Last fall, Innovative Changes presented on budgeting, saving and building credit to a group of female students returning to college at Portland State University (PSU). This college success and survival course taught through the PSU’s Women’s Resource Center aims to support non-traditional students in pursuing their degree, creating community and adjusting to and thriving in an academic setting. At that session, we meet many inspiring women working to use education to create positive change in their lives. Many of the women followed up with IC$ to proactively budget their student income, plan ahead for paying back student loans and build their credit. Among them, we met Tamera who wanted to establish credit for the first time in her life.
“In the past, I did crime for a living so I didn’t need credit,” says Tamera. “I was addicted to drugs and institutionalized. I spent time in a penitentiary, so realistically I didn’t have a use for bank accounts, credit or standard financial institutions.”
Tamera has been clean for 6 years now and has been working hard to put her life back on track. But, when she got out of prison, Tamera states that her biggest challenge was lack of information.
“I didn’t know what was out there.” So when IC$ came to the returning women’s class she jumped at the opportunity to learn more about credit. She sat down with Talia, who assisted her in accessing her free credit reports. Together, they reviewed the reports, made sense of what was on there and made a plan to build her credit. “I learned about the different types of credit, how to build each one, what to have open and what not to do,” Tamera says of her experience working with IC$..
As part of her credit plan, Tamera took out a Credit Builder Loan. She made on time payments every month as she saw her score go up and older negative items fall off. Upon completing IC$’ Credit Builder program she is applying for a credit card with her local credit union.
While building credit, Tamera has also been careful not to take on more than she can afford. Through a diversity and enrichment scholarship at PSU, she has managed to fund her education primarily through grants, so will be graduating with minimal debt. In addition, she is an extremely careful budgeter: “I don’t do any extras. My biggest vice is coffee, but all the rest of my work study money goes towards supporting my mom and son’s household.”
Good credit is important to Tamera because once she gets out of school she hopes to buy a house for her son and elderly mother. In the meantime, Tamera is studying environmental science at PSU, interning at a holistic health program and thinking ahead towards her next degree. Her studies in environmental science have led her towards an interest in environmental health. After graduation, her eyes are on a master’s degree in medical research and public health at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) (she’s already started researching fellowships!).
How has she made this all work? Her trick, she says, is “managing to take my life experience and use it as an asset. A lot of people have helped me support in what I am doing and because of that I have been very successful.”
We wish Tamera the best of luck in her future credit building, educational and home buying endeavors and are glad that we can pass on her inspiring story!
