My Interest Rate Didn’t Include the Cost of Dying Inside

"This will be noted on your permanent record."

I lived in terror for the moment my name would be called out to the whole school to come to the principal’s office. It did happen twice – once when they wanted me to be the unpaid IT manager for the school, and a second time when I was being reprimanded for selling Atomic Fireballs at recess. Maybe if they had paid me, I wouldn’t be side hustling, but that’s a story for another day.

"This will be noted on your permanent record."

I lived in constant fear of what the principal would note on my mythic permanent record, like some stone tablets inscribed by unmerciful gods. Near as I can tell, my K-12 permanent record had no bearing on my life after I turned 17. Yah, not exactly putting the “P” in permanent, are we?

But the fear was instilled. I was groomed to fear my permanent record. The publicly funded education system installed the roots of the control structure that would cause anxiety in me for several more decades until I did the work to remove it.

There is, as you well know, a real permanent record in the United States, and it’s managed by three private companies, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. After my company, Qcut, went belly up and I wrote off a bunch of business debts, I discovered how little reality it held in my life. It was an ontological shock, to be sure, but in the best possible way. In short, I defaulted on thousands of dollars of debt, and nothing happened.

None of my business debts impacted my personal credit report, except one that was tied to my personal bank account. Thanks, America. It was never so clear that it’s the country that has the back of businesses, not citizens.

Anyway, I digress, but that was my entry into life without a perfect credit score. I was shocked and delighted to discover everything continued as if nothing was amiss.

Before 2016, I’d had a 699 credit score and dreamt of ascending to the highest echelons. What a perfect little overachiever I was. *puke*

I guarded my credit score like it was my lifeline because I believed it was. I paid everything on time, even if the company was at fault. I bought a house with a 30-year fixed mortgage. I played by all the rules of the American Dream. It was presented to me in small monthly payments and signed on the dotted line with a big, fat smile on my face.

My credit score has continued to drop because:

1. I didn’t pay a Verizon bill that they neglected to notify me of due to a database glitch. I walked down the street to another provider, ported my number, and never looked back. This gave me a nasty “non-payment” reduction.

2. I haven’t bought anything with credit in something like twenty years. Even though I’ve had credit since 1999 and bought a house in 2002, they claim I have “insufficient credit history.” Lol.

My life has continued to proceed in the intervening years as if nothing is amiss because – nothing is amiss. Now I live in Mexico, where no one even knows what the concept of a credit report is. They use a different system, which has someone co-sign on your behalf, called an aval. I like it better. But you don’t have to leave the US. My life was just fine when I lived there.

My simple magic trick? I pay on time. I do not use debt.

If you don’t need credit, you don’t need a credit report*.

There’s an asterisk there because credit reports are also used for identity verification. I ran into my first hassle caused by no credit in nearly a decade when opening a new virtual mailbox this very week. The US is enacting more stringent tracking and now requires a notarized statement of your physical address. They use credit reports to validate you. But if you’re willing to take an extra few minutes to verify via video call, you’re just fine.

I had feared that I wouldn’t be able to get a good price on car insurance, cell phone lines, storage units, etc. None of that’s ever been a problem. I definitely can’t get a credit card anymore except those terribly APR ones ironically meant for “building your credit,” but I couldn’t be less interested.

What about buying a car?!

Seriously, buy a used car. I have a 1995 Toyota Celica I love to pieces that I bought for $4200. It has 157k miles and runs like a top. My inner teenager is thrilled. As far as she’s concerned, this is a brand new car since it's the it-girl car on the lots when she got her driver’s permit. The engine purrs sooooo good.

Buy only what you can pay cash for. If you’re freaked out, I understand. Get a good mechanic and pay ~$250 for a full pre-purchase inspection. Learning to buy cars is a skill. It’s not rocket science. You can learn it.

If you have the cash for a gently used Kia you’ll get a 10-year warranty. You should still take it for a pre-purchase inspection.

There are many amazing options. No excuses. And, if you don’t have $4k, you simply don’t have the money for a reasonably reliable car. You’ll have to find another way that works for your circumstances or change your circumstances.

What about buying a house?!

Get a co-signer and go old-school style like we do in Mexico.

Or, pay in cash for what you can afford. That will require you to get real about what you can afford, which is an uncomfortable process. It is, however, possible. Believe it or not, I bought a house cash with my ex-fiancé in 2013. (Amusingly, the credit agencies didn’t give me an ounce of score increase for that, btw. They care less about whether you can pay than whether you play the rules of the oligarchy’s control structures.) Guess what… You get amazing deals when you have cash. We got the lowest price per square foot of all the sales of the year in the whole neighborhood.

Or, rent. It’s much cheaper than buying. I’d be shocked if we don’t have a massive real estate pricing correction in the coming few years. Take it from someone who bought at the local minimum price in the last boom-bust cycle – we’ve got another one coming, and perhaps the biggest one of our lifetimes. Wait it out.

Some landlords do check credit. If you have a job, you can show pay stubs that prove consistent income, or you can show them how much you have in the bank. As long as you have six months of rent, they’re fine. I’ve never been turned down despite not having a regular paycheck since leaving Mozilla in 2014.

If you don’t have six months of rent or a consistent income, you can’t afford that apartment.

If you’re relying on debt, you’re stealing from your future self.

Your ego may not like these adjustments. Perhaps your family or friends will only “respect” you if you drive a Mercedes, live in a certain kind of neighborhood, or have a guest room they can use. They’ll have to get over it or buy it for you. Them’s the new rules. People who don’t make the cut… well, they don’t make the cut. Your life will be better without them, I promise.

This process is about getting real with yourself about what standard of living you can afford. Will it force you to reevaluate your life choices? If you’re in debt… absolutely, yes. That’s the point.

I don’t say these things to be harsh, I say this as a girl from Arkansas raised by a single grandmother on food stamps. No one from my family has ever given me money, but I made my way out of poverty to travel the world. I now have time to paint, write a fiction trilogy, invent a new music genre that at least 13 people will enjoy, renovate my house, cook, plant a garden, pet my cats, swing in my hammock, etc. I’m giving you the map of how I did it.

The Walmart greeter of interdimension portals says, “Please watch your step.” He’s too friendly for world domination, too cute to ignore. Original painting and prints are available for purchase. Inquire within.

What if I already have debt?!

Get the F out of debt. I used the Dave Ramsey debt snowball back in college to pay off my student loans, a car, and some credit cards. It’s simple and it works. Dave is super Christian, and I have no idea how much of that leaks into his book, but you don't even need to read it. Here’s the process:

1. Cut up your credit cards and switch to debit cards only. I don’t want to hear no BS about point, rewards, status, etc. If you’re in debt, you can’t handle credit cards. If you pay off your balance every month, then you do you, but I’m talking about people in debt.

2. Pay off the smallest debt first. Pay minimums on everything else.

3. Once it’s paid off entirely, close the account and move on.

4. Roll that payment into the next-smallest debt.

5. Repeat and work your way up until you’ve paid them all off.

Hey, voila, you’re debt-free. Have a gluten-free cake with sparkly candles and celebrate the shit out of yourself. I mean it. Please send me a pic of the cake.

Once I walked away from debt, I’ve not looked back longingly at the days where I had to take a job I didn’t want to cover looming monthly payments.

My life is my own. My time is my own. That’s my foundation.

Btw, I turned down the unpaid IT manager job at my middle school. I guess I was always an unremitting badass, eh? Poor girls ain’t got no time for no nonsense.

Love from Oaxaca,
Cris and Team Dragon

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