When I got my first credit card I was over the moon with the feeling of independence that came from having that piece of plastic in my wallet. I felt grown-up, responsible, and like there were a world of options open to me. It was such a liberating feeling. I wish I could have held on to that feeling for much longer; as I got older and I realized the repercussions of using that credit card and the payments that would keep me up at night, I had a less than enthusiastic feeling about credit cards.

That being said, being a credit card holder has taught me a lot. What came along with having that first credit card was a first lesson about my credit report and the importance of staying abreast of my financial profile. These were not instructions that came with the credit card but something that I technically learned the hard way. I hit some rough patches and had a difficult time making payments; I had some payments that were past thirty days. And while I got caught up on those payments in a relatively short amount of time I never realized that those late payments were making their way to my credit report; the information on which would haunt me for some time.

When I accepted a job in my early years – my first real job – I met with a financial planner to help me make some short and long term goals. He asked me about my credit and I was ashamed to admit that I didn’t know what my credit was like and that I had never ordered a free credit report – something that I didn’t even know was within my right to do. This was my first time I really gave it any thought. More to come in the next post…

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