Digital Social Hour
Leverage Credit Cards to Fund Your Next Big Idea | Kyle Cowans DSH #1328
Tue, 15 Apr 2025
Ready to fund your next big idea? 💡 Discover how to leverage credit cards like a pro and unlock endless possibilities for your dreams! In this episode of the Digital Social Hour, Sean Kelly sits down with financial expert Kyle to reveal insider strategies for building your credit, avoiding costly mistakes, and using credit cards to fuel your business ventures. 🚀 From boosting your credit score with simple tips to turning 0% business funding cards into powerful tools, this conversation is packed with valuable insights you can’t afford to miss. 🏆 Learn the secrets to maximizing rewards, protecting your finances, and even converting credit to cash without paying high fees! 💳✨ Don’t let bad credit hold you back—this episode is your guide to harnessing the power of credit responsibly and effectively. Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:45 - Getting Started with Credit 01:16 - Improving a Low Credit Score 03:15 - Identifying Credit Repair Scams 06:16 - Importance of an 800 Credit Score 08:32 - Understanding Other Credit Reporting Scores 11:17 - Accessing 0% Business Funding 15:28 - Debit Cards vs. Credit Cards 18:28 - Building Credit Without a Credit Card 19:24 - Costs of Poor Credit 21:54 - Evaluating Advice from Credit Karma 24:06 - Importance of Credit Score Usage 26:28 - Removing Late Payments from Credit 27:58 - Eliminating Late Payment Fees 31:48 - Cash Advances from Credit Cards 35:02 - Finding MoneyHacker Resources 35:38 - Outro APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] GUEST: Kyle Cowans https://www.instagram.com/that_moneyhacker/ SPONSORS: AIRES TECH: https://airestech.com/ NORTHWEST REGISTERED AGENT: https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/socialhour PROLON: http://prolonlife.com/DSH LUMATI: https://www.lumati.com/dsh LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ The views and opinions expressed by guests on Digital Social Hour are solely those of the individuals appearing on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the host, Sean Kelly, or the Digital Social Hour team. While we encourage open and honest conversations, Sean Kelly is not legally responsible for any statements, claims, or opinions made by guests during the show. Listeners are encouraged to form their own opinions and consult professionals for advice where appropriate. Content on this podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, medical, financial, or professional advice. #DigitalSocialHour #LeverageCreditCards #SeanKelly #Podcast #ApplePodcasts #Spotify #Kyle #FinancialTips #BusinessFunding #CreditScore #Entrepreneurship #funding #creditrepair #creditcardstipsforbeginners #automaticpaymentcreditcard #creditcardbeginnermistakes
Chapter 1: How do I get started with checking my credit?
Absolutely. How could someone watching this get started with credit, like find out where they're at?
Well, they could just pull their report from my favorite two sources or myfreescore.com. rmyfreescorenow.com, as well as annualcreditreport.com. That one's really cool because you get to see things like your full payment history in detail from all three bureaus, and you can get to pull it weekly. So you don't have to worry about waiting a month or a year or whatever the case may be.
So take advantage to see their credit report with those two resources.
Chapter 2: What can I do to improve a low credit score?
That's good to know. And then from there, what should people do if they have a low score?
It depends, right? So low scores can come from a couple of things. You can have negative items, but then you can also just have a weak profile with no history at all. So I don't know if you remember when you turn 18 or when you were in like your early 20s, did you just readily get approved for things right off the bat, like a car, right? That's a weak profile.
They have to determine which one it is. Negative items, is it weak and not enough, or is it a combination of both? If it's weak, you can just do some simple things like add some basic trade lines, like self. If you're familiar with that, it's a credit builder account. You basically put some money to a side,
You pay, you choose your terms, years or whatever the case may be, whatever's affordable to you. And it reports to all three bureaus and it reports payment history. It's a new trade line and it doesn't hurt your utilization, right?
There are things like secure cards, Discover It, that if you practice good behavior, what'll happen is early as six months, they'll convert it to an unsecure card and probably bump your limit up. So there's all types of things people can do to add to their age or add to their credit profile to increase it. Now, let's say if it's negative, on the other hand, you got a couple options.
If you have negative things like late payments, collections, charge-offs, bankruptcies, whatever the case may be, you give you the one, wait till they naturally fall off for the statute of limitations, and you're talking seven to 10 years. Damn. Yeah. For a late payment?
um which is a liquidation that's 10 years wow right if you don't if you just let it sit naturally the other thing you can do is if you require some payment as there's debt you can talk about settling or making a full payment or whatever the case may be if you can afford that but another thing you could do is try to go into repairing it whether it's yourself or choosing a reputable party that can be challenging doing it yourself but it's very possible and i learned myself so
We got to talk about some of these companies, though, because a lot of people fall prey to these scams, right?
Yeah. No, it's happening more and more because like we talked about doing due to the economy and so many people falling into situations economically and relying more and more on debt. Now they're like a white knight. All someone has to say is credit repair, guaranteed results overnight, 72 hours. Here's $1,300. Here's $1,100.
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Chapter 3: How can I identify credit repair scams?
And I'll be glad to talk about it if you want.
Please. What are some of the flags?
One of the first things you want to look for for a credit repair company that could be a red flag is the fact that they're promising results based on the Credit Repair Organization Act and FTC. That's illegal in itself. So you've got to think, Sean, if you're going to do business on somebody and they're just disregarding the law. Is that a trustworthy person? No.
If somebody said to be attorney, but they didn't pass the bar, if you seen suits, no, you should not do business with them, right? The next thing you want to look at, do they even have a contract? That's another thing I stress. If someone doesn't have a contract or some types of terms, I'm not doing business with them. This is not any different.
And those contracts should have specific things on them. Another thing you might want to look out for is them taking the money up front for credit repair services. So if somebody says, hey, as soon as you pay this invoice of $1,100 for credit repair, that's against the law. Now, there's nothing wrong if you have a consultation bundle, you want to work things out, give them a strategy. That's fine.
But the credit repair charge has to be something different. Right. You understand? Another thing you want to look for if you're not getting your letters. Let's say if that debt collector or that reporting agency did something to break the law and you could have a potential case, the attorney's going to say, all right, where's your documentation that you sent stuff off?
Oh, I don't have any letters. Well, we don't have a case. You have no proof. It's your word against theirs. With no paper trail, you can't do anything. You know what I'm saying? And then the last thing I'll say that's a huge red flag is the lack of communication.
if they're not communicating at least once every round what they're doing or they're not asking you to check for things like hey is there any mail is there any response from these creditors any response from these credit repair companies then they're probably not the ones you want to work with and you should be able to ask these individuals this before you sign that dotted line and give over anything yeah a lot of people chase the highest score possible is but is it actually necessary to have like a 800 credit score
No, it's just a vanity metric. And being that I have a banking background in private banking, I see a lot of things of what these banks look at in institutions in general. The thing you want to focus on is how your credit profile is built, right? So we're talking about the FICO score model. It has five elements. You have your payment history, right? You want that to be 100%.
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Chapter 4: Is having an 800 credit score really necessary?
There's actually other scores people probably should know about too, but we could talk about that if you want to.
So there's other reporting scores that we don't know about?
Other reporting scores that affect the average person regularly. Prime example, your MyFICO auto score. So yes, your three credit scores with the bureaus, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax, they mean a lot. However, if you're going to get a car, Your MyFICO auto score, which goes from 250 to 900, that's something the auto lenders are going to pull. And what they look out is your auto history.
Basically going back to, hey, if you're 18, 19, you never had a car before, we might not approve you or you might need to bring mom, dad, or some sort of cosigner in. That's why that happens, okay? The next one is your MyFICO bank card score. So when you're going around applying for cards,
What happens is if you ever seen those pre-qualified notices and stuff like that, your main score is a factor, but the pre-qualification says, hey, what's your card history? How many payments have you been having? Or which the limits you've been working with? How much utilization are you using? So before they send you pre-qual information, they're looking at that score.
The third score is your insurance score. So if you plan on buying a home or a car, there is an insurance score. Now, It's very hard to find this one, but there's two sources. You can ask the insurance company you're with, hey, can you give me my insurance score? Or you can go to a company called ChoicePoint and pull up that profile that way.
Your fourth score is your LexisNexis review or risk review score. And what happens with that is, Let's say if you have a thin profile, you're young and you're applying for an apartment. A lot of landlords and people who have tenants are going to look at that score, see how much of a risk you are as far as paying utilities and stuff like that.
And your fourth and final score is the one we all need to focus on if you plan to open up a bank account check systems. Now, a lot of people talk about this. That score ranges from 100 to 899. It's a weird scale. But what they're looking for is how many banks have you opened in a certain amount of time, how many overdrafts do you have? How many of any bounce checks do you have?
They keep track of all that? They keep track of all of that. We are governed by numbers. Damn. And so many of them are hidden from us. And there are other ones, but they're not as important. But those are five I think everybody should look into.
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Chapter 5: What are the different types of credit scores I should know about?
I think just like anything else, they can be a gift and a curse. So they could be a gift if you have a genuine idea for a business, marketing plan, a strategy. If you're going to buy a business or an asset, if you have a one deck and you know who to go to, you have a plan. of getting profits and income. Whereas some people are in it for the lifestyle. They want to promote a lifestyle.
Let me get the zero interest business card. Let me run it up by taking flights, going to Dubai, going to Vegas. I didn't do that. But like all these things in the hopes and to pull people in, but that's not the way to go. And even though if people don't, you know, aren't quote unquote scammers, just be very, very cognizant of what this means. Like you're on the line, have a goal for it.
But overall, if you know what you're doing, 0% business cards are clutch, especially if you can get like a 18 month, somewhere like 21 months. I say go for it if you have a plan.
Yeah, I got an 18-month one to help the pot out, to be honest, when I was first starting out. I believe you. Yeah, no interest. I mean, because regular credit cards, people don't even know this. Some of them are like 20% interest, right? 20, 26% interest. That's crazy. That's 2% a month. It's ridiculous, man.
They're making bank and... you would think like, okay, let me manage this. They should educate me. But think about it. This bank is going to collect 26% interest. Go ahead. If you can't pay it off, I'll just charge you off and take you to court.
And they don't teach you about credit in school, right?
No, they don't. And to be honest with you, I don't think it will ever happen on a grand scale or fast enough. And there's a few reasons why. You would have to go back in time, right? Now, we know education has been amongst us since humans could think. However, let's go back to Prussia, the Prussia model in Germany. Initially, school was designed to make you a worker and a military participant.
That was it. And you fast forward a bit to 1840, Horace Mann in the US, he said, you know, this is genius. We can create people, put them on the farms. We can make them good workers. If we want to put them in the military, we should do this and take it to the eighth grade. I think he was the father of some movement.
But what happens is schools, for one, the curriculum still follows old models, right? Clock in, clock out, eat your lunch when we tell you to. Take off if we tell you to. but you're not getting any real life day-to-day skills, budgeting, financing, credit, curriculum is outdated.
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Chapter 6: How can I use 0% business funding credit cards effectively?
I don't know if the driver took it or not. And we have cameras. And I said, hey, I almost said it. I said, hey, company, you didn't deliver my package. Yes, we did. The driver signed. I said, no, there's nobody by that name that works here. It wasn't delivered. I have video. Well- It is what it is. They sign, hung up, called American Express. I said, I didn't get this package. Here's the video.
No problem, Mr. Cowens. Five minutes later, the amount was credited back on my card. And if you really think about protection security, that credit card is the bank's money. Your debit card is your money. So even if somebody took it and swipe it, The debit card company could say they probably did swipe it. So let's just do a seven to 10 day investigation. It probably was them.
That credit card bank is like, yeah, we got to protect our money and keep our customers satisfied. But what about the perks you're missing out on? When I came out here in Vegas, I didn't pay for the Wi-Fi. I didn't pay for baggage claim. I got credits for my room. I'm eating for free, right? I have those perks. Not to mention I get cash back, rewards, travel miles, and all those things like that.
I literally just bought a treadmill for $6.20. What? Because I use points. That's nuts. So it's just when people say, well, I would use my debit card because I'm not going to be in a debt. You need to add context to that because if you're not paying the balances off, yes, that debt is going to accumulate and the interest is going to stack up.
But if you are responsible, if you say, hey, this is how much cash I have. I'm going to use it for groceries, living expenses and so forth. And I only use that. Use your card instead and just pay the balance off of what you use that you were going to use with cash anyway. Right. And that's that.
Yeah, I can't wait to spend some of my points this year. Yeah, dude. I logged into Amex this morning. I came out, man. That's the best feeling. You log in, refresh, and you're like, whoa. Especially with, there's point hacks too. Yeah. So you could transfer your points to like Hilton or Marriott when they have a thing going on, a promotion going on.
Yeah. And one of the, I accumulate so many points To be honest, I don't do travel transfers. I should. Yeah. Yeah. You get way more bang for your buck. And that's on me to do that. But one person said they were flying Emirates. Yeah. And it was like three X or something based on the product they had, as opposed to using it with just the original card company. And I'm like, yeah, that's major.
Yeah. You get the 180 beds on that one.
Oh my God.
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Chapter 7: What are the pros and cons of using debit cards versus credit cards?
Yeah, I used it. I got a strike on YouTube. I used it to draft a letter to YouTube. Got the strike removed within five minutes. Congratulations. Dude, it was nuts. What did he strike you for? Lily Phillips. Yeah, she came on the pod. Yeah. I'll do it, man.
No need to say anything else. I get it.
Yeah, but no, AI is the future. I know there's these AI credit repairs. I don't know how those work, but...
I have a love-hate with them because I have my own software. I have my own Metro 2 software. But I think the dark side of AI is just like with anything else. Humans forget to progress with their education. I was just in the car. My driver came here. He's like, yeah, I'm working on my credit. I have this collection. I'm using AI. It's been six months.
And I explained to him, I said, yes, AI is phenomenal when you do things like Metro 2. However, you still need to understand what your rights are. You still need to understand tactics that these creditors and these reporting agencies will do, or these debt collectors will do. You still need to understand their responses. You still need to understand timelines.
You can ask the AI all of that, but if you don't continue to educate yourself, how are you even going to know what to ask in the first place and what to input? So while it helps us be more efficient and can add effectiveness, it also takes away that want for educating people more, educating yourselves more.
I can see that. How much does your score matter if you're not actively using it?
I think your score should matter all the time. But obviously, if you're not using it, it's not going to hurt you. The problem is people tend to not pay attention to their score until they need it for purchase. And I get this all the time, Sean. People apply, hey, I'm trying to buy a car in two months. okay, what's your score looking like? You're like 489. I said, I don't walk on water, chief.
Like I want to help you, but you might have to set that timeline back just in case, right? So your score should always be under a watchful eye. Get a credit monitoring service like my free score now. That's what I use. That's what all my clients use. Check it every 30 days because here's another thing. Even if you're not using it, Well, isn't there such thing as identity theft?
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Chapter 8: How can I maximize credit card rewards and benefits?
Oh my gosh, that's a nightmare.
I didn't know you should only have zero to two though. That's, I got to work on mine then. Yeah. I think I have like 10.
In your case, I mean, do you plan on going for more business funding or anything?
Well, I just got a house plus I got a new business. Congratulations. So I opened up some credit cards and so.
Congratulations. Thanks. You're doing a thing. Well, but at least you're using it for a specific reason. Yeah. You're not just screwing off on your credit.
No.
How long have they been on there?
The house, five months. Because we were applying for mortgages and stuff. So I think that was two or three.
Yeah, you got two years. But like I said, are any of them attached to unopened accounts? Or are they all linked to something that's active?
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