I am angry about the system of credit scores all the time, because I am constantly faced with how they hurt people. I have friends and clients who aren't able to find safe housing because their credit scores aren't high enough. I have friends and clients who are being charged twice as much interest on debt as my other friends and clients because of a difference in credit scores. (If you have a high credit score, your credit card is probably charging you 17-19%, but if you have a low credit score, your credit card is probably charging 30-35%. And who doesn't have survival credit card debt these days?)
And of course, if your debt is charging you a higher amount each month, then you're more likely to miss a payment, which hurts your credit score, rinse & repeat.
So how can we interrupt it?
"Mutual aid is collective coordination to meet each other's needs, usually from an awareness that the systems we have in place are not going to meet them." - Dean Spade, Mutual Aid
For years I've taught individuals how to navigate the credit score system on their own, but this shit is much easier when we have the option to navigate it together. We could cosign each other's apartment leases or debt consolidation loans. We could make each other authorized users on our credit cards. We could pool money in a group to make sure everyone's bills get paid and nobody's credit scores take a hit during a tough time.
We can get weird, stop acting like we don't need each other, and make life more livable for everyone. And doing so will help us practice the kinds of relationship skills we'll need for a post-capitalist world.
New workshop recording: Credit Scores as Mutual Aid Tools
"By participating in groups in new ways and practicing new ways of being together, we are both building the world we want and becoming the kind of people who could live in such a world together." - Dean Spade, Mutual Aid
And it doesn't end there - money, debt, property, insurance, estate plans can all be used for mutual aid, too. You just have to be willing to get weird.
