Page 13 - Winning The Credit Game Bundle (CK Patrick)

CHAPTER 1
THE CREDIT TRAP

THERE WAS a time when I knew nothing about credit. Like so many
people, I knew that credit cards appeared to be free money, and frankly
couldn’t care less about what happened to my unpaid bills. With
credit, I could spend money I did not actually have and unpaid debts
afforded me more money on hand.
As a young teen mother struggling to survive, I could have access
to experiences and material things that my minimum wage income did
not allow for. Credit cards and spending beyond my means could give
me a glimpse of a better life.
Most everybody I knew used credit cards this way: as a lifeline to a
better future they would someday catch up to. I planned to pay my
debts back someday.
But maybe my plan to pay them back wasn’t as solid as I thought.
And maybe, in the midst of being offered more and more free money, I
lost track of how much I actually owed.
What was the worst that could happen? And an even better ques-
tion, how come we weren’t taught about credit in school?
I didn’t know what my credit score was, and no one I knew ever
mentioned credit. It was one of those things that we heard people