Gerald Hughes Jr » A-List Members

I just wanted to take this time to introduce myself. I am an 18 year active duty soldier. I started my credit repair business because of my story: Read below.
Here is my origin story.
I was born in New Orleans, LA on October 18, 1976. I grew up in the city’s 9th Ward (brought to world acclaim due to Hurricane Katrina). It is also one of the city’s most violent areas. The income level was low but the crime rate was high. Members of my family have done some things that some would not approve of in order to survive. In an attempt to give a few students a better opportunity for success a group of teachers rounded up several promising students including me, drove us to several of the city’s most elite high schools in order for us to complete the testing required for admission. Did I mention that they also paid for the testing themselves, I truly thank them for their sacrifice. We all graduated from a well-known school and went on to begin our lives.
Several years down the line I was newly married with two children in the home and recently unemployed. I had no clue what I was going to do, but I knew I had to do something and had to do it fast. In 2001 I joined the army and attended and graduated from basic training in South Carolina. I had never seen or heard of a credit report until I was until I was told that I would not be able to do the job I had signed up to do because I was denied a security clearance because of my credit report. “My credit report?” I answered. The drill sergeant explained it briefly then handed me a list of jobs that I could choose from that didn’t require a clearance. “You have 48 hours to choose one”, that was on a Tuesday. Wednesday morning he brought to his office and told me I was going to Virginia to be trained as a Petroleum Supply Specialist.
Funny story, when joining the Army had turned down a $20,000 bonus for that job because I didn’t want to do it LOL, now here I am being forced to do this job anyway (I SHOULD HAVE JUST TAKEN THE MONEY HAD I KNOWN I WOULD BE DOING THE JOB ANYWAY!!!!!). All because of what was on my credit report. I had to find out what was on this so called credit report. I asked the drill sergeant if he would help and surprisingly he was actually nice and helpful. I finally got to see this thing I had never heard about that cost me the job I had turned down $20k in order to do. I had no clue what I was looking at. The Drill Sergeant helped me understand what I was looking at. There were delinquencies from 1983, “In 1983 I was SEVEN YEARS OLD!!” I explained. There were furniture bills, child support late pays and all kinds of things that had nothing to do with me. I am sure the things listed to me belonged to my dad, I am a Jr. after all.
Further down the line and several years later. I found an opportunity to finally get out of the job I didn’t want in the first place. I put completed and turned in the application packet, including another application for a security clearance, and waited. Several of weeks later I received an email with a decision on my clearance. By that time that was the only thing I was waiting for so that I can get a school date and start my new career in the army, needless to say I was excited. Back to the email. I was denied a clearance for the second time in my career, and the second time it was due to credit. I didn’t learn my lesson from the first occurrence. This time when I did get a copy of my report I could not say that it belonged to my dad but there were a couple of things I didn’t recognize. For the second time my Credit hindered my advancement opportunities in my career. I started to learn as much as I could about credit, how to get it, how to keep it, how to clean it up. Several years later 16 years in, I tried for a third time to get a security clearance. Weeks past, months past…………….crickets. Finally I got a call from the security manager when I was on vacation and not even thinking about that damn clearance, with great news. She said “Congratulations your clearance has been granted”. I couldn’t believe it I immediately checked my email to confirm what she was saying was true, sure enough, there it was in black and white.
This is my story and why I want to help everyone I can understand and overcome the limitations that lack of credit knowledge can bring.
WHAT IS YOUR STORY? I would love to here it!!!!!