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No shame ✦ Just numbers ✦ Read the letter ✦ Dispute the error ✦ Know your rights ✦ Build the score ✦ Hold the line ✦ Live within means ✦ Pay yourself first ✦ Credit, proudly ✦
No shame ✦ Just numbers ✦ Read the letter ✦ Dispute the error ✦ Know your rights ✦ Build the score ✦ Hold the line ✦ Live within means ✦ Pay yourself first ✦ Credit, proudly ✦
cp Credit Proud
№ 001
A field guide, in three volumes
Published continuously

Take the wheel of your credit, proudly .

A note
From the editors

Most "credit advice" is designed to sell you a fix. We're not that. We are a plainspoken guide, written by people who got burned and learned the rules so you don't have to.

Begin Volume I Read The Journal

No accounts, no paywall, no upsell. Every guide on this site is free to read and free to use.

Fact № 01
35%
of the broad FICO Score category mix is payment history
Source:myFICO score factors
Fact № 02
30%
is the amounts-owed category, including use of available credit
Source:myFICO score factors
Fact № 03
7 yrs
is the usual reporting limit for most negative credit information
Source:CFPB credit reporting time limits
Fact № 04
$0
is what federally authorized credit reports cost through AnnualCreditReport.com
Source:AnnualCreditReport.comFTC free credit reports
The Method

Three movements. No theatrics.

The order matters. Skip the language, and the actions feel arbitrary. Skip the actions, and the standing never comes.

  1. 01

    Learn the language

    Credit isn't a mystery, it's a vocabulary. We translate the jargon — utilization, charge-off, statute of limitations — into ordinary words.

    Read the field guides
  2. 02

    Take small, sharp actions

    A timely dispute can pause collection activity until verification. Lower revolving balances can also help the amounts-owed category of a FICO Score.

    Sources:CFPB debt dispute rightsmyFICO score factors
    Run the playbook
  3. 03

    Stand on your own ground

    Your credit becomes a tool again, not a verdict. You'll know what you owe, what you don't, and which letters to write when.

    Live without flinching
The Library

Three volumes for the long walk back.

Each volume is short, specific, and free. Read in order, or skip to the one that's bleeding the most.

Vol. I
Improve the report
— Twelve repeatable moves
12
Strategies

Stop guessing. Run the same plays the credit-savvy use: dispute the errors, time the payments, calibrate the utilization, build the history.

Open the volume
Vol. II
Handle collections
— Without losing your composure
30
Day window

When the calls start, you have rights — and a clock. Learn the FDCPA, the validation letter, and exactly what to say (and never say).

Open the volume
Vol. III
Protect yourself
— From practices designed to confuse
4
Federal shields

Predatory lending, opaque fees, fraudulent accounts. Recognize the patterns, file the right report, and use the laws built to defend you.

Open the volume

"Credit" is a story your bank tells about you. Here's how to edit the draft.

The credit report is the most consequential document in your financial life that someone else writes about you. It is also one of the most error-prone. Credit reporting companies generally must investigate disputes within 30 days, with limited 45-day exceptions. Debt collectors must give validation information, and if you dispute in writing within the validation period, they must pause collection until they respond. Collectors also cannot call you at work if you tell them you are not allowed to get calls there.

Almost every protection in this guide is a switch you have to flip. It will not flip itself. The work is to learn which switches are yours, and to flip them with a steady hand.

Sources:CFPB credit dispute timingCFPB validation notice rulesFTC debt collection FAQs
Four switches the law gives you
TILA
Truth in Lending Act

Requires consumer credit cost disclosures, including APR and key fees, so borrowers can compare credit terms before signing.

Primary source:Federal Reserve Truth in Lending Act
ECOA
Equal Credit Opportunity Act

Bans credit discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, public-assistance income, and other protected activity.

Primary source:FTC Equal Credit Opportunity Act
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