From mortgages and student loans to gym memberships, cellphones and cable bills, modern Americans live on a string of month-to-month credit payments. We pay many expenses each month, and many of those payments never reflect positively on our credit scores.
On the other hand, there is the unfortunate plight of those who miss a payment or have a dispute just one time after years of faithfully making their payments on time, month after month. This is a double standard that must end.
Companies use scare tactics. They will tell you that if you don't pay your bill, they will turn you over to a collection agency. You know that this will cause immense harm to your credit score and your ability to use credit. College students especially are harmed by this, as they are prevented from building credit while in school and are also allowed to take on too much debt as they are leaving school for the working world. People are burdened with too many big payments at once. This is how they are caught in the credit trap.
After 30 years in real estate, I've learned a few things from working with so many people from diverse backgrounds. That's why, if elected, I would propose legislation that would bring the U.S. credit system kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
Simply, I would require businesses to decide — up front, on each contract — whether they will report the status of the customer's payments to the credit bureaus either each and every month or not at all.
My plan would require businesses to make decisions on each contract a customer takes out. Current debt and contracts would not change, but all new contracts would have to follow this new method of credit reporting.
The American people deserve more respect than corporations and the credit system have given them. It is the job of the people's representatives to put power back in the hands of the people, and that's what I plan to do. I see a plan that gives the people due credit for holding up their end of the bargain as much or more than they are held at fault for not doing so.
That's the America I believe in.
