Marcus the Credit Rebuilder
Recovering from College Mistakes
Marcus is a 25-year-old college graduate. He made a few mistakes with his credit during college, which tanked his score.
Goals
- Buy a house in 5 years
- Get a credit score above 700
- Pay back medical and credit card debt
Frustrations
- Some credit apps show a 'useless' VantageScore score instead of FICO: "I heard the score on Credit Karma isn't the 'real' one banks use for mortgages."
- Pre-approval tools for credit cards often negatively affect credit score: "I look for cards with 'pre-approval' tools that don't hurt my score. I won't apply unless I'm 90% sure I'll get it."
- Personal finance education in public schools is outdated: "They taught us how to write checks. They didn't teach us about predatory lending or how credit utilization works. I learned the hard way."