How To Fix Your Credit Yourself | Finance on Fridays

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]How do we financially handle birthdays, holidays, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Christmas? Tell me about how it's handled in your family.

[00:00:10]>> It's just knowing what's important to them because, you know, there's multiple love languages. Some people are going to say those gifts. That's my love language. So, I would say in this episode, we jump into how to repair your personal credit, personal finances, and how to leverage the credit to travel for free.

[00:00:32]Let's get into it. Dave, how you feeling, brother?

[00:00:34]>> Man, I'm incredible. Mother's Day just passed.

[00:00:37]>> How's your Mother's Day?

[00:00:39]>> My wife's Mother's Day and my mother's Mother's Day was amazing.

[00:00:43]>> Did your your mom Where's your mom live?

[00:00:46]>> She is in South Carolina.

[00:00:47]>> She's in South Carolina.

[00:00:48]>> Mhm.

[00:00:48]>> What' you What' you do?

[00:00:50]>> You give her a couple hundred, she good.

[00:00:52]We from the country, so you you you throw her about $200, she all right, man.

[00:00:56]>> All right.

[00:00:57]>> Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[00:00:58]>> So, I guess you call your mom, give her a couple dollars.

[00:01:01]>> Mhm. Let her see the boys. The boys playing their guitar and singing uh happy mother's day. Like sometimes it's not about the monetary value. It's the small things that she liked the most.

[00:01:11]>> I like that. I like that. What about your wife, >> man? She got um because we merged birthday. It was financially smart to merge birthday and Mother's Day because her birthday was on the 6th and Mother's Day was just uh Sunday. So, a few days in between maybe >> six and what was my 10th, right?

[00:01:29]>> So, four day.

[00:01:29]>> So, four days apart. So, we just kind of merged that together and um got a few pair of sneakers and let her have her time to herself. She actually got to take a nap yesterday for probably the first time in I don't know how many years. I took the boys and we went running around outside and let her just relax and watch Chosen.

[00:01:47]>> I love it. We did the same thing, bro.

[00:01:50]Wellought out plan, bro. gave my wife the day. I took my kids out, bro. We was gone. Well, we we woke up, made breakfast, and then left from about 12 to about 5:36.

[00:02:06]>> That's a nice break.

[00:02:07]>> Yeah. And so the night before, we got some gift cards. Uh well, we got some cards. My son S gave her a gift card. Uh no, Sarai gave her a gift card for Massage Envy.

[00:02:20]>> Okay. Gift card. and Sarai gave her a um a a Door Dash, I believe, a Door Dash gift card.

[00:02:31]>> And then Corey gave her just a Visa gift card. So, we put that together. So, she got the gift cards. So, the plan is we leave and I gave her some money and a card. I plan is we leave and you got enough money on your Door Dash to go crazy. You can shop with your Amazon gift card and then one, you know, one day, hopefully this week, you can get your massage. So, >> let's get it, >> man. So, y'all merged the birthday. Did you get anything for her birthday?

[00:03:00]>> Yes, we actually um I got [clears throat] a a few. So, I started early this year instead of having to go to Neman's or Sachs and just get a pair of Golden Goose. I said, I don't want to spend I don't want to spend $800 on shoes that look worn and beat up already. Mhm.

[00:03:17]>> How does the Golden Goose brand get your Your wife wore a Golden Goose?

[00:03:21]>> You know what Golden Goose is, right?

[00:03:22]>> So, how does that brand market beat up shoes and sell them for overpric? I don't know. And my wife loves them. So, instead of doing that this time, I said, I'm going to start a month early. And then I just got her a whole bunch of Tory Birch and a lot of small things that would add up to that one pair of shoes. So, she really thought she got a lot, but I actually spent less.

[00:03:42]>> Ah, cat out the bag. [laughter] But that was birthday.

[00:03:46]>> What about Mother's Day?

[00:03:48]>> Mother, we had about do not follow this financial advice. She had about 20 gifts.

[00:03:54]>> So >> from who?

[00:03:56]>> From me. I started about a month ago. So I got Target on Instagram. I got a few journals. I got a multiple pair of >> So it's all Okay, I see. You see? I see.

[00:04:06]So she had to open up 20 gifts and I said, "This is for mothers and birthday for you." And then it took a few days to get to everything. though.

[00:04:15]>> I No, that's dope. That's dope. Okay, here's the question.

[00:04:19]>> Okay, >> how do we financially handle birthdays, all these holidays, um Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Christmas. Tell me about how it's handled in your family. we don't celebrate the stuff so I don't got to worry about it financially. But like how do how do you approach that?

[00:04:44]>> It's really dependent on the in this case the wife, >> right? Or and for some of you the wife and the husband depending on what situation you're in, >> but it's just knowing what's important to them because you know there's multiple love languages. Yeah.

[00:04:59]>> Some people are going to say those gifts that's my love language. My wife, she love experiences. So, as long as we're going out and going different places, she don't necessarily care about the gifts. So, I would say, which is one of the most important thing, is find the love language of your significant other >> and do the best you can financially to stay within realm because you have if you try to follow all of these holidays, like you would literally be broke trying to keep up, especially with social media and what they >> say it's supposed to look like.

[00:05:30]>> But how I mean, >> it's tough. It's it's it's based on >> logically. Yes, that makes sense. But if a day comes around, let's say uh someone's on Valentine's Day.

[00:05:43]>> Mhm.

[00:05:45]>> Espec from a man's perspective, the woman's expecting something. You got to do a little something. You know what I mean? And I just hate the way it's set up in society. It's like if you don't really go crazy >> or you don't, you know what I mean? you don't do nothing, you save money. It's hard, bro. They make you look like you're a failure.

[00:06:06]>> I'm going to say it. If if you're in that season, so for us, we're married and we've been married. If we come with, let's just say, 12 roses, it's going to be enough for us because they understand.

[00:06:18]>> But for someone who's just in the dating scene, I couldn't imagine what that's like. Now, >> you going to have to you going to have to spend the money, man. You're going to have to take up an extra shift at work.

[00:06:27]You're gonna have to figure out how to sell some more digital product. You have to prepare for that.

[00:06:32]>> Yeah. Armani. Armani, you are um you have been married for how long? How long?

[00:06:40]>> Five years.

[00:06:41]>> Five years now.

[00:06:42]>> Yep. Yep.

[00:06:43]>> So, uh when's your wife's birthday?

[00:06:46]>> June 28th.

[00:06:48]>> E. Right in the middle of everything.

[00:06:49]Right around the corner. It's like it's like >> so >> Valentine's then June then you know Valent Christmas then Valentine's >> I mean but you got like six months in between though.

[00:07:00]>> Yeah. But it's it's all spread out bro.

[00:07:02]So every couple months my man get hit in the head.

[00:07:05]>> So Mother's Day. What do we >> Mother's Day is May.

[00:07:09]>> So we got Valentine's Day >> February.

[00:07:11]>> We got May mother's day. Oh but she not a she not a mother. So we're good on that. Valentine's Day. Then we got a birthday in June. And then July, August, September.

[00:07:21]>> We got a little bit of a gap.

[00:07:22]>> We got a little gap. How you go all out for all of them, right?

[00:07:26]>> Not all out. I'm getting better at planning. I mean, I'll do like a little gift and flowers and you might go somewhere, but I'm not in a financial all out. I do all out with what I got, but it's not all out like when people be fully decor. I got into like >> So technically, you do go all out.

[00:07:42]>> Yeah.

[00:07:44]like based on your situation.

[00:07:46]>> But when you see social media, like for this past Valentine's Day, that was the first time I decorated the room. I like got some silk sheets, you know what I'm saying? Got balloons on the wall. That's the first time I ever did that. So to me, if I never did that, that's kind of going all out.

[00:07:59]>> All right. So, do you feel the pressure to spend more than you want to spend?

[00:08:07]Yeah, but it's not like it's not necessarily coming from her in a bad way because she doesn't really ask for a lot throughout the year.

[00:08:14]>> So, it's kind of like a oh, the person that don't really ask a lot. You know, you want to do more. But I man trying to plan with bills and stuff like previously I be, oh yeah, I'm saving.

[00:08:24]I'm saving. Then it's like, oh dang, I do need two more tires. And it's kind of like when something happens in front of a birthday, it be like it look like I don't care, but it's like I be trying.

[00:08:33]But >> so you see the pressure, bro. So technically you do go all out trying to you have $10,000 in your savings account and you feel like you need to spend too much. Let's talk about [laughter] your savings. Okay. Okay.

[00:08:45]>> Average person don't got savings.

[00:08:47]>> Average person is check to check.

[00:08:50]>> Average person might have >> a few hundred or $1,000 at one time.

[00:08:57]Right.

[00:08:57]>> Yeah. So like imagine that situation. We still have the pressure of buying extra stuff, bro.

[00:09:08]>> You Yeah.

[00:09:09]>> And it's not saying his his wife is like, I need this and that, but he feels the pressure. So he's going to spit and that is how we remain >> in the rat race. Bro, the reason you're here is because I decided to start a podcast so that I can have engaging conversations with people. By the way, this video will be monetized. I'll make money off of it. You need to start a podcast, too, so you can have engaging conversations like this one. Okay? Which means you need to be at Podcast Summit 2026.

[00:09:38]For the price of a cheap date with somebody that you don't even like like that, you can learn how to start a podcast, grow your audience, build your business, or use a podcast to build your brand to build your business. You know what? Check this out.

[00:09:50]>> The podcast summit has been nothing short of amazing. And there's [music] no better place to learn how to have a podcast than Podcast Summit.

[00:09:59]>> It's more than just like a podcast conference. It's a community of people who actually want to learn and get better at entrepreneurship. But imagine the the level of discipline that you you and your significant other have to have together to say, "Listen, we're not I and I know some people do it, but some people are not going to say you not you are not not going to get me something for my birthday. We're not skipping out on Christmas based on what society has painted that to look like." So, and that like it's really no winning.

[00:10:33]>> Armani about how much is dinner? How much is like a celebratory dinner for a birthday, Valentine's Day, or whatever?

[00:10:42]What are you planning?

[00:10:43]>> Celebratory dinner is usually at le 150 200.

[00:10:49]>> 150 to 200.

[00:10:50]>> Yeah. I mean, you got to think like, let me see. This past weekend, Mexican. So, let me see. Two drinks, that's [snorts] 35 right there.

[00:10:59][laughter] >> Even if you don't get expensive meal, yeah, it's the drinks. Or like say the steak is $50, right? 50/50 that's 100.

[00:11:07]>> 20% is already off.

[00:11:10]>> You at 120. I try to just get one drink.

[00:11:13]She get two already. That's 175 right there.

[00:11:16]>> Yeah. Plus. Yeah.

[00:11:17]>> Oh, you get appetizer. That's 220 right there.

[00:11:20]>> But I try to like prepare myself. Like I do I know where we going. I look at the menu ahead of time. I'm like, "All right, if she get anything in this range, I kind of know ahead of time." Do you have a discussion with her about where the budget is or will that ruin the >> Oh, no. No. No. Birthday. Bringing up a budget around birthday celebration just feels kind of cheap. [gasps] >> That's a Now if we going to the grocery store. Yeah. Budget. Hey, grocery store, regular dinner. But like birthdays, I'd be feeling like >> you have to.

[00:11:50]>> Ah, why is there >> I hate it here, bro.

[00:11:52]>> Cap on it.

[00:11:53]>> I hate it here.

[00:11:56]Oh my gosh, man. So think think about the amount of people we want to make more money.

[00:12:01]>> Mhm.

[00:12:02]>> Or [clears throat] we want to have more money with the money that we make.

[00:12:06]It it's always something coming around the corner that's hitting our pockets.

[00:12:11]What do we do, Dub?

[00:12:14]The easiest thing to say would be make more money. But how do you go out and make more? And being, let's just say, understanding financial literacy doesn't mean that you're going to make more money.

[00:12:27]>> Yeah.

[00:12:30]>> And what I know is the more money you make, the more those dinners get, of course.

[00:12:39]>> So it might be relative. Let's say $200 for dinner.

[00:12:45]If if let's say for instance he was making 50% more money >> them dinners are going to quickly go from 200 to 300 because I have the money and I think we spend because we have it.

[00:13:01]So I've actually adopted a philosophy of I need to steal from myself because I'm a I'mma spend whatever is in that account, right? Like if I see it, I spend it. If I have $5,000 from the tax refund, I spend like I got five grand. If I got $50, it's like, oh, I can't do it.

[00:13:22]>> Yeah.

[00:13:23]>> So, I use I use Acorns. I really love Acorns where a percentage of or I do roundups on my cards.

[00:13:31]>> Um there's a certain amount that comes out every single day from my bank account to Acorn. So, the money that's in my Acorn right now, I didn't even see it. So it's just me seeing a lower amount, >> right?

[00:13:45]>> But but what I'm saying is the more money we make, the more money we spend.

[00:13:49]And if we see it, we spend it. So even making more money is no guarantee that I'm going be a better financial situation.

[00:13:54]>> That that is true. And that's why you would have to learn. It's like my strategy, we talked about it previously, is knowing how to leverage credit card rewards because if you get your credit fixed, you could then go and spend this money and 0% or not, you're still getting a percentage back on normal everyday expenses. So now, Armani having to spend two or 300 on a dinner. Oh, well, I've been putting our, you know, utility bill or whatever bill we have on autopay on this credit card. Well, that's going to take care of that bill or that birthday that I don't have to worry about. That's free essentially.

[00:14:33]>> Give me an example. Let's let's let's walk this concept.

[00:14:36]>> So, we got to go to the grocery store, most of us weekly, sometimes, you know, a few times a week.

[00:14:43]>> If you use an American Express, I think it's the blue cash preferred, they're going to give you 6% cash back on grocery spend >> if you know you're going to spend >> 6% cash >> 6% cash back on what you spend. So, if you spend $100 in a month, you're going to have $6, right? That's just for lamest terms. Now, if you use this one specific card >> for all of grocery spend at the end of the year or at the end of the month, you get a percentage of cash back. So, if you spend $1,000, for example, you'll have $60 >> over the course of the year. this is going to add up and then that could take care of a lot of the unknown expenses or the birthday similar to you Dave you got we're not going to say how many points you got but you don't have to spend the money because you understand how to leverage your credit cards >> that's true all right you're so with this American Express card I get 6% cash back on everything that I spend >> on on grocery spend so that's why you just grocery not gas not grocery I mean only grocery so it's gas is not uh entertainment etc. So they have like category spin.

[00:15:53]>> Each card is going to specialize in a specific one.

[00:15:56]>> Okay. What do you think is your highest expense? What do you think is our your your the what you spend the most on your highest expense?

[00:16:06]>> Um probably my living expenses, rent.

[00:16:08]>> Well, outside of rent, like just stuff that you spend on, not car note rent, stuff like that. You think it's like food?

[00:16:15]>> Yeah, food for sure. What do you think you spend at the grocery store a month?

[00:16:18]>> Um, I spend about 400 between 400 450 a month.

[00:16:24]>> And that's just you yourself, right?

[00:16:25]>> Yeah.

[00:16:26]>> Okay. What do you think you spend on gas?

[00:16:28]>> Um, about 200 a month.

[00:16:30]>> Okay. So, are there any cars that take care of gas like or give cash back on gas?

[00:16:36]>> Yes. Um, American Express I'm going to say is going to be the best overall cuz they have different category spins on each individual car. I don't know the best one off top of my head for it, but I know they have one that would give you 3% or 4% cash back at uh gas, etc. >> Got it. So, if so, K by herself, she spends about $400 a month on groceries.

[00:17:00]>> Armani is maybe him and his wife. Let's just say that's like a,000. Yep. Maybe a thousand. What you think, Armani?

[00:17:08]>> What do you think you spend a month?

[00:17:11]758. All right. So, let's let's let's just round up. If we had a baby or something like that, let's say $1,000.

[00:17:16]>> Mhm.

[00:17:16]>> If I spend $1,000 a month on just groceries for me and my family and I have this 6% card back, this cash back, I get $60 a month back >> in cash back.

[00:17:30]>> In cash back.

[00:17:31]>> Mhm.

[00:17:31]>> Over three months. That's 180.

[00:17:33]>> Mhm.

[00:17:34]>> Which means that dinner, bro.

[00:17:38]What reward? I Yeah, you know, I have these points, but I never really calculated the numbers how we just did it.

[00:17:45]>> Mhm.

[00:17:46]>> That might be that might be the hack, bro.

[00:17:49]>> And then you see, remember we talked about and I said, "Dave, we got to stop using a platinum for everything cuz you you use your platinum here. Spin it here. Put it this."

[00:17:57]>> Well, I've been using my Delta a lot.

[00:17:58]>> Okay. So, yeah. Well, in that case, it makes sense. But even then, I think if you have the Delta Reserve, which is the highest card, you're better off if you're looking at cash back to get the Delta Platinum because the perks on everyday spin is better on the Delta Platinum than it is the Delta Reserve.

[00:18:17]Okay, we're here now. Okay, so hold on.

[00:18:20]So, the Delta I think I have I think that's the one I use mostly.

[00:18:25]Is this uh is this the Delta? Let me see. Is this the Delta Platinum?

[00:18:31]Yes.

[00:18:31]>> This is the Delta Platinum.

[00:18:32]>> Let me Is it >> I don't know. It just say Delta, bro.

[00:18:36]>> I think it Yes, a Delta Platinum.

[00:18:37]>> This is Delta Platinum.

[00:18:38]>> Yes.

[00:18:39]>> All right. So, I do you So, this is my personal everyday car, which I use for gas. I'll use for food, right? I use this >> every now and again. I'll use the one you told me to get, which was the This one, the platinum.

[00:18:54]>> That's the only Yeah. Now that that >> is this is this my swab?

[00:18:58]>> Yeah, that's the that's the um that may be the regular vanilla platinum. So you got the vanilla platinum and you got the char swab platinum.

[00:19:05]>> Oh, so this is just the platinum. Okay.

[00:19:07]>> Influence me.

[00:19:07]>> All right. So if I So what's this one best for? What's the MX Platinum for?

[00:19:12]>> Travel. Specifically travel.

[00:19:15]>> Just travel.

[00:19:15]>> And then if you spend over 5,000 on a purchase, instead of you getting one X point, you get one and a half or two X points. not a even still not a great deal because if you have a true two or true 3% cash back card, you still get better bang for your buck in the form of cash back by knowing which card to use.

[00:19:34]That's why it's so important to know >> looking at those category multipliers.

[00:19:39]Where should I be spending on this specific credit card?

[00:19:42]>> Got it. I'm trying I trying to find my uh my uh what's the name?

[00:19:48]>> Reserve. No, my my uh Schwab card.

[00:19:54]Does it just look like a regular platinum?

[00:19:56]>> It should say Charles Schwab on the side.

[00:19:58]>> On the side or the back?

[00:19:59]>> Yeah, on the front.

[00:20:00]>> On the front. I don't know where that joint is at. I don't Oh, yeah. No, this is it. This is the swab. This is the swap.

[00:20:07]>> Mhm.

[00:20:08]>> All right, cool. All right. But I I never calculated the points. I just accumulate the points. But if you're using points as a strategy, now I see why it's such a big deal.

[00:20:17]>> Very important. Whenever you get into the travel hacking and points enthusiast world, like people really take this stuff serious because if you have, for example, if you've done normal everyday spending and you've accumulated, let's just say a million points >> for you specifically, >> if you would have used the right car, instead of you having a million points, which equates to $10,000 in cash, you would have 2 million points, which equates to $20,000 in cash back. But because you didn't use the right card in certain times, you literally slice your cash back in half.

[00:20:52]>> Okay. I am a regular I'm a regular consumer.

[00:20:57]I want my biggest expense is groceries, maybe eating out and gas.

[00:21:04]>> Okay.

[00:21:06]>> What is the best card blend?

[00:21:09]I'm going to go a lineup of Blue Cache Preferred with American Express and the American Express Everyday. So, this is for the average consumer just getting started. I'm going to definitely tell you go to American Express. They're most they have the most >> products out of any other issuer.

[00:21:26]>> So, I would do every day and I would do the Blue Cache Preferred >> based on that spin.

[00:21:33]>> What if I can't get the AMX? Bro, I know my credits is a little little funny. You know what we need to talk about?

[00:21:40]>> What's that?

[00:21:40]>> How to And I don't want to take no food out anybody's mouth. How to picture credit yourself, bro.

[00:21:47]>> Oh man, that's good.

[00:21:50]>> How How about we do that, bro?

[00:21:52]>> Okay. Are you a you you could talk to us about how to fix your credit yourself so eventually I can because I know as soon as you said that AMX, people's like, "Ah, [laughter] I ain't going to get that one. I just got the uh unsecure joint." So, let's talk about it.

[00:22:08]>> Let's jump into it. So, first, I'm glad you asked that. We're going to basically break down how to remove any negative, inaccurate, or unverifiable item off of your credit report. First and foremost, everybody should go and pull what they call like a trimerge credit report. So, it's the report from the major three consumer reporting agencies because we call them bureaus, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax, but technically they are consumer reporting agencies because they're just reporting consumer data.

[00:22:41]>> So, when we understand and look at them for what they truly are, we know how to handle them. Right? First, you go and pull a try merge credit report with TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. We want to then look at anything that's not matching up because there are laws that it's called consumer law. There are laws that protect us as a consumer to make sure the we going to call them bureaus but technically they're CRAAS that the bureaus are doing what they supposed to do and often times they don't. 83% of people have like an inaccuracy on their credit report and they don't even realize it. So, they're paying people to repair the credit for them whenever if they knew the strategy on how to do it themselves, they wouldn't be in the position that they're in.

[00:23:23]>> Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Come on. Walk us through it, man. I want somebody after this to actually be able to fix your own credit.

[00:23:33]>> Okay.

[00:23:34]>> Without hiring someone $500, $800,000 to do it for me. So, let's walk through it. You can go to annualcreditreport.com, pull a try merge credit report. We're then going to review the entire profile.

[00:23:48]Make sure everything is matching up within the first section, which is personal information. If you have first and last name on your credit report, but this account has your middle and last name, that's not 100% accurate.

[00:24:04]Hm.

[00:24:06]>> So, >> but just because they spell my name wrong doesn't mean >> No, no, no, no. It does mean it. By law, if it's not 100% accurate, they have to they are required by law to remove it. So, if you go and look up the US code, I want to say it's 15USC1681i and you can go and look up Cornell law and it literally will tell you what the law state and then it has like hyperlinks that you can click on.

[00:24:36]>> So, 15 US code 1681 I five or seven if my memory serves me correct states that >> anything that's furnished on your consumer report must be 100% accurate.

[00:24:48]So, if your name is spelled incorrectly, is that accurate? And it said 100%. So, if the negative account or the charge off collection was tied to an incorrect spelling of your name or a previous address in which you don't stay at anymore, it's not 100% accurate.

[00:25:06]>> All right, hold on real quick. Let's say I have a credit card, >> okay?

[00:25:10]>> And I don't pay that joint. I got I'm at $5,000 and they put on my my uh my report.

[00:25:19]>> Okay.

[00:25:20]>> And they they miss my middle initial or it's or or they have a wrong middle initial or they have the wrong address.

[00:25:30]You're saying they have to take it off.

[00:25:33]You have to dispute it for it to be removed. So, you could reach out to them and say, and of course, if you're carrying a balance, you don't want to not pay it and then you got to wait until it goes into collection or charge off because it's not dealing directly with the original creditor. So, if you take out that credit card with American Express and then they sell it off to, let's say, Portfolio Recovery Assistance, if they don't have the correct information, they are deemed to remove it. And because they're not the original creditor, that's how you dispute it to get, like I say, the negative, unverifiable, or inaccurate items removed. Okay? If I am if I am uh a a bank or credit card, somebody owe me money, >> right?

[00:26:22]>> I am what's that? Rent center.

[00:26:24]>> Mhm.

[00:26:25]>> And you didn't pay me. Mhm.

[00:26:29]>> I want my money just based on, you know, it might be a small mistake.

[00:26:35]>> You're saying they can't get the money back if I dispute it properly.

[00:26:39]>> You still are obligated to pay that debt back. It just won't be on your credit report.

[00:26:45]>> So, depending on the amounts and everything, you could be sued from banks. Um, they'll sue you. Sometimes I want to make sure nobody takes this wrong >> cuz I'm like in and I'm searching in my head like, "Bro, there got to be a way they they want their money."

[00:26:58]>> Yeah. I mean, and then sometimes if they've made more, think about it this way. If you've used $5,000 on a credit card and you have paid back in interest over time, late payments, uh, late payment penalties, you've we've got interest from you. you've paid the credit card back on interest and then the principles only small amounts was applied to that.

[00:27:21]So sometimes if they've won in totality, they just write it off >> and they won't pursue it anymore >> and they won't pursue it anymore because we still have made money off of you from you using our credit card from the swipe fees and then on the interest that you've paid us.

[00:27:35]>> Got it. Got it. Okay. All right. So we need to make we need to pull our report, make sure there's no inaccuracies.

[00:27:41]>> For sure. Inaccuracies.

[00:27:43]>> That's the first line of defense.

[00:27:44]>> Yep. That's the That's step number one is making sure everything aligns up. And then whenever I say everything aligns up, making sure that first, full, middle, and last name, as it is on your driver's license, is what's on your actual credit report.

[00:27:57]>> Got it. Got it.

[00:27:58]>> So from there, now they have to verify this information is correct from somewhere. So that's where we have invis, sage streams, arrests, core logic. Remember the consumer reporting agencies, TransUnion, Spear and Equifax, they don't house this information. So they rely on the secondary bureaus which Inavis may house insurance claims. Uh ARS may house um different banking accounts or checking accounts that you have not paid in the past or collections depending on what negative account that it is. One specific secondary is going to house this information. If you go to the person that's housing this information in the vault essentially and you opt out of them providing information on behalf of you which you have a right to do as a consumer and then they then go and furnish this data or whenever the primary bureaus come and ask for it they have now violated your consumer rights. M >> so you can go any anybody that's watching this can go to the CFPB's website and you can type in cons secondary consumer reporting agencies and it's going to tell you you're going to get 100 to 200 plus secondaries that's housing specific information >> because whenever you send that letter in directly to TransUnion Xperion Equifax they're relying on E Oscar which is a system to send it out and verify each thing they don't house it so if they can't verify which is a method of verification. How did you verify it before you furnish it on my credit report? They can be held responsible because they have to abide by a specific law.

[00:29:37]>> Mhm. So, what do I get the letters to send then?

[00:29:40]>> So, I would tell everybody to leverage chat GPT, right? You can literally go to chat GPT and say, "Give me a dispute flow to get this specific negative item removed starting from the top." Because and and another thing with people, they think that credit repair is a overnight process. It didn't take you 30 days to mess up your credit. It at least took you 120 days for your credit to get messed up minimum cuz you got a 30-day late payment, 60-day, 90-day, then they charge it off, then it goes to collections. So, it took you four to five months to mess up your credit. So, why do you think it's supposed to be fixed overnight?

[00:30:14]>> Okay, hold on. Hey, chat. Um, I'm having a conversation and my friend said that you can create a dispute letter for >> method of verification >> for a method of verification >> to send to the collection company >> to send to the collection companies so that I can >> remove the inaccurate negative item.

[00:30:36]>> Get inaccurate negative items removed from my credit report. Can you send me a draft of what that should look like using the language that's needed?

[00:30:47]Never mind. Can we turn the arrow on a little bit? It's a little warm. Thank you. Um, it says, uh, uh, you want to be careful with this because there's a lot of bad Tik Tok credit repair advice floating around. A method of verification letter is a real thing under Fair Credit Reporting Act, but it's not some magical loophole, right?

[00:31:06]It works best when the debt information is inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, duplicated, or the collector can't properly verify it. Also, generally you generally send the dispute to the credit bureaus first, then follow up with the collection agency if needed. Okay, cool. Okay, this is dope cuz it has the full name and all that kind of stuff.

[00:31:27]>> Mhm.

[00:31:28]>> Request for your the the top line says request for method of verification account number to make concern. I recently reviewed my consumer credit report and noticed that your company is reporting the above reference account. I previously disputed this account with the credit reporting agencies and the account was verified as accurate. Under my right pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, specifically 15 USC, I am requesting a detailed description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the ver information you verified. Dang, there's a bunch more stuff on here. Dang, >> it gets busy. So, I always explain it in this analogy.

[00:32:11]Whenever if you've known anybody that went to federal prison, whenever they take you into the interrogation room, they're asking you yes and no questions.

[00:32:21]>> We're doing the same exact thing. We're building a case on them because let's just say that that item remains on there. And sometimes they do.

[00:32:27]>> It remains on there with it being inaccurate, unverifiable, or incorrect.

[00:32:32]We now take you to small claims court and then we can sue you on behalf of you reporting inaccurate information that has stopped me from providing for my family, getting housing, getting the proper insurance, so on and so forth.

[00:32:44]>> This is dope. Okay. Um, [snorts] is that it? Is that the last step?

[00:32:50]>> That would be that and then that step is going to be until it's removed because sometimes they'll come back and then they'll update it. But if they if it does get removed off of your credit and then they reinsert it, there's a thing called a reinsertion law letter.

[00:33:05]>> So once they take it off your credit, they can't add it back. It's illegal for them to do it. So now if they go and do that, you can ask chat to give you the reinsertion law letter. The thing with most people that they don't understand is that if you learn how to do this yourself, what could ever stop you? Why do you need a credit repair company? And I'm not saying some people don't want to do it because it's like um I can go to the gym and work up by myself, but you hire a personal trainer.

[00:33:31]>> If you just take the time to learn it, are you technically you only need to do it one time cuz once you learn how to fix your credit, you now understand the importance of having great credit >> and you fix it one time and then you could be done with it and then you can help your family members, you can help your friends and then you don't got to pay 600,000 to get your credit.

[00:33:51]>> Interesting. So when we pay somebody to fix our credit, this is what they're doing >> pretty much. They're leveraging consumer law. They're leveraging Metro. They're sending the letters. Then you have Metro 2 compliance that's sending letters.

[00:34:03]That's automated. But if the creditor reaches out to you, let's reverse back and let's just take it from here. The best way to remove anything off of your credit is by getting a pay for delete.

[00:34:16]And I know the credit repair people are going to kill me for this. That's how I repaired mine. I knew I owed the debt.

[00:34:22]Let's just be honest here. I reached out to the collection company and I said, "Hey, if I pay this, will you delete it off of my credit report?" Sometimes that's a lot faster than going through six or seven months worth of dispute letters.

[00:34:34]>> Oh, pay for delete is you're asking the company that you owe money to, how much can I pay you for you to get this off here?

[00:34:41]>> And what they did, they bought that $5,000 credit card from American Express. And then American Express just wanted to get off of their books. So that's why it's called a charge off.

[00:34:51]>> They charged it off to the collection agency that they bought it for pennies on a dollar. They may have bought it for a thousand dollars. They're going to tell you, "Hey, if you pay us 3500, we'll take care of this for you and you don't owe it." So that's how the collection >> agencies make money, but if you say, "Hey, >> you know, you owe the five grand, >> you could pay 3500." And this is not a great strategy, by the way. You definitely want to go back and repair the relationship with American Express because you owe them the money, but you don't want to fight with $3,500 collection on your credit report that's stopping you from accessing a h 100,000.

[00:35:25]But how do you repair the relationship with American Express if let's say AMX tented to Armani's credit credit collections company, >> you pay Armani's credit collections company 3500.

[00:35:41]>> Mhm. in American Express mind, you're still a h a terrible human and I don't want to give you any chances other chances. How do you repair the relationship with American Express?

[00:35:52]>> They have I can't remember the product that it is, but they have what you call like a secondary chance account to where you can get back into good graces and prove yourself with them.

[00:36:01]>> Even if you fix your let's say for instance, you owe the money >> and you get you get your life together and you pay it all off. If you apply again with a better score, do they still just look at it as, "Oh, well, somebody applied with a good score. We're going to approve them for >> No, they got that. They got that in.

[00:36:17]They got you in the entire >> competitive remember."

[00:36:19]>> They for sure. Yeah. It don't always work like that. But some institutions you can go back to them and it depends on the overall circumstance. If it's a $5,000 credit card, if it's a $10,000 credit credit card potentially, >> but if you're talking about a Chase $150,000 credit card, no, they're coming to sue you.

[00:36:40]>> Oh, hey, but I'm saying after you make it right, they they still Well, okay. Okay, cuz they charged it off and now you're coming back and saying, "Yo, I paid your home. I paid your low homie Armani credit repair, whatever, collection.

[00:36:58]>> They still look at you as a person that owes them money no matter even if you come back a few years later with better credit.

[00:37:03]>> Yes, for sure. Internals.

[00:37:05]>> So, you have to call [clears throat] them and is there a call? Is it a >> It's just going in and see if they'll even let you apply for another credit card because you could be blacklisted.

[00:37:17]>> Some of y'all blacklisted on here. Okay.

[00:37:19]Uh and I know where it came from, too.

[00:37:22]It came from uh people who was in a relationship trying to >> trying to impress their little boo and they went on credit and put the birthdays and the Christmases and you put all you put some of that stuff on credit money or no not really.

[00:37:39]Do you do you do you use do you ever use credit to finance this kind of stuff?

[00:37:46]So, previously when I wasn't having a consistent job at times in the pandemic, bro, I was trying to pay my power bill.

[00:37:53]I was trying to pay phone bill and that's when it got kind of bad.

[00:37:56]>> And were you still finding a way to go out on dates and stuff like that on credit?

[00:38:00]>> Oh, yeah. I had a way better score in the pandemic. They man I think the first time I applied I don't even make that much. They said, "Oh, you're approved for 2,000." I said, "2 I don't even make that in a month back then." I was like, "Oh, I'm going to use this." But um been talking to Dub lately and I just got preapproved for a secured card. So I'm gonna start slow.

[00:38:19]>> Let's get it >> $2 $300. Use it for like I think you said gas.

[00:38:22]>> Yeah. We going to talk about another episode like how to build it up.

[00:38:25]>> Just little stuff. That's good.

[00:38:27]>> Little stuff a little bit at a time. I'm not going to think about it like this.

[00:38:30]The money I'm just using. It's like I'm trying to get back right. So >> Oh yeah.

[00:38:34]>> A little bit at a time.

[00:38:35]>> Let's go. Yeah. Fix Army's life, man.

[00:38:38]Mike, bro, >> that first >> We all need a little help. The feeling that Armani's gonna get when he get that first 10k 20k card, bro.

[00:38:46]>> Yeah. Don't say we though cuz then you already [laughter] >> Yeah. You going to get too hype and then you going to be back in this situation again. And I think that's the trick. But I mean once you get once you've been through it, um typically you don't go back. You know what I mean? Because you're like, "Oh, I don't ever want to go back to that again." So >> yeah, >> that's awesome. Okay. So we learned how to fix your credit. We figured out that Dub lumps his wife's birthday and Mother's Day all in one >> Yes.

[00:39:15]>> one fell swoop.

[00:39:16]>> Strategic.

[00:39:16]>> Uh strategic. Okay. Uh we also learned that uh a credit card, the right credit card with money you're going to spend anyway can take care of the pressure of the things that you know you are foolishly spending money on, but you won't have to spend the money because you have these points.

[00:39:37]>> Yeah. even going in and applying for a credit card. They'll tell this is how they trick you. They tell you spend $3,000 over the next six months and then we'll give you a h 100,000 points or we'll give you 50,000 points. So, you go out and foolishly spend the money that you know you don't have to get a sign up bonus. So, whenever you get these credit cards, still be strategic to not fall into the trap. If you know you have a big expense coming up, then you go for a credit card, pay for the expense, and then get some of the money back.

[00:40:05]>> Don't fall into the trap, man. Hey y'all, do me a favor. I need y'all to comment in the comment section what y'all want to hear on finances on Friday. Uh because there's so many ah there's so many situations, man, that people are getting themselves in. And if you don't understand this stuff, man, you'll be cooked for the rest of your life.

[00:40:25]>> So, hey, um I meant to ask you too about the community. Tell me about the community. So, in the community, it's everything specifically credit related.

[00:40:36]We're breaking down how to repair your credit, how to go on funding sequences, how to travel for free, liquidation of credit cards, a multitude of things. And I just wanted to give people opportunity to get access to this information because even my free information is like >> very valuable. So, I just created a community for people just come out and just share wins and then we lift each other up. you know, I kind of put some spirituality in there as well. So, just overall grooming of the culture.

[00:41:04]>> Love it. Love it. All right. So, I will make sure um there will be a link below.

[00:41:09]Okay. There'll be a link somewhere in the in the comment section. Um click it.

[00:41:15]Check it out. So, how much is it?

[00:41:17]>> $99 a month.

[00:41:18]>> $99 a month. And what what's the outcome, >> man? You're going to learn how to one prepare your credit or repair it. Then from your own credit, >> you get the prompts that we use for the actual letters. If you don't want to use those letters, guess what? I end up giving you letters anyway that you could use on your own behalf, right? So, we leveraging FC, FDCPA, uh, Tilla, a multitude of things. We talk about that.

[00:41:41]Then once we repair it, we're then going into building a profile. We going to get into that one on a later episode. Like what you put on there >> so you can get these 10K, 20K limits very easily versus you getting 2K. And then from there, like what are you doing with it? Like let's experience travel.

[00:41:57]Let's show people that has never been on a balcony what it's like to go up a elevator and you know overlook the sea and you know >> things like that.

[00:42:05]>> I love it. I love it. D. Appreciate it, man. Um this is the conversation we all need and the comments was saying uh these last couple episodes like, "Yo, we need more of this." So uh here we are.

[00:42:16]There's more.

[00:42:17]>> Let's get it. [laughter] Let's get it.

[00:42:18]>> Take us out, man. Let us take us out with a word of wisdom, bro.

[00:42:21]>> Man, listen. Do not overleverage for unfortunate circumstances. Keep your mind on the prize and continue to be blessed. And in my words, everybody eat.

[00:42:32]>> Let's get to it. Click the link. Check the community out. Peace.

[00:42:39]>> All right. All right. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down.

[00:42:42]>> Okay.

[00:42:42]>> First question.

[00:42:43]>> Everybody has a podcast now. Why did yours work?

[00:42:48]>> Good question. Because I wasn't chasing views. What were you chasing?

[00:42:52]>> Exactly. That was the same question I had.

[00:42:54]>> I was trying to get access to the rooms I didn't belong in yet.

[00:42:57]>> You see, this guy's not even a real podcaster. He just using it for his business.

[00:43:01]>> Exactly. That's the point. Most people start a podcast to talk. I started want to build something >> and that turned into a business.

[00:43:09]>> Listen, man. That turned into everything.

[00:43:11]>> Babe, what you going to do, man? I thought podcast Summit was two days of talking about microphones.

[00:43:17]Well, some people come to learn how to start a podcast. Some people come to learn how to grow a podcast. But everybody's going to leave knowing how to build something. No more questions.

[00:43:28]>> Wait a minute.

[00:43:29]>> Can you show me how to start it from scratch?

[00:43:32]>> Can you show us how to start from scratch?

[00:43:36]>> What are we starting? One more question.

[00:43:38]So, it's not about the views.