There’s so much more that factors into our handling of Credit and Personal Finances than just receiving a bill and paying it – or not paying it for that matter.  In order to establish a stable structure a proper foundation must be laid first.  When pondering your current state of affairs as it relates to your credit and personal finances let’s consider what I refer to as the IIICs that Precede Credit: Conscience, Conviction and Character. 

By:  Grenelda T. Kearney

Often we will deal with the “fruit” of a person’s credit behavior (bills consistently paid late, delinquent or never paid at all) while never stopping to dissect the “root” of the behavior (why is a person’s relationship with the handling of Credit and Personal Finances so dysfunctional).  We understand that money is essential to this life and you must have some in order to exchange it for the goods and services needed for daily sustenance.  However, until the “whys” of the behavior are addressed and a proper foundation and relationship with money is established, money will be misused, abused, improperly appropriated and ultimately squandered.  This will result in a cycle of unfavorable credit issues, less purchasing power and control over your own hard earned dollars and ultimately much regret for not reaching more of your personal goals and dreams in life.

That being said, let’s begin with Conscience:

Our Conscience alerts us to our moral goodness or the blameworthiness of our own conduct, intentions or character.  It leaves us with a feeling of obligationto do right or be good.  Simply put, our conscience prompts within us sensitive regard for fairness or justice.

Next Conviction

 The act of convincing a person of error or compelling them to admit the truth.

Lastly Character: 

 An attribute or feature that distinguishes you as an individual; Reputation.

 Simply put - a person’s usual qualities or traits.

Now please allow me to re-word for you the information I began with at the top of the article and include the IIICs in the re-wording.  It reads like this:

We have hushed and/or shut down our internal compass (Conscience) that prompts us to do right and be sensitive in regards to fairness and justice and to conduct ourselves in such a way that we are blameless in our own conduct.  You see each of us know that the right thing to do is payback what we’ve borrowed (and payback according to the terms we agreed to by signing our names on the dotted line).  But since we have hushed our conscience, refused to allow ourselves to be convinced of our error, and admit the truth (Conviction) that we are wrong in the way we handle our Credit and Personal Finances, our reputation (Character) now suffers and we exhibit as usual traits that say to creditors “HIGH RISK” – this person will most likely not pay you back if you lend money to them.  And the vicious cycle continues, crying about the lack of money, paying more through interest and fees that the rest and refusing to acknowledge and change the habits and behaviors that restrain and restrict with brute force.

I know this is not your typical article regarding credit but it’s time for someone to “dig deeper” and address the “root” of the problem of poor credit and not just the “fruit.”

I know you’ve heard of the 80/20 rule.  This rule applies in:

             Relationships – Having 80% but wanting the 20%

             Fitness – 80% of weight loss is what you eat (habit) 20% is exercise

             Credit/Personal Finance – 80% behavior, 20% knowledge

I’ve given you foundational knowledge and that’s good but until a change in behavior occurs the cycle will continue.

I challenge you to do right by yourself and check your own conduct.  Admit the truth to yourself regarding the error of your own financial behavioral patterns.  Re-establish your reputation through the attributes of timely payments and follow through on your financial commitments.  These behaviors must be changed through grace and discipline.

Do you want to: 

Save $500 for Christmas gifts this year?

Have a hefty down payment for a new car?

Take a vacation this summer?

Be out of debt sometime this year?

Whatever your goal, write it down and determine where you can cut back in order to reach your goal.

I’ll tell you right now, there is no “Easy Button” you can push for this one.  This will require hard work and yielding to those much dreaded words “NO” or “NOT NOW.”  But anything worth having costs you something.  Begin to apply these principles and we’ll pick up in the next issue so that we may further build on a proper foundation of Credit and Personal Financial Success. ©

The financial life you’ve led doesn’t

need to be the only life you will have

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