Major Credit Woe

Major Credit Woe

According to Forbes magazine 7 out of 10 young adults made major credit mistakes before age 30. Sadly to say I was among this statistic. But how much does young adults really know about protecting and guarding their credit. If financial and credit management was a part of high school curriculum it could possibly reduce a friction of the credit mistake young adults make. Thinking back I don't recall discussing credit but I do remember applying for my first credit card at Macy’s at age 18. These common mistakes affect many young adults years later by either remaining on their credit report unknowingly or resulting in a high interest rate on other credit obtained later in life. 

Connect with Santasia:

Website: www.creditdonesimple.com
Twitter Handle: @mscandihill
Instagram Handle: @i_am_candihill
Facebook Handle: Santasia "Candi" Hill
Linked In: Santasia L. Hill

Collections & Charge-Offs

Collections & Charge-Offs

When it comes to charge-offs and collections both can really impact and harm your credit score. Having numerous of credit cards, high balances, and late payments affects your score negativity as well. When an account reaches the point that creditors turn your account over to a collection ion agency it has already caused your credit harm. Collection agencies are hired by creditors to collect on accounts. Most creditors turn accounts over to collection agencies when the account reaches 90-180 days past due. Collection agencies will try to collect as close to 100% of the amount owed as possible, because a percentage of the amount collected goes to the collection agency. By the account reaching a collection status it can be displayed on your credit report twice, once by the creditor and once by the collection agency. This can cause your score to drop by nearly 75 points. That's a huge drop on a credit standpoint.

If creditors determine your account is uncollectible the process of a charge off takes places and the account is closed, sold or transferred. This means the creditor will “write off” this account. However, if you ever plan to get any other credit it will be hard based off another creditor has classified you as unworthy of maintaining credit. But there are other creditors that will extend credit to you with a collection and/or charge off but the interest rate will be outrageously high. Please be smart about your credit because if you are not the cycle could repeat itself in another round of collections and another charge off. 

Santasia H~

Connect with Santasia:

Website: www.creditdonesimple.com
Twitter Handle: @mscandihill
Instagram Handle: @i_am_candihill
Facebook Handle: Santasia "Candi" Hill
Linked In: Santasia L. Hill

MEANINGFUL FREEDOM: AN EVOLUTION

MEANINGFUL FREEDOM: AN EVOLUTION

I still remember the day I left my corporate job as an international marketer for a large company. As I held a box containing my personal items, I said my last goodbyes to my friends and co-workers, to my office of five years, and even to the job title I worked so hard to earn. I remember driving back home and all of these birds dancing together in front of my car, as if the Universe was singing a song of freedom with me. I felt so free, so light, like I had left behind the weight of the responsibility of working for a large corporation, the weight of the title and the layers of business suit. Right then, I thought: “I AM FINALLY FREE!” There were so many emotions: a sense of nostalgia, a sense of peace, a sense of excitement for the unknown. It was a big step for me, a step that took 15 years to happen, that came after many experiences of working for large corporations. Many countries were traveled, cultures experienced, teams built and friends made. And, there were also so many challenges.
Suddenly, it was just me; my name was no longer associated with a company, title or routine. I told my husband I wasn’t going to work for couple of weeks, and I didn’t. I played until playing actually became boring. Freedom almost became a job, and after a few weeks, I asked myself, “What do I do with this freedom? Inner-guilt began to set in, and it led me to create a vision for my company, a mission, a website and a product. 
Years have passed, and I have learned that freedom is actually a state of being, a humbleness to the vastness of the Universe, a joy for the simple yet most profound of human experiences, like a smile, a hug, a sensual touch.
Freedom is a choice; for me; it’s learning that just as I left that day my corporate job and became free of that job responsibility, I can make that choice every day. The choice is mine to have the universe sing a song with me. I can choose to be authentic, to love myself unconditionally in areas in my life where I don’t have all of it together, to be open new doors to life’s opportunities, and even to constantly reinvent myself. 
Freedom is an evolutionary process. For me, it’s been an evolution that’s meant to be shared with others. Living my life in a constant state of freedom is far more complex than putting a resignation letter, and its complexity exists in the simplicity of the little choices and big choices that require courage to keep moving into a state of freedom. 
I knew others who left their corporate jobs, too. They told me that my actions inspired them and I was very surprised. I really didn’t expected that at all; I honestly didn’t realize that my choice for freedom could inspire others to do the same. Now I aspire to live a life of meaningful freedom because I know that with freedom comes the responsibility of choice. Every day, I ask myself why am I doing what am I doing. What drives me? And I have to evolve from a singular freedom to a freedom for the village, for the world. Yes, it starts with me, with you, with us.
I am free. I am living in a state of meaningful freedom. I am constantly evolving to using my freedom purposefully as my GIFT to the world—a creative GIFT that’s meant to be shared with and inspire others. I thank God for the GIFT of freedom I have been given as my birth right.
A lot of what was behind my reason for staying at my corporate job so long was outside approval. That was the “why no” side of the argument. But what about my own inner approval? I wanted a family, I wanted flexibility, I wanted freedom of self-expression and all of these really mattered to me. I only moved to “why yes” when I stopped listening to the voices of others, after realizing why it mattered to me. When I stopped listening to the invisible voices of the “others,” my own voice started to become clearer, and I was finally ready to listen. Just one change of perspective, literally moving from one chair to the next, from a place of “why no” to one of “why yes,” I had an immediate transformation. And you know what? It still happens to me every day in some aspects of my life, from the small choices like where am I going to invest my time in this week, to with whom I am going to partner?
Sure, there are days when I think, “I should just go back to corporate, it will be easier. I’d have a paycheck and insurance plan.” So what’s the reason I continue working on what I am building? In my freedom journey, the reason I still say yes to it all is because the “it” really matters: sharing stories, doing what we were born to do, honoring the work we love, and living in a constant state of flow and joy. Self-expression matters.

Where can you start to experience meaningful freedom? By getting in touch with the essence of who you really are: What is so natural to you that you hardly notice? Is there something you’ve wanted to do for many years and haven’t done yet? Create your own path forward, and I will meet you on that path. Begin your own evolution.

Virginia Nava Hieger is the author of Your Unique Gift: Finding Life’s Unique Gift Proposition and Meaningful Freedom: Finding Freedom Through Wholeness, two books aimed at empowering women on a journey of self-discovery, authenticity, wholeness and personal freedom. As a Transformative Power® guide, she believes each one of us has our own source of inner strength and that we simply need the tools to reconnect with it to let our light shine back out into the world. Visit her site at www.thetransformativepower.com. For a free ebook, email virginianava@thetransformativepower.com.

-Virginia Nava Hieger

Connect with Virginia:

Website: www.thetransformativepower.com
Twitter Handle: transformativep
Linked In: Virginia Nava Hieger

Don’t box your GIFT—instead, wrap it in a bow of unlimited possibility

Don’t box your GIFT—instead, wrap it in a bow of unlimited possibility

We are taught to put things in boxes and to choose labels. We are constantly labeling ourselves, the world around us, and putting things into the various boxes of life.
Living with boxes and labels feels somehow comforting; it feels like this is the way to understand something, to comprehend it better. As I became a mother, I experienced even more of this phenomenon of labeling: Mother, working mother, single mother, stay-at-home mother, mompreneur, soccer mom, art mom. As I stepped out of the corporate world, I went from being an executive and corporate woman to being an entrepreneur and a solopreneur to being a mompreneur, a marketer, an author, an artist, a messenger, a cleaner, a dog walker, a wife, a writer, and a craft jewelry maker. 
The truth is, none of these boxes or labels truly fit me; it’s as though they simply become more confusing and less of who I truly am. Labels and boxes are limiting versus expansive; they shrink conversations, minimize our views of the world and others. We start forgetting who we really are. I started forgetting who I am, as I began associating myself with all of these labels, and then I suddenly had to live by all of them. 
As I grew as a mother, I realized there are no words in any vocabulary that truly describe my motherhood style. There’s no book that offers the right words to describe me. I am the author of my whole life, I am still actively writing the story, and the words are given to me and created by me along the way. 
I started realizing how much of my life, I had been so concerned about the box and the labels that I had forgotten was inside. I had forgotten to ask myself what it was that really wanted to be expressed through me.
A GIFT is indescribable. Beyond words, it grows and expands, and has a transformative nature all its own. It’s deeply humbling and so very warm; it makes your heart come alive at one of its deepest rhythms possible. Its unique feeling is even bigger than having butterflies in your stomach when you fall in love; it’s more like having a dove within, a beautiful white bird opening its wings wider and wider, and it comes from within. It’s a light that pours from inside, outward, the highest expression of your soul, where your body, mind and heart all come together to serve one and another. It is being and feeling alive. It is connecting with your deepest self, the end of the longing for something else, because right there, there it is. 
A GIFT is beyond words, it is expansive; just as you wrap it, it naturally unwraps itself as a constantly expanding game. As the Dalai Lama says, it is “a smile from within.” It doesn’t play by the rules because it is free from judgment, to be graceful and loving. It grows in depth with love, and it can see and feel beyond the world of boxes and labels into something deeper. It has a vision that is deeper that eyes can see, a heartbeat that continues to keep it alive, and it finds a vessel from which it can serve and share. It wants to feel an expansive community where each gift supports another, where the gift is honored and serves as an offering for the world, for humanity.
A GIFT is as big as the sky, as tall as tree, as beautiful as a bird’s song, as grounded as roots on earth, and as genuine as a child smile, it has many rhythms, like a symphony. It is both rooted and ethereal; it is magical. It is beyond normal understanding, and is only understood with the heart and spirit. It is shared by open and willing minds and hearts who seek to open the gift within who choose love and courage as a way of being.
A GIFT is your own art form, your own unique real self-expression; a genuine style that is in total alignment with yourself and is grounded in love, compassion and openness. It encompasses a fullness from spirit, and is a gift for you to both receive and to share.
A GIFT’s unique voice is your own. Giving a gift a voice is a way to share your story, your wisdom, and your learning; to honor and pay it forward to re-gift it for all humanity and future generations. We share the gift of our stories on our journeys and are serve as their vessels, their messengers. This is how we give back to our villages, tribes, and communities. When we move from knowledge to learning and then to sharing our learning with the world, that is when we shine light onto the paths of all gifts on the path. 
A GIFT of stories from our ancestors, and were given the words, art, creation, and imagination with which to lovingly serve as the continuing voice that breaks through the darkness of life. We each have within us inner wisdom, resources, value, and power that are aligned with a deep inner why or reason for being, and in this way we share our gifts beyond the labels and boxes created by the world, where others can hear our voices and find their own unique gift expression within. There, they can reunite, reconnect, reintegrate within the deepest sense of themselves. 
Being a GIFT has been the most humbling experience of my life. Sharing stories that richly illustrate my own gift journey continues to help me grow and expand. It’s given me the deepest experience of a human expression, and taught me to appreciate more, to stop more often and ask myself whether I am in the presence of a gift. Am I only looking at the label or the box? Am I sharing and expressing my gift? Am I having a gift conversation? Am I teaching from a gift place? It’s brought me to so many beautiful questions like these to reflect upon throughout my life and my journey.
May your GIFT journey be magical, beautiful, and beyond words. May you find the courage within yourself to receive your gift, and in that receiving, come to recognize that it wasn’t ever yours to keep. In truth, it belongs to humanity so that it can experience the depth within your heart, mind and soul in the spirit of love.

Virginia Nava Hieger is the author of Your Unique Gift: Finding Life’s Unique Gift Proposition and Meaningful Freedom: Finding Freedom Through Wholeness, two books aimed at empowering women on a journey of self-discovery, authenticity, wholeness and personal freedom. As a Transformative Power® guide, she believes each one of us has our own source of inner strength and that we simply need the tools to reconnect with it to let our light shine back out into the world. Visit her site at www.thetransformativepower.com. For a free ebook, email virginianava@thetransformativepower.com.

- Virginia Nava Hieger

Connect with Virginia:

Website: www.thetransformativepower.com
Twitter Handle: transformativep
Linked In: Virginia Nava Hieger

Is there an elephant in the room?

Is there an elephant in the room?

Growing up it was a must to have an elephant in the room, the elephant signified dignity, power, pride and reliability. The elephant is one of the largest animals in the jungle not to mention the tremendous strength and wisdom it carries. Have you heard the saying "I have the mind of an elephant"? The elephant is thought of as one of the most intelligent creatures. The life span is 60 plus years and throughout their years they are very compassionate and deeply committed. 
 
As humans we are much like elephants. We show compassion, wisdom and strength. The development of relationships that are fostered through family, friends and neighbors we build each other up and support in the time of need. The elephant does the same with community of the jungle when babies are born they hover around to celebrate and take care of the elderly of the jungle by honoring them. 
 
This large yet graceful animal has poor eyesight, but with FAITH his other senses are keen. For Faith is not what is seen but knowing and believing so I am more than sure this animal has tons of FAITH. With my FAITH I would love to be the ELEPHANT IN ANY ROOM.  
 
I AM WISE, I AM STRONG, I AM GRACEFUL, I AM A LEADER, and I AM FAITHFUL

- Keshea Way

Connect with Keshea:

Website: www.kesheaway.com
Twitter Handle: @taughtbyfaith
Instagram Handle: @taughtbyfaith
Facebook Handle: Keshea Way
Linked In: Keshea Way

Living Vs Existing

Living Vs Existing

"You haven't lived until you have learned to breathe." I was driving to the office one day when I heard this saying in my spirit. I begin to ponder on it and it brought tears to my eyes. The first image that I could see was when a baby is first born.

Pregnancy doesn't equate living, it is merely the anticipation of life. How many of us can recall and reflect on being "pregnant or pregnant with something"? To be pregnant with something, means that we are holding something that is so dear that has yet to be birthed, nurtured and matured. That's how it is with your dreams, visions and desires. But it's just conception until we give birth to it and it has life blown into it.

I want to take a minute to look at the how something has the potential to live or to exist. Anything living is thriving, growing, and maturing. Anything that is just existing is lingering, barely surviving. Many of us can possibly find ourselves in one or the other and have at some point in life. Life has a way of causing some people to just exist, mean you are lingering. Sometimes many don't even know they are just existing. It's a normalcy to them. How can one just be existing?

Easy! Focused more on survival than creating substance. For some that's all we know. We believe that there's no more options or very few options. Ok, so that's the hand you were dealt? Then let's change the card game that you're playing. Instead of playing Go fish, let's play Solitaire. Increase your leverage and change your strategies and influencers. People with different mindsets play Solitaire from those who play Go Fish. That's a different discussion. Existing! You want to start the business but you're lingering at "I thought about it". You want to get married but when it comes to trust you say "I don't know if I will find the right one". You want to travel and your words are "but the bills have more frequent flyer miles than I do". You get the picture?

That's existing because what should feel like life feels like exhaustion, as if life is being drained from you. At some point in life you have to take your decisions and direction by the horns and create a space to live and not just exist. There's a saying that says "Surely I was born to do more than work and pay bills". That is so true. So how do I live and not just exist? I am glad you asked. The key is to learn to breathe!!! Inhale and exhale. You haven't lived until you have learned to breathe. Anything living is breathing. That's why it's so important that babies cry when existing the womb and into the world. That cry clears the lungs and that cry denotes breathing; which confirms that the baby is living!!

You may need to cry to clear your lungs. It's ok! There's Kleenex for baby tears as well as adult tears. Crying is normal, pride is unhealthy. But once you've cleared your lungs and wiped your tears, it's time to Live and not just exist. Give that vision, life; that relationship, life; that ministry, life; your family, life; and so much more. So it failed before. No it didn't fail, that strategy just was befitting for that plan.

Try again! It's time to get rid of or walk away from what's not giving YOU life. Whatever isn't giving life is lingering and you can't afford to linger. Be mindful of your environment, it may not be conducive to positive living. Toxic environment and connections give off toxic air; which is more fatal and worse than second hand smoke. For those who feel like they have passed slap out due to past trauma(s), that have caused you to stop breathing, today we administer CPR to you. We are our sisters and brothers keeper. You will live again. You were create for so much more. Inhale. Exhale. Live the life that's worth living.

- Melody Joy

Connect with Melody:

Website: www.stilettoauthority.org 

Twitter Handle: @melodyjoy_ 

Instagram Handle: @stiletto_authority 

Facebook Handle: Melody Joy (Stiletto Authority) 

Linked In: Melody France

How credit is calculated

“How your credit score is calculated”

The most used credit scoring company is the Fair Isaac Corporation “FICO”. Over 80% of creditors use FICO scoring. Below is the breakdown and factors of what makes up your FICO score. Credit is based off several different factors however payment history makes up 35% which is why it's very important your accounts are “paid as agreed” or “paid on time”. By making only one payment late can negatively affect your credit score. A good FICO score is 750+ on a scale 300 to 850.

How credit scores are calculated

Payment History:
Accounts paid as agreed
Number of past due items
Current negative marks
Amounts owed

Secured vs unsecured 

Number of accounts with balances:
Balance to credit
Balance to loan amount

Length of credit:
Time since account opened
Time since account activity 

New Credit:
Recent credit inquires
# of inquires
Recent opened accounts
Time of recent opening

Types of credit:
Mortgage
Installment loans
Retail cards
Credit cards

Santasia H.~

Connect with Santasia:

Website: www.creditdonesimple.com
Twitter Handle: @mscandihill
Instagram Handle: @i_am_candihill
Facebook Handle: Santasia "Candi" Hill
Linked In: Santasia L. Hill

FREEDOM AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

FREEDOM AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE 

What would we do differently if we were driven by unconditional love? How differently might we serve? What if how people perceived us didn’t matter? What if criticism or praise could be seen as simply feedback?
I recently listed my inner critic concerns and after I did the list I noticed a trend: lack of love, fear of what others will think, their reactions or rejections, and it was a really liberating moment for me. I was liberated in less than 10 minutes, because I realized that what I do isn’t driven by the outside, it is driven by my inner truth. All of these concerns weren’t in alignment with my truth. I realized that I am already loved just as I am, and that if I shifted my perspective about every one of my concerns, my life could change in an instant.
In this moment, I realized something else – that freedom and unconditional love are best friends, co-partners in life, and that unconditional love comes when we are able to see our circumstances, lessons, and growth processes from the eyes of compassion instead of judgment. When we can see our lives from compassion, we are truly liberated – and in that moment, the lessons we were supposed to learn become available to us and even more available to others.
Being a CEO of my own company has been one of the major GIFTs I have ever had. Being in charge of my company has made available to me my major strengths and resilience, on top of all the inner work that is available for me to create. I can no longer look around and find someone else responsible for my mistakes or shortcomings; the only one to look at is myself in the mirror, and there I always see who has ownership for everything. At the beginning of my journey, there were areas I didn’t like to see there, so I tried to hide from myself. As I matured, I realized that I needed to see my whole self, not just a snapshot of myself. I needed to embrace myself fully without judgment. When I do this, I am open to renewing myself.
Loving myself is the most important life objective for me and my life, business and clients, because when I love myself I am free to learn and innovate. When I am willing to fail, I am free to see others with compassion, to connect to the Divine Love available to support me and sustain me along the way. I am free to fly, to share fully versus partially; and most of all, to be human. I am liberated from my own inner critic to keep moving forward and to continue accepting life. I am free to be a GIFT to the world and be of service to others because I have shifted from my cloudy view to a more authentic inner view. Love and compassion give me the courage to expand beyond my own self-imposed limitations.
I invite you to recognize how many things you aren’t doing because you are seeking external feedback or praise. If you’re avoiding something, ask yourself how this is serving you. And how is it serving others?
Writing books taught me that life lessons are meant to be shared with others, and I am amazed and humbled when someone shares the impact the books I have written have made in their lives. This feedback helps me realize that there is a direct IMPACT on me when I don’t share with others, because just as something can be really liberating for me, it may be for others as well. I have come to realize that loving oneself isn’t selfish at all. To the contrary, it is valuable and even necessary for the communities we live in. It brings a new energy to the work we do and the reasons why we do what we do. The quality of my work changes by the energy it’s been created with, when I create with love vs. apprehension or fear I can feel the difference.
Your story matters, your lessons matter; share them from a space of inner love, and quiet your inner critic with a prayer:

I accept my Divine GIFT, for the service of the world. God, I surrender myself to your divine aid, for you are my protector, my council and my courage and strength.
Please show me the way, send me your divine angels and archangels to sustain me so that I may share this GIFT with the world.
God, you are my wings. In you I put my trust. I open my heart to your guidance; surround me with your strength and unconditional love.
Because I am infinitely loved by you, always and forever, I will remember that rejection is only an illusion. And so it is.

Virginia Nava Hieger is the author of Your Unique Gift: Finding Life’s Unique Gift Proposition and Meaningful Freedom: Finding Freedom Through Wholeness, two books aimed at empowering women on a journey of self-discovery, authenticity, wholeness and personal freedom. As a Transformative Power® coach, she believes each one of us has our own source of inner strength and that we simply need the tools to reconnect with it to let our light shine back out into the world. Visit her site at www.thetransformativepower.com. For a free copy of an ebook, email virginianava@thetransformativepower.com. 

- Virginia Nava Hieger

Connect with Virginia:

Website: www.thetransformativepower.com
Twitter Handle: transformativep
Linked In: Virginia Nava Hieger

Put On Some New Genes!

Put On Some New Genes! 

As children we come into this world just as innocent as we can be. As our characteristics and traits start to develop people may see things we do that remind them of our mother or things that will remind them of our father. I have someone in my life that comes from a family of bi-polar disorder he constantly states he is not bi-polar. He does not want to be associated with the disorder. He is choosing to put on new GENES.

Just because his family line is associated and impacted by this disorder he is making better choices and decisions with his life. Life is all about making good choices and decisions because the choices affect our future, not to mention what or who is connected to our future. Diminish the infamous character or conduct that may have been passed on through your GENES. When you take authority over your life and learn to walk in your new GENES the overall life for the next set of family members can take a different route than the previous family members.

After a conversation with a close friend we realized the patterns that are currently in her life and I brought it to her attention that she must end it now. She must put on her new GENES because she has a daughter that may take the pattern and continue to build a quilt out of it. When you make the final say to ending the relationship with the old GENES and you put on the new GENES they will have a much better fit, cut and they will look good on you.

So stop what you are doing and look at your GENES....DO YOU NEED TO PUT ON SOME NEW GENES?

- Keshea Way

Connect with Keshea:

Website: www.kesheaway.com
Twitter Handle: @taughtbyfaith
Instagram Handle: @taughtbyfaith
Facebook Handle: Keshea Way
Linked In: Keshea Way