The Power of Credit Scores: Changing Your Life and America (for the better)

In this episode, John discusses credit scores and their reflection on people’s livelihood. A higher credit score can directly be linked to a longer life! Get your notepads and listen up for some free game!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Speaks to the Plannet.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
I go by the name of Charlamagne the God, and
guess what, I can't wait to see y'all at the
third annual Black Effect Podcast Festival. That's right, We're coming
back to Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, April twenty six at Poeman
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Woman of All podcasts with Saray Jake Roberts, we got

(00:22):
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her next sports podcast and the Trap Nerds podcast with
more to be announced. And of course it's bigger than podcasts.
We're bringing the Black Effect Marketplace with black owned businesses
plus the food truck court to keep you fed while
you visit us. All right, listen, you don't want to
miss this. Tap in and grab your tickets now at
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Speaker 1 (00:45):
Welcome The Money in Wealth with John O'Bryant, a production
of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Yo. This
is John ho Bryant and this is the Money and
Wealth podcast series on Black Effect Network and iHeartRadio. So

(01:08):
weekly podcast my Ministry of Finance. I want to first
of all, thank you the listeners and subscribers for making
this one top one hundred business podcasts in the country
and one of the top forty entrepreneurship podcasts in the
entire country. Let's get at it. This week's podcast is
extremely important and provocative. It's not supposed to be provocative.

(01:31):
It shouldn't be provocative, but it you know, I think
this is a radical movement of common sense. And well,
I like math because it doesn't have an opinion. That's
my friend Melody Hobson quote. And it disappears that things
that I don't intend to be provocative at all are
extremely provocative. Let me just get it out right up front.

(01:55):
I don't think the issue today in this country is
primarily black or white as in race, or red or
blue as in politics partisan politics. I think the issue
is green economics. Let me unpack that with specifics, and

(02:18):
I'm talking about credit scores this week. I'm talking about
the power of credit scorse to change your life in
the change America. Of course, it should go without saying
for the better. Okay, So I together with bernise A King,
doctor bernise A King, the daughter of doctor Martintha King Junior,

(02:38):
and Ambassador Andrew Young, who was doctor King's right arm
in the civil rights movement and was on the balcony
when doctor King was assassinated in April fourth, nineteen sixty
eight in Memphis, Tennessee. Along with the Mayor of Memphis,
Paul Young, we got together and pulled together twenty amazing
global speakers, the experts, the best of the best, and

(03:00):
founding delegates from all platforms throughout the country and even
throughout the world. And you can go to the Dream
Ford and look at the list of speakers and the delegates,
and you will find it looks like America. There are
Democrats and Republicans, there's black and white, there's rich and poor,

(03:23):
there's concern and liberal, there's urban and rural. There's the
current administration who's represented with speakers in the program for
three hours. The ground rule was nothing negative. You can't
throw political bombs, you can't criticize, you can't take out

(03:48):
your therapy, the need for therapy and your frustrations. Using
doctor King's memorial as a backstage, you have to come
here with solutions for all of us. Because when Doctor
King was assassinated, he had framed out a vision for
the Poor People's Campaign that was about all of God's children.

(04:10):
He wasn't just talking about black people. He was talking
about poor whites. Also at that point, there are more
poor whites in America now and then than poor anybody else.
That is a literal fact. And I believe it is
also true that the number one group dying in America
today are high school educated white men dying of opioid addiction,

(04:33):
which is basically just lost aspiration to the addiction. That
the drugs are really just the side show. The real
issue here. It is lost hope, depression, a lack of opportunity.
And I'm talking about an opportunity economy. That's what we're
talking about today, is an opportunity economy. But I'm talking
about your economy. It's your front door, your front door,
it's your kitchen table. I'm talking about how to what

(04:56):
you There's some many things you can control. I'm going
to talk about something you can control. So doctor King
was talking about all of God's children, right. He did
say I'm here to say black America. He said, I'm
here to redeem the soul of America from the triple
evils of war, racism, and poverty. And he was right,
and unfortunately he was assassinated before he could do his

(05:18):
first March. We issued a series of business plans on
that day. You can go to Dreamford at Operation Hope
website and download them, look at them for yourself, evaluate
them yourself, analyze them yourself. They're all rooted in some
basic realities and facts. Feel free to beat them up

(05:38):
if you like, send them back to us if you disagree.
So I'm very hard to disagree with basic numbers, but
I'm more than open if you want to make them better,
you can make them better. Fantastic Emory University, the Economics
Department at Emory University, and Atlanta University Business School at
HBCU have both agreed to be the quarterback for finding

(06:00):
these business plans as we get into the fall of
this year and we present final plans at the whole
global form. Okay, now I've talked enough. That's five minutes
about the philosophy and all that stuff. I know you
have precious time you want to I just wanted to
let you know what this is about and what this
is not about. And what I think. I think the
country is sort of wasting a lot of time arguing

(06:23):
about things because I really think that we can solve
I don't know eighty percent of our problems if we
get our economics straight right, if everybody has a personal
aspirational ladder that they feel it's repaired enough for them
to get on into increase. People say all the time
when I'm giving speeches in mostly urban communities, I go everywhere.

(06:48):
I would just say west Point speaking as in West
Point the military academy. But I go to urban communities
all the time, and people say I hate rich people,
and I have to remind them, know, you don't. You
hate rich people until you become rich. What you hate
is a gamed system, right, A system that you believe

(07:09):
that is rigged against your success, that no matter how
hard you work, you can't seem to get over, you
can't seem to advance yourself, right, And that's not good.
If you don't believe this country is not a country,
She's an idea you can make or anything you want,
and with enough hustle, you should be able to aspire
and hustle in a business plan and a hope and

(07:31):
hope tied to a business plan. You should have doors
open for you or you should be able to open
doors to unlock the power of success in your life.
So this is everybody's problem. And let's see at the
end of this podcast, I've always wasted in vested six
and a half minutes and setting this up. Let's see
if I can spend the next forty minutes, forty five

(07:52):
minutes giving you some data that absolutely unimpeachable and hit
me on social media, hit me on comments and tell
tell me whether you agree with this or not. But
I want you to. I want you to tell your
friends and subscribe to this podcast. I want them to subscribe.
I want them to follow me on YouTube, on Instagram,
on LinkedIn, on threads, wherever you find your social media platforms.

(08:19):
Because because on those comments, those comments, those platforms, I
actually answered you leave a comment there, I will actually
answer it myself. Between meetings and trying to grow businesses. Okay,
here's the first bombshell. If you listen, want somebody else
listen to this and get to the meat of it.
Whether they're you know, whatever, going through the motions their day,
they're traveling, they're on they're commuting, they're cooking food, whatever,

(08:40):
they're jogging. Okay, when does John get into the seven
and a half minute mark. Here you go, first, bombshell.
If you raise your credit score from five hundred to
seven hundred, you'll live on average twenty year longer life. Boom. Yes,

(09:02):
that's exactly right. I did not h exaggerate one little bit.
And I'll get into each of these topics in some
in some detail, but I want to I want to
lay some bombs out for you. The data that experience.

(09:23):
We have a Hope Financial Wellness Index that opera shop.
You can go to the Opera Shops website. You can
type in uh your zip code, go to Opera Shop website,
or just type just search Hope Financial Wellness Index. I've
given you all these We're the economic plumbing for the country,
the bottom half of the country. So I'm giving you
all these tools you can use on your own. By
the way, everything is everything I'm telling you can go
do it and yourself. You want to, let me tell

(09:43):
you how you're living. Tell me your zip code and
tell me and I'll tell you your credit score and I'll
tell you how you're living. Go to the Hope Financial
Wellness index. Type in your zip code, and we'll tell
you your credit score for you and your neighbors. Right,
I tell you what I tell you before. If you
hang around nine broke people, you'll be the tenth. The
opposite is also true. Uh, you model what you see.
So what we have found is if you live in
a five hundred credit score neighborhood, you live to about

(10:05):
sixty one years of age, give or take. Black and
brown urban poor, right, rural, doesn't matter. You live in
a seven hundred credit score neighborhood, okay, you lived to
about eighty one years of age. Black and brown urban poor,
I mean black and black and white. A black, a

(10:29):
black seven undre credit corred community or a white seven
undre credit card community. It matters. Not a tan one
I mean my Asian brother sisters or latinos doesn't matter. Okay,
this data is unimpeachable, and so that means for about
every fifty point increase in credit score, you live a
fifty five live about five year longer life. And it's

(10:49):
not about the credit score per se. It's about the
trending indicators of hope, well being, belief, confidence, joy, optimism,
whether you believe you can or whether you believe you
can't it, you're absolutely right. Is the glass half full
or glass half empty? Depends who's looking at the glass.

(11:09):
I can't tell you, and I can't guarantee you that
being optimistic and positive is going to make you a success,
but I absolutely guarantee you that being negative will make
you fail in time. So uh, And a lot of
disease is disase. My wife, Shag is a wellness expert,

(11:30):
and she has found that about seventy seventy five percent
of all fitness is actually what you put in your mouth, right,
and the twenty five percent is about twenty five percent
is working out. What are we obsessed on? We work
the working out part, and we put crap in our
diet in our mouths possibly, right, And I've been getting
to that why that's relevant to this example of five

(11:50):
hundre credits words versus seven in critsicqure in neighborhoods. Right,
If you put crap in your in your diet and
put that diet in your mouth of preservatives and bad foods,
you're going to inflame. And and I think it's seventy
percent of all disease lives on inflammation. I may not
be right about that. I'm not a help a wellness expert.
My wife is. She's not in this podcast. But I
believe that's the number. The numbers. I'll tell you when

(12:11):
i'm sure about something, which is ninety five percent of
this podcast, and I tell you when I'm not sure.
I'm guessing. I'm guestimating, and I just guestimated based on
my memory. But I'm not far off. But you didn't,
you know, comment on things that you want clarification on.
So the life expectancy is a real situation, all right.
We have you a census data, We've got experience credit

(12:33):
score data. We overlay it. We have all the credit bureaus,
we have our own data Operation Hope. In a fiber
a credit score neighborhood. You have higher poverty rates, you
have lower educational attainment. You have food deserts okay, a
lot of fast food restaurants. Nothing wrong with fast food
or soul food. Every now and then, you shouldn't need
it every day, three times a day as a replacement

(12:55):
for fruits and vegetables, silads, and you know, preferably farm
farm raised beef and clean fish and all that kind
of stuff. Something green on your plate every day. You
have food deserts in these communities, you have limited health
care access, you have environmental hazards in these communities. By contrast,

(13:17):
areas where credit score is above seven hundred tend to
have higher incomes, higher educational levels. I'm gonna get in
this again. I'm gonna dig dig deep into this better
housing and healthcare, safer environments. And this data, by the way,
comes from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. That CDC studies, the

(13:40):
Operation Hope Financial Wellness Index and other sources. Now in
the U A census, if you live in a five
hundred credit cord neighborhood, right, you see you tend to
see a check casher next to a paytay loan lender,
next to a rent to own store, next to a

(14:00):
title lender, next to a liquor store. If your head
nodding yet next to a pawn shop. If anybody heard
me speak, you've heard me covered this.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
If I got into it, I got into a rhythm
next to next to well a church down the street,
trying to make you feel a little bit better once
a week. That's your neighborhood therapist. Right. I love black
people saying, oh, you know I don't go to it.
I'm not gonna go to a psychologist or shrink. Somebody
might think I'm crazy. If you black in America, the

(14:31):
joke goes and you don't think you're a little crazy,
You're probably crazy. We've been doing so much with so
little for so long, you know, almost doing anything with nothing.
We wake up with hustle on our brains and struggle
in our veins. But we got to go from a
surviving mindset and struggling mindset to a thribbing mindset middle
class to a winning mindset winners or builders. Right, So

(14:52):
I'm trying to get your mind right right, because all
poverty other than susten is poverty which is a roof
over your head and food on the table and reasonable health, healthcare,
all other forms of poverty right our mindset. So uh,
that's why this credit score thing is so powerful, because
it's not about the credit score per se. It's a
credit card again, is a trending indicator for these other

(15:14):
underlying situations. And it's really has to do with your mindset,
how you see the world and how and you will
see one of you and know if your neighbors, by
the way, aligned with your mindset. You know, you need
to change your neighbors, change your life, or change your community. Right, Okay,

(15:37):
so we set this. We've set this up, and now
I want to I want to get into this because
I'm gonna deal with uh with yes, of course, the
black community. I'm gonna deal with the Latino community. And
I'm gonna deal with white America. There are more poor
Whites in America than poor anybody else proved. This is
not a racial issue. I mean black and verment. I mean,
I'm gonna i'mna just start peppering stuff in here. Deal
with with with Native American that I mentioned that and

(15:59):
when women uh as I've written these business plans reach
to these groups. By the way, again able at the
dream Forward website. You can download it and discuss it
and adapt it for your own life. But folks will
focus on the fact that, okay, black people, you're so
emotional and you ride in the streets poor black people. Okay.
Doctor King once said that violence was the was the

(16:21):
language of the unseen and the unheard. Whether it's not
just physical violence or yeah, physical violence, there's also political violence.
I mean a lot of my poor white prosis and
sisters have found it important. The riot of the ballot box.
They're they're frustrated, and they're trying to find a white
way to be heard also and they and they deserve
to be heard. Right. So none of but none of
this leads anywhere Riding in the streets or writing in

(16:43):
the ballot box, none of this leads anywhere productive. We've
got to have solutions to our problems. Uh, And that's
what I am about. So you have I'm going to
break down states and cities and regions by credit score.
I'm going to talk about high credit score communities and

(17:05):
lower credit score communities. I'm going to talk about maybe
where you should consider living or whether you should consider
as an opportunity to revitalize. Right, So let me get
into some of the real nitty gritty stuff here, because
this stuff is really quite powerful. Just jump into it.

(17:30):
And by the way, Operation Hope, which is a resource
for you, We have fifteen hundred offices in forty two states.
I think it's three hundred physical locations and growing where.
The only nonprofit ever allowed to operate inside of a
bank branch in United States history, the FFIEC that joint
regulatory agencies all co signed more than a decade ago

(17:55):
for us to operate inside of a bank, getting the
bank out of the no business, sorry you declined for
or credit, and back into the yes business. So we're
in the biggest banks in America. We're the only non
profit that myth that met the criteria, and we are moving.
Credit score is fifty four points in six months, one
hundred and twenty points in twenty four months. Nothing changes
your life more than God or love than moving your

(18:15):
credit score one hundred and twenty points. When you go
to the club tonight and you meet that beautiful lady,
you see that handsome dude. After you go to work,
you go to the club, you want to relax. Hey,
what's your name? How are you doing? Yeah? If you
ask the name, ask what the credit score is, because
that's not just a cute date. If you get serious
about this person, this is your business partner for life. Right,

(18:39):
So this affects every part of your life. This financial
literacy is the civil rights issue of this generation. And
credit scores might be like counting the votes. Right, and
credit scordes are as important as a four year education,
should not replace it, but it is as important for
you to achieve your freedom as a four year education.
You have both. You should have some out of higher

(19:00):
education and you should have a competitive credit score as
a baseline for getting your freedom. Is my friend, the
CEO of Key Bank once told me. He said, John,
Chris Gorman told me. As we're opening on Hope Inside location,
he said, John, it is entirely possible that financial freedom

(19:21):
is the only true freedom, because every other freedom can
be taken from you. Political freedom, religious freedom, social freedoms.
All these freedoms can be taken for you. But once
you have economic freedom, you have financial literacy. You understand
how this system works. Unless you give it away in
some way, it cannot be co opted or taken away
from you. It's very powerful because you own it. And

(19:43):
I'm going to show you how to change and move
your credit scores. Again. We're doing that at Operation to
Hope for not free. It costs money, but we have
arranged through funding to get this scholarship for you. So
everybody listening to this. If you go to Hope inside
so or Hope in Hand app on your Android or
Apple phone, you download a open hand app and you

(20:05):
go in there and you tell John say that John
Brian sent you, or you call our call our one
eight hundred number, or you go to Operation Hope dot
org and are you walking to a physical location one
that go to our map at Operation Hope and find
a location across this country and you go in. You
tell them I sent you. You'll get one thousand dollars scholarship
good for twelve months for free financial coaching and counseling.

(20:28):
Whether you're in West Virginia or you in West Hollywood,
whether you're in you know, Tupelo, Mississippi, or whether you're
in Topeka, Kansas, whether you're in Detroit, Michigan, or whether
you're in More des Moines Des Moines, Iowa. Right, it
doesn't matter. We are there for you, and we're there
to help you move your credit score up fifty four

(20:50):
points to one hundred and twenty points, reduce your debt
thirty eight hundred dollars on average. This is what we're
doing in Operation Hope, increasing savings about twelve hundred dollars
for somebody making about forty eight thousand dollars a year.
That transforms your life, that makes you bankable. Right that
that means a banking goes from telling you no, sorry,
can't approve you to now saying yes, what can we

(21:13):
approve you for? What is it that you want? You
would become a homeowner, You want to send your kid
to college, You want to get a new auto loan.
You want to get a lower interest rate credit card.
You want to refinanswer a month eighteen to twenty five
percent credit card down to a twelve percent credit card,
or an eighteen to thirty percent all a loan down
to sub ten percent auto loan. This is what happens

(21:33):
when you can when you master these three things I
just told you about, get your credit score up fifty
four points, get your debt down thirty eight hundred dollars,
gets your savings up twelve hundred dollars. Which is what
Operation Hope is doing over the course of about six
months to a year. That allows you to get into
the game right, and then we just keep increasing that.
We've funded about four and a half billion dollars in

(21:56):
capital for home ownership, restructing your life, a small business entrepreneurship,
using these tools to then get the prime credit providers
to then say yes, which then grows economic opportunity for you,
grows GDP for that city that you live in or
a state. It moves your burden on the public system

(22:18):
and makes you more independent. It increases your health, increases
your prosperity, increases your optimism. You start to get it,
starting to is the light's starting to go on. Okay,
let me get into this, into this data here, So
rural America, poor whites. Let's get to this first and again.
I wrote a business plan position. Go read it for yourself.
The average credit score in rural American communities is five

(22:42):
sixty to six point twenty. I really need you all
to pay very close attention to this data because we're
more like all of us than you think. The average
credit score, by the way, for African America across the country,
not poor black people, all African Americans, is six twenty,

(23:07):
which means there's a bunch of folks above six twenty,
like me who are at seven fifty or eight hundred.
But there are tons more than are in five hundred
five to fifty range, which dragged that number down. So
the average is six twenty. Right. The average credit score
in rural areas and particularly with poor white communities are

(23:28):
between five sixty and six twenty, so about the same range.
What happens in these communities they have higher rates of
medical debt. Okay, it was recently arranged. It was actually
a recommendation that operations help with. Again, we're nonpartisan. We
work with Republican and Democratic administrations. Anybody who wants to

(23:52):
work with us to help the advance the state of
people's lives. Of known twelve Secretaries of the Treasury of
known none US presidents. We have been wrecked nine by
five US presidents from both parties, and I've served as
an advisor for three US presidents from both parties. And
the last administration, medical debt was an issue that so
that basically this does not affect your credit score anymore. Okay,

(24:14):
now we'll see what we can get done now. So
these communities have higher rates of medical debt, thin credit files, right,
and tend to deal with payday lending. Okay. And by
the way, you go around outside of a military base,
and you're going to see the same thing, right, you're
going to see and these are blacks, whites, Latin, those Asians, everybody, women, everybody. Right,

(24:36):
You're going to see all these financial predators stacked up
outside the military base because they know that these military
personnel can't afford to have negative stuff on their credit
report or negative financial situations because you lose your security clearance. Okay,
are you guys following me on this? Like this is
I'm giving you a lot. As jay Z said, I'm
gonna give you a million dollars with a game for

(24:57):
nine ninety nine, I'm giving you when you're five millionars
with a game for none ninety nine. You're not paying
for dime of this podcast. This is free to you, right,
thank you, Black Effect Network. Okay, So if credit scores
rise by fifty to one hundred points right to six
seventy to seven twenty, home ownership approval approvals increase in

(25:20):
these communities. Using USDA and FHA loans, local entrepreneurship expands,
especially in trades, farming, and logistics. You reduce reliance on
predatory credit. Household savings rates about fifteen percent. Apprenticeships and
job stability improve and with access to car loans prime

(25:40):
car loans for job commuting. Rural America doesn't need a bailout,
it needs access. Credit score credit score increases unlocks that access.
Let me now jump into Native American community. By the way,
if you want to know the Black Business Plan, I
cover that as a solo in the last I think

(26:02):
two episodes ago one or two episodes ago. So go
back and read, read, listen to that episode. I cover
that uh in total and really impact that. I'm just
focusing now on credit scores for everybody. Uh so credit score,
the credit situation for Native American communities, UH many tribal
areas lack mainstream credit options. By the way, I'm pretty

(26:25):
sure that the largest alcoholism rate in the country are
Native American uh Indian communities. And I think I don't
have it documented, but I think that the one of
the largest depression rates are at least uh not not clinically dictated,
not clinically prescribed depression, but I mean just like emotionally

(26:48):
down is in the afric American community. So I think
these three groups, because they've never got the memo that's
my fourth book of how the system works, they've been
locked out of. You know, the five pillars of success.
As much as education, you shove down your throat, understanding
how the system works, financial literacy, family structure and resiliency,
self esteem and confidence, role models and environment. Those five things.

(27:09):
If you missed three to four of those or five
of those things, then you tend to be depressed, distressed,
and you tend to take it out on yourself and others.
That's the white community, poor white community. I cover that
the number one cause of death for the number one
group dying in America or white men. That covered that
I talked about. Now the Native American Indians have just
talked about African Americans and African Americans as differentiated from
our Caribbean brothers and sisters and our African brothers and

(27:31):
sisters who have problems, but different problems than the one
I just described. Okay, I'm just trying to break this
stuff down so it's non emotional, just the data. So
back to the Native American communities average credit score five
eighty to six thirty. See how similar this is limited
access to traditional banking and generational wealth assets. If credit
scores rise fifty to one hundred points, tribal home loans increase.

(27:56):
Use this the HUD one Need four program that they
would use greater small business approvals via cd f I,
s H, community Development Financialstitutions, and b I A loan guarantees.
These are loan guarantees for Native American Indian populations. Financial
literacy becomes a sovereign tool. Sovereign a sovereignty tool, reducing
reliance on extractive outside services, gambling, except things like that,

(28:22):
uh reinvestment into tribal economic growth, native led banks, businesses,
and schools. Women are a third of the US economy.
Just so you know, I've covered women in a separate
situation podcast. You want me to go deeper with women,
put put in one of the comments. I'll do a
podcast just on the power, the untip power, untapped power

(28:43):
of women and their role in the American economies. Let
me know, including black women, by the way, which was
the biggest group of book buyers in the country, most educated?
I believe group I know, the biggest group of group
of book buyers, by the way, Black women. Okay, so women,
credit exists. Credit gaphic exists due to historic under banking,

(29:04):
especially for single mothers and entrepreneurs. Do you know that
a woman could not open a bank account in nineteen
seventy two? Hello, couldn't get alone lest her husband co
signed it in nineteen seventy two, not eighteen seventy two.
They actually benefited from women that benefited from a firmative
action design for African Americans. Whole another big podcast and

(29:24):
discussion at another time tied to our history. But anyway,
and I say, God bless them. I'm glad somebody benefited.
And of course, seventy percent of all households in Black
America are run by women, give or take. So think
about the stress that it creates. If credit score is
rised by fifty to one hundred points, women deserve a
nobel peace rise, just raising our families. By the way,

(29:45):
without women, it'd be many less men. Joke reality, think
about it dropped the mic. More women qualified for solo
home ownership with their credit score rises, Female entrepreneurs access
working capital, Denial rates are right are fifteen to tweets in
higher than men. That's ridiculous, by the way, it shouldn't
be that way, clearly discrimination. But we're going to just

(30:08):
work around it. Less financial stress equals increased productivity, health
and retirement planning, child stability improves greater maternal financial strength,
right and being able to get childcare. When women raise
their credit scores, they don't just change their lives, They
change the lives of everyone who depends on them. They're
domestic engineers. They deserve to be supported. Latino communities current situation.

(30:42):
The average credit score is sixty ten sixty sixty five.
They often often limited credit histories, fewer assets, and first
generation financial systems. If a credit score increases fifty two
hundred points, explosives growth in the first time home ownership
would happen. Immigrant entrepreneurs gain access to business lines of credit,
integrational intergenerational transfers. Wealth begins through home equity and savings.

(31:06):
What I tell you the number one way you do
a wealth in America home ownership is applies to everybody.
Children benefit from lower student loan rates and co and
co sign access to education. The American dream becomes real
for Latino families when access meets credit. Hello, it's a
rap baby. The bottom twenty percent of GDP zip codes

(31:27):
of all group have a credit score between five fifty
and five eighty that disproportionately impacted by crime, unemployment, housing,
and housing instability. Let me get into specifically what this
means on average. When the Hope Financial Oness Index, we
found that the fire under credit cord neighborhood has about

(31:49):
a sixty one percent sixty six sixty percent in graduation
rate from high school. A seven under credit card community
has about a ninety two ninety six percent. Great situation
from high school, which means it's gone to college. Okay,
seven hundred credscore neighborhoods two parent households, five hundred creditscorre
neighborhoods one parent household, five under Cresscore neighborhood violent crimes

(32:11):
per thousand, off the chain, seven und creditscre neighborhoods violent
crimes per thousand, No chain at all, almost non existent.
Home Ownership rates in a five under crescore neighborhood fourteen percent,
twenty percent maximum forty percent. You ont to average home
ownership rates in a seven in the crescore neighborhood seventy
five percent. See how consistent this is. You lived sixty

(32:34):
to sixty one years of age maximum in a fire
under credit coord neighborhood. Whe're looking for surviving mindset. Heck,
you don't even get sold security right in that Joe
work your whole life and you don't even get what
you worked for. You lived to eight seven in the
chrescorre community typically fifteen minutes apart in an urban city,
eighty one years of age, again a twenty year delta difference.

(32:57):
By just doing something that you can control, which is
raising your credit score. It's so many examples of this.
If credit card rises fifteen one hundred points. Right, community
stability is gained through mortgage approvals because you're becoming a
homeowner and nobody washes rental cars. Okay, how nice you are?

(33:18):
You take that rental car back to the owner. You
let him wash it or her wash it. Right, that car,
you can write your name on the window. After two weeks.
That rental car is not yours. But you own something,
you start taking care of it. Right. Local businesses thrive.
Is credit card delinquencies drop, crime rates fifteen to twenty
percent drops fifteen to twenty percent. Is the economic opportunity rises,

(33:41):
Schools improved with rising homeownership and tax bases. Raising credit
scords in the bottom twenty percent of America lifts the
entire nation. Whoo, can I get a name? Man? That's
what I'm talking about. Okay, Now I'm getting the part
that I'm really really excited about because I love people
like Okay, John, this is a nice theory. But what
about where I talk to me? You've been talking about
this stuff. Tell me some specifics so I can question it. Okay,

(34:05):
here we go the ten lowest credit card states in America.
Please write these down. Number one Mississippi also the most
unbanked state in America, poorest state in America, lowest credit
card state in America. America. Often these states that I'm
going to mention to you are often saying that they
hate the government, that they want to be self reliant.

(34:27):
This is again financial literacy. And typically, and I'm generalizing here,
typically for every two or three dollars of federal government support,
they're adding a dollar or so in GDP or economic activities.
So in other words, they're a net importer of subsidies
in the federal government. But these tend to be places

(34:48):
that think that they're self reliant and often will say
with bravado, I don't want the government in my life.
When you look at health care and Medicare and all
these other different programs, farm subsidies, all these stuff, you'll
find these a HEF subsidized areas. Again, this is just math.
I'm not picking you see in a minute, I'm gonna be
picking on everybody, right. This is not personal. It is

(35:09):
just it is what it is. Number one, and I
want to help Mississippi. I have offices in Mississippism. These
are opportunities where there are problems. Mississippi is six point
eighty right credit score. Right, that's the average, very small
group of people with the sevenator credit score community in Mississippi, unfortunately,
but it's an opportunity for those who would live there
and want to live there. It's an opportunity for you.

(35:30):
If you are in a sevenator credit score community in Mississippi.
Every every bank, every finishitution, every furniture store, whatever, every
department store wants to give you credit. Right, you just
write your own ticket Number two Louisiana six ninety Alabama
number three, six ninety two credit score Texas six ninety five,

(35:53):
Georgia six ninety five. I'm in Georgia right now. But
Atlanta as a city is basically Georgia economically. The city
of Atlanta as a GDP as an economy is bigger
than most states around Georgia combined. Two or three states
combined are smaller economically than the city of Atlanta. Atlanta, though,

(36:16):
has problems. It has areas that has very high credit
scores and very high levels of economic activity. It has
areas still that have low credit scores, like the TELA
two cities, and so Atlanta still has a kid. It's
act together. But the mayor and mayors have done a
great job here overall, and they made diversity of business strength,
which I keep talking about. The city of Atlanta has
the same size economy as this country I was at

(36:38):
three weeks ago, which is Singapore dropped the mic hello
number six state Arkansas six ninety six credit scores, seventh
state Oklahoma six ninety six, Nevada seven oh one, New
Mexico seven oh two, South Carolina, Carolina seven oh two.
The ten cities with the lowest average credit score Detroit

(37:00):
number one, five sixty six. See they're like okay, people
are like yeah, See, I knew there was a reason
Detroit in the fifties was the wealthiest city per capita
in the world. We're wealthier than Paris, wealthier than London, wealthier,
just the wealthier city. But they got the business plan wrong.
At some point they tripped themselves up. And I can

(37:23):
break down why in more details through you know, another podcast.
I don't want to burn up time here, but there
are reasons why. It is not having to do with
the efficacy or the viability of the people. They're people
They're fine. They just had a bad business plan. They
thought that they're having the automobile industry was enough. No,
you got to constantly sol upgrade your software. And you

(37:45):
cannot have the unions and the capitalists the management at
war with each other for twenty thirty years and with
the wrong set of priorities of why you're I mean,
the Bible says a house divided cannot stand anyway Detroit,
which I think is an enormous opportunity. I can't wait
to get busy going deeper in Detroit, working with the

(38:06):
mayor and others there. Uh. And I'm wanted to come
to your city, by the way, with my business plan
for America, for your city, get my book for ancial
literacy for all. Tell your mayor to get books for
his or her library. I'm will to you know, tell
them to listen to my podcast, you know, embrace opery
Shop as a partner. I wanted to come there and
do it. Speaking of with your mayor, have them send
a letter to my assistant, Kevin Bouchet in my office

(38:30):
runs strategy and communications, and I'll see when get it
on the schedule for our tour number so number two. Uh,
Colleen Klleen, Texas. Sorry by that of us mispronounced it.
Six forty two credit score, Washington, d C. In this
crazy six forty four credit score? Isn't that crazy?

Speaker 3 (38:48):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Even in our nation's capital Corpus Christi, Texas six forty eight, Mobile,
Alabama six point Fiftyville, Tennessee six fifty. See, I'm not
picking on anybody and picking on everybody. Fayetteville, North Carolina
six fifty one, Savannah, Georgia, six fifty two. Birmingham, Alabama,

(39:12):
six fifty three. I know the mayor there is really
trying to turn things around. We actually helped them become
a homeowner. The mayors in Birmingham's done a great job
with been a good friend. We have offices there and
we're working to get that number up. Columbia, Columbia, South Carolina,
six forty nine. Okay, Now, let's get into the areas

(39:34):
where the fire under credit score is within fifteen minutes
of a seven credit score. Community Detroit, Michigan five sixty
six and Gross Point, Michigan seven thirty fifteen minutes apart,
give or take South Central LA, where I'm from, five
eighty credit score. Culver City, California, seven twenty credit score.

(39:57):
I was just in Culver City. Blew my mind. The
economic activity, the entrepreneurship, the revitalizations happened in Culver City,
and black folks and brown folks. We could have we
lived in this area. We could have become the people
owned their property and did all the things. But we
didn't have the right business plan. We weren't focusing on
the right things. Where we're trying to rock the mic,
not on the mic right. So now somebody else does right.

(40:20):
You can't be mad at somebody else taking opportunity when
you could have yourself. But there's still time, there's still
ways to improve to wherever you are. You can still
do better, and I've got the tools to help you
get there. So don't get mad get even by succeeding
Number three. South Side of Chicago, Illinois. I toured this

(40:40):
area myself personally, and if you go to the Hope
Finage of one as Index, there's actually a PowerPoint you
can download of my tour there, and there's a social
media video that I did on this. We actually literally
showed you what I saw on the South Side of Chicago.
So South Side Chicago five ninety credit score. In Hyde

(41:02):
Park Illinois seven to ten credit score, okay, fifteen minutes apart. Oh,
and I actually took you on a tour. You can
watch one of my videos. I literally took you on
a tour on I drove from the South Side Chicago
to Hyde Park. I think it was Lincoln Park. Four
West Baltimore, Maryland a five to seventy credit score. Cantonsville, Maryland,

(41:25):
seven h five credit score, fifteen minutes apart. Number five
South Dallas, Texas, five eighty credit score, Highland Park, Texas,
seven to forty credit score, fifteen minutes apart. Where my
mother grew up, East Saint Louis. Again, I didn't make
this up. This is just an example. Five sixty credit score.
I'm picking on my mother and my auntie's hometown. Five

(41:48):
sixty credit score, okay, Clayton, Missouri, fifteen minutes apart, seven
to twenty five credit score. And I guarantee you go
to all these areas and you will find the data
I've given you is absolutely dead on right. That you
live shorter lives. You have more obesity, you've got more crime,
you've got more depression, you've got more anxiety, you got

(42:09):
you know, less nuclear prop families. You've got less restaurants
that sit down, You've got less park in green areas.
You got police that prey on you versus protect you,
that at least the perception of that, you've got less
economic activity, less small businesses, less services. And these fiving
and Chris Quad neighborhoods. You have check cashers, patiolon lenders,
rental stores, title lenders, liquor stores, pawn shops, et cetera,

(42:32):
et cetera, et cetera, and you go fifteen minutes apart.
Is Nirvana completely different. Let's talk about rural America. Now, Okay,
rural communities are not fifteen minutes apart, because we the
rural communities, so they might be different counties. Right, well,
let me just sort of make sure. I'm just want
to make sure everybody understands he's exactly the same. And again,
call me on this. I've been to any communities I'm

(42:54):
telling you other than a couple of I mentioned Saint Louis,
and it's a place where when I've been there, I've said,
I've said it. Well, I've been, of course, been to Baltimore,
but most these areas, but I can tell you exactly
what they look like just by virtue of the credit score.
I've told you what a fire and credit cord community
looks like. I've told you what a seven credit score
community looks like. If you see something different in these communities,

(43:15):
you send me a note and you tell me, and
I'll apologize publicly. I just don't think it's going to happen.
Rural communities five hundred versus seven hundred. Clay County, Kentucky,
five hundred credit score, Madison County, Kentucky, seventor credit score.
Clay County is located in the Appalachian region. By the way,
Clay County faces economic challenges with limited access to financial

(43:38):
services and higher rates of poverty. You've heard, You've heard
of the appalations. Madison County home to Eastern Kentucky University.
Madison County benefits from educational institutions and more diversified economic activities,
contributing the higher average credit scores and higher economic vitality. Okay,
number two, I'm gonna do these. We're gonna run through
these so I can, because I guess more some want

(44:00):
to cover for you. McDowell County, West Virginia, five hundred
credit score Monongallia County. Sorry for butchering that Monongalyia County,
West Virginia seven a credit score. I don't have time
to get into the sub details on this. You can
look it up for yourself. You'll find that this is that,
this is. There's a reason for these contrasts. Number three

(44:21):
Wilcox County, Alabama, five hundred credit score, Shelby County, Alabama,
seven hundred credit score. Uh Shakey County, Mississippi five hundred,
Madison County, Mississippi seven hundred, Apache County, Arizona five hundred.
I'm pretty sure that's I'm pretty sure that's a Native
Native American community. Coocneino Ca, Coneino County top laughing coc

(44:51):
O n I n oh, you say it? Okay, cocone
Oh County, Arizona seven hundred, Delta County, Colorado five hundred,
Larimer County, Colorado seven hundred. See, you're starting to get
the gist here Like this. I mean, I just again,
I like data. I like math because it doesn't have
an opinion. There's an outlier here in my data. It's

(45:24):
West Virginia, the same state that my wife's from. Shane
O'Bryant and my brother from another mother, Bishop td Jakes,
the Black Pope. By the way, Paupe Francis got rested
soul I just wrote a piece in time when you
should read it. On his passing, he reminded me many
ways of Doctor King. But the guy I often will

(45:45):
joke as the Black Pope is Bishop td Jakes. They're
both my wife and bishop are from Charleston, West Virginia. Okay,
So why is the best West Virginia an outlier? It
actually has a pretty high credit score. The average credit
card is seven hundred. The problem is that there's no
economic activity around it, at least not enough. West Virginia
has long relied on coal hello and extractive industries, old

(46:10):
businesses that are tired, worn out and need to be
you know, transitioned over time, versus holding on for dear
life into the last gasp of the industry peeps out,
as we did with many industries industrial Revolution that were
sent offshore because it was cheaper and more efficient to
do it, and because we wanted to have cleaner industry,

(46:33):
cleaner energy, and well we just moved to an information
and technology economy. Anyway, West Virginia is still stuck, stuck, sorry,
West RIGI is still dependent upon a coal and attractive
industries which have declined dramatically over time. There's been limited
reinvestment in modern industries like tech, green energy or advanced manufacturing,
which they have the capacity to do. One of my

(46:55):
board members is a good friend of mine, Brad Smith.
It runs a major university there. He's a million dollar
donut our to hop. He's I think the wealthiest man
in one of them in West Virginia is completely committed.
He was chairman of Into It. Brilliant businessman, really cares.
He's completely committed to raising all vats in West Virginia,
and I want to partner with him in that regard.

(47:15):
Really role model of an individual. Unlike states with booming
metros like Georgia with Atlanta, West Virginia lacks large economic engines. Okay,
two is a brain drain and a population loss. Many
young educated people leave the state for better opportunities elsewhere.
The population is aging and net migration is negative, people

(47:38):
coming into the state, shrinking the talent pool in the
tax space. This is why you want diversity. This is
why you want immigrants, legal immigrants. Yes, this is why
you want people excited about where you live, and you
want the place to be a beacon of hope and opportunity,
and you want people want to be inviting. Otherwise the
economy is going to die. Infrastructure and connective gaps. Rural
communities have limited ban uh transportation and access to capital.

(48:03):
These limitations restrict entrepreneurship and remote work, even if individuals
are financially responsible with a Seveator credit scordings example, under
leverage credit. A Severator credit score in West Virginia often
comes with very conservative credit use, low debt, which generally
is good, but also limited reinvestment in small businesses, home upgrades,

(48:24):
or higher education. So they have no debt, but they've
got no you know, no bling. You what to call
it that? No business bling or you know h no.
I'm not saying to get up as go get them
and goes got up and went. But again relying on
old industries. People aren't financially over extended. They're just not
building wealth aggressively either. We've got to change that. Poor

(48:46):
health outcomes all that is connected. West Virginia ranks low
and public health metrics obesity, substance, substance use, life expectancy,
all of which limit workforce productivity and increase public the
public call for the state education gaps. The state underperforms
in K through twelve and higher education attainment. Without a

(49:08):
highly educated workforce, it's hard to attract employers or innovate
them from within. So the bottom line with West Virginia
is that while they may manage their credit wisely, they're
living in an economy that hasn't been retooled for the
twenty first century. Improving credit scores is foundational, but economic

(49:30):
revival also requires investment in education, infrastructure, industry, entrepreneurship, and
an optimistic perspective for the future. And now I'm talking
about you, not a state. Think about what I just said,
but apply it to you. I want you to have
a good credit score, so no one will deny you.
Take your credit score. You work with the operational, You

(49:50):
get your credit score up, and you go to the computer.
You don't trust me, he's all job's messing around. It
still racism. It's just everywhere. And I don't care with
John saying I know it's racism. Okay, then work with
the operation to hope, get your credit score up, your
debt down, your savings up. Just get your credit score
up and you have a job. Right'll be a paper
bills and go to the computer at midnight, go to

(50:12):
one of the big banks. Right that you swear, you
swear these folks are races. Right, you been reading all
the newspapers. Go to the big bank at midnight. Nobody's
even around, know what computer, don't know what color you are,
They don't know what what race you are, what gender
you are, and the application is not asking you for that.
You type in your information, and you type in your
credit score is above seven hundred, and you have a job,

(50:35):
and you're trying to get fifty twenty thousand, one hundred
thousand dollars worth of credit line or home ownership. Let's
do home ownership really simple? Or a small a credit
card or something you know one hundred thousand dollars or less.
Watch that, watch you get the approval? Right, you send
me a note. You send me a note. You have
a good job, you know, decent employment. You know you're
not you know ten thousand dollars, you know annual income

(50:57):
trying to get one hundred thousand loans or do them stupid?
You go? You know you got a middle class situation
with a decent credit score. You go to that computer
and you ask for a loan, for prime loan, for
all the loan, or for to get up your first
home ownership loan or whatever. Right and watch it and
watch what computer says. Computer will come back with an

(51:17):
approval or a conditional approval. The color is green. I'll
start in where I started. The issue at the end
of the day. Now, is racism real? Yes, Racism is
like rain. It's either falling some place or is gathering.
So you might as well get get out of the
color an umbrella and the color you like and start
strolling through it because it's not going to change, so

(51:39):
you must. So racism real. But you can offset this
situation by improving your situation. The average credit score drop
the mic here, please listen to me. For a black
America is about six twenty. So we talk about police
brutality and racism and politics and what's going on in Washington.
We're obsessed on all these things, and rightly so, right

(52:00):
civil rights, social justice, all that stuff. But that means
six to twenty credit score means it a half of
Black America is waking up every morning locked out of
the free enterprise system. You can't get a decent auto
loan at six at six twenty, you can't get a
home loan, a prime home loan at six twenty. You
can't get a small business loan that's risky credit below

(52:21):
seven hundred. So if your credit is tow up from
a flow up, if you think credit, like my dad
used to call it credit, my credit is bad, right,
you not get an approval, and you could think it's racism.
All you want your credit score is five hundred. I'm
not giving you a loan. No one's going to give
you credit. You don't pay your bills. That's what that says.
You're not paying your bills. This is something you can control, right,

(52:43):
and I'm giving I'm giving you some game here, like
I know this works because it's worked for me. And
by the way, I was homeless. My credit was tow up.
It was four hundred and five hundred, right, and I
cover that my book Financial Literacy for All, which, by
the way, the paperback is now out is now a
best seller on Amazon and at Walmart. Hopefully you can

(53:03):
get at a black bookstore too, but it's a bestseller now.
I think the paperback is a best seller at Amazon.
The hardcovers bestseller at Walmart. It's been a bestseller for
over a year. That read that book Salt with my
brother TI today the rapper, the businessman, rapper Britain, dude actually,
and he's going to read the book Financials or all

(53:26):
with his children and his family like talk, doing a
different chapter every week. Right, He's trying to understand this
capitalism situation. So, I mean, this is transformational. It's something
you can control in your life. It's something that you
can measure. I check my credit score every couple of
days because, oh, here's an easy one for you. I

(53:46):
can't believe it didn't say this. This is a fifty
three minute market. You just wants who I go to
like an easy one? This is what Operation Joke does.
I'm gonna give you some of my some of our
free game. The first thing we do is pull your
credit report. If you've not pulled your credit report in months,
certainly years for the question years, but if you have
pulled your grid score in months, you've got an error
on your credit report. And the law states three credit bureaus, Experience, TransUnion,

(54:10):
and Equifact. The law states these are credit repositories. By
the way, don't get mad at the credit bureaus. They
just repositories for data. There's just passive repositories for credit data,
and a lot of data is wrong right, somebody's giving
them that data inputting. By the way, use a susu.
Make sure if you're a landlord, make sure they're using
a zusu, which is a good brother. There's an African

(54:31):
founded company called Susu. I know the founder. They're a
billion dollar company day. They say I helped inspire them
to get them going. But they actually track rent payment
rent payments to your landlord to make sure they get
added to your credit bureau so you get credit for it.
So they make sure they report credit payments to the
credit bureau so you get credit for that. As you

(54:53):
try to build your credit report. Back to the story,
if you have not checked your credit in months, in
certainly years, there's an eighty to ninety percent chance it
is an error on your credit report. There's something known
there that's not yours, and you're getting deemed for it.
And when you say to my credit my coaches that
operation O, I don't know what that is. That's not me. Great,
we didn't write a letter with you to the credit bureaus.

(55:14):
The law states that they can't confirm this yours within
thirty days, they must remove it. And when they come
back and they can't confirm its yours, and they remove
and they remove it at the thirty point pop and
your credit score. Hello, what does it do to your
to your self esteem? You go from six' ten credit
score to six forty or five seventy to six ten
or six, hundred right or from six eighty to SEVENTEEN

(55:37):
i mean seventeen Maybe just imagine it raises yourself, steam
raised your, confidence your belief in the. System you're, like, okay,
okay what else can we? Do okay that you, look
we look at your credit, reportant what's? That oh, NO
i got the forst several years ago and it was
messy and my, mom my husband AND i had, this you,
know phone, bill and he didn't pay the phone bill for.

(55:59):
Months it is a thousand DOLLAR i couldn't pay. It
SO i went to the credit, bureaus SO at AND
t in this, example SO Sbc communications and it would Be,
Oakland california THAT i. Remember this actually. Happened they sold
the debt that they would sold the pack bail packed
bail was sold at AND. T they kept rolling your
debt over these new. Companies at AND t chased you
couldn't find. You they the phone rang hundred. Numbers you's,

(56:21):
LIKE i don't know why when the one hundred number didn't,
answer don't, like you know What i'm talking. About you
know exactly What i'm talking, about and you didn't. Answer
they sent that to the credit. Bureau they saw. That they, well,
sorry they sold that to a credit agency who buys bad.
Debt they bought that. Debt they won't tell. YOU i
know they bought that debt for pennies on the. Dollar
so it's a thousand dollars. Bill you don't want to

(56:43):
deal with it because it shows up as a thousand
dollars charge off on your credit. Report is jamming up
your credit. Score everything else may be, Okay well that's
jamming your credit. Score that's that's that's hitting, you like
two hundred points or. Something that charge offs that's ten
years old or eight years old or whatever keeps renewing
because the credit, bureau the credit a company that bought
the debt is trying to collect from. You you're, like,

(57:04):
well BUT i don't have one thousand. Dollars my credit
people are like, coaches, like don't worry about. That let's
call them because what we know is they bought it
for probably five cents on the. Dollar so they paid
fifty bucks for that for that line of. Credit right
is a credit line we call. It it's a line
on your credit. Bureau they paid fifty bucks for that
five sison the. Dollar what do they? Want they want
to double their, money so they so the other company's

(57:27):
already charged it, off they've charged they in this, example
they want fifty they bought it for fifty. Bucks they're
calling you are we call them with you in the,
phone and, Hey i've got Missus jones. Here you, know
we're looking For Missus. Jones she's looking for. You, well
we want our. Money how much you? Want we want
one hundred. Dollars we're gonna pay you two hundred. Dollars,
Huh why are you gonna pay me double What i'm asking?

(57:49):
For because if we pay you, double And i'm gonna
speak to your supervisor and tell them that you did
a good job for staying with us and being. Consistent
BUT i want you to commit to remove this from
her credit bureau and y'all want you to write a,
letter get this off our credit, report and when it
comes back and shows, up back up, again because it's
been there so long as going to, REAPPEAR i want
you to commit in writing to write another letter and

(58:09):
we follow up with these folks month after the month
to get that off your credit report and keep it. Off,
well your credit scord will just jump. Right so in this,
example we probably popped you up eighty at least eighty
points or more on your credit pord and then we
just start working on other. Stuff so this is not
like genius, work, Right it's just hard work and no
one's doing. It let me give you one last story

(58:29):
of a lady who worked in Eighteen i'm, sorry worked
an hourly job for thirty two. Years she made fifteen
to eighteen dollars an. Hour this is for the person who, Says,
John i'm not a, billionaire a, millionaire a thousand, Are
i'm just me And i'm? Working how can this work for?
Me this lady my mother wanted the smith won the
Mother john, O'Brien Mara, hoskins And DAVION. L. Harris this

(58:55):
wonderful lady who met who divorced my, Daddy johnny Will,
smith and went out with nothing and kept IN. La
she could have could have taken my dad for a.
Cleaning she could have Gotten California's community property. State we
owned a gas, station ad, unit apartment, building a nursery,
building her own. Homes you, know she could have cleaned them.
Out and she just, said, No i'm going on my.
OWN i don't want is ALL i want is you

(59:15):
to leave me. Alone let me go live my life
with my. Kids and my dad who had a. Business
it was a business owner and had all these. Assets
because he was financially illiterate and he didn't realize he
needed my. Mother he lost all of those. ASSETS i
ended up taking care of. Him his criscore was in the.
Toilet my mother went to go work in an hourly
job and it was called McDonald Dollar's, aircraft boiling aircraft

(59:38):
it became. Later for thirty two, years she did some
part time. Stuff she had a little candy thing on the,
side she, said little handicraft business she had on the.
Side you, KNOW i had a candy business with you
thinking WHERE i got it. From and she'd sell stuff
to her co workers at McDonald Dollar's aircraft Became Bowling
aircraft later, on and he made a long story. Short
she died with a million dollar networth right bought and

(01:00:00):
sold seven, houses had a credit score of eight fifty.
Four some smart bubb was, like credit cards don't go
to eight fifty, Four, John, yeah they did back. Then,
Smart we're in it's an eight fifty maximum. Now but
my mother was bawling back. Then by the, way her
creditscrre actually went down to the seven hundreds later on
because she wasn't using credit when she retired AND i

(01:00:20):
was taking care of her here In. Atlanta so her
credit card is still about seven, hundred but it wasn't
eight to fifty anymore because she wasn't obtaining. Credit but
your credit correse is eight fifty four at some. Point my,
MOTHER i, mean my mother wasn't, black she was. GREEN i, Mean,
mom you're gonna get married? Again, maybe? Baby what does that? Mean,
well IF i get, married he's gonna be A. Bmw,
mom don't be. Vain what does that mean a black man.

(01:00:43):
Working my mother wasn't, playing and you shouldn't play. Either
this is. Possible you can change your, life AND i
expect you. To let's go get. It this is the
silver rights, movement from civil rights in the streets the
silver rights in the business. Suites we've got red rooms
that we've created to fight, discrimination, racism and we had

(01:01:06):
red rooms all OVER us as country civil rights social justice.
Organizations we need green. Rooms we Need Operation. Hope we
need not fifteen hundred, locations we need fifteen thousand. Locations
it could be some of you should become The starbucks
of financial, literacy sorry financial, inclusion and The walmart of financial.
Literacy we should be everywhere helping you to plug into this.
System is economic, piping this economic. Infrastructure that's What i'm

(01:01:29):
committed to, doing economic plumbing for Underserved. America whether you're, poor, white,
rural or you're black and brown, urban you deserve to
have a shot at this economic thing called The American.
Dream john, O'Brien this Is money And, Wealth peace In.
Life money And wealth With john O'Brien is a production

(01:01:59):
of The black Of effect Podcast. Network for more podcasts
from The Black effect Podcast, network visit The iHeartRadio, App Apple,
podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite.

Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
Shows the cont