Residents of the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta Region have some of the lowest credit scores in the nation.
Pine Bluff resident Grace Swygert said she was never taught about the importance of credit scores. “It’s a low-income area, so we’re not taught how to make your money work for you, or to build your credit,” she said.
Swygert was ashamed to admit needing help raising her credit score until she met with a Working Credit counselor. With support from the Walton Family Foundation, the nonprofit Working Credit has partnered with government agencies, community centers and local colleges to deliver credit-building workshops and one-on-one financial counseling sessions, at no cost.
With the help of her Working Credit counselor, Swygert raised her credit score to 730. Her goal is to buy a car and start her own business.
“You have to just put that pride aside, because at the end of the day, they are here to help you,” she said.
At her credit-building workshops, Morgan Spears, Working Credit’s Chief Community Engagement Officer, explains to participants how the credit system has shut people out for decades.
“Our financial system was historically built on structural racism,” Spears said. “In today’s statistics, white households’ net worth is eight times higher than that of Black households.”
More than three-fourths of Pine Bluff’s residents are Black. Spears described what she calls a “dual credit system” in our country. “Certain communities have higher access to banks, whereas other communities have more pay loans, pawn shops, title lenders, who are constantly extracting wealth out of those communities,” she said.
Lower credit scores mean higher payments on everything from cellphones to car insurance to home mortgages, putting people further behind financially, she said.
Ivory Hodges became a Working Credit counselor after fixing his own credit score. “What I do is to try to break down those barriers, to really be vulnerable myself and be open myself, and just tell a little bit about my story first,” he said.
He helps residents release their shame and guilt toward their financial situations.
“I think it’s just saying, hey, I’ve been there too — you’re not the first person,” he said. “That gives them this hope that we can fix this, that somebody’s been through this before.”
Learn more about Working Credit in the video above.
