I am Antwaun Boykin, a native of Los Angeles, CA. As the story goes for so many minorities in America, my earliest introductions to money, credit and finances came from old handed down knowledge in the form “wise sayings” or having your social security number used to keep the lights on at age 9. As a wide-eyed and eager 16-year-old I decided it was time to get paid and so I entered the work force. I worked at a grocery store getting decent pay and benefits, but without financial literacy and a better understanding of how the world works I was destined to make the same maturity mistakes that all of us make. We were young and full of vigor with money in our pocket and ready to take on the world, or so we thought.
Several years later, I went on to serve for 12 years in the U.S. Navy as an Aviation Administrationman. During my service I took a vast amount of pride in my duties as a navy “AZ”. At my Reenlistment Ceremony, I spoke about my decision to reenlist and I also thanked those in my command whom supported me. I concluded my speech by saying, “The work isn’t done until the paperwork is finished” because my duties meant that much to me. Those same duties (due to the sensitive information) required that I have access to “Secret Information”, a badge of honor that I wore with pride.
Unfortunately, one day my youthful mistakes would catch up to me and threaten to strip me of my Security Clearence. As it was explained to me, a review of my credit report revealed late payments, collections and a below 600 credit score. My biggest mistakes were not knowing what gets reported on your credit report and how, as well as, irresponsible credit card use. Understandably, to the U.S. Navy this made me a liability and unworthy of access to secret information. Armed with determination to become financially literate and to not lose my security clearance, I started my credit journey that day as I set out to educate myself about credit, credit reports and the big bad credit bureaus.
For years I’ve utilized that credit information to my advantage, while learning a few new tricks along the way. Unfortunately, for far too long I’ve kept this information to myself. I no longer want to hoard information; I want to contribute to community. Therefore, I've created something that's guaranteed to give you an advantage “The DIY Credit Cheat Code”.
