financial situation and their overall life but will help them maintain it as well.

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