I’d never really had any credit, but I knew it was something you basically can’t do without.

Thomas began his credit-building journey with Working Credit in January 2023, and within six months, he had become a first-time homeowner.  

Thomas came to learn about Working Credit because of an employee benefit through his job with Tyson Foods. At 36, Mr. Hyslop admits that he didn’t really understand credit, and like many, he was not taught the ins and outs of the credit system growing up.  “I’d never really had any credit, but I knew it was something you basically can’t do without.” 

 After working with Derison, his Working Credit counselor, Thomas began understanding the facts of building credit. One of those facts, he recalled, was about credit utilization. The term is primarily used when referring to credit cards, also called revolving credit.  “I had been hearing that you’re supposed to keep your utilization under 30%, but Derison taught me that it’s better to keep it under 10%.”  

 Thomas says that after he learned to keep his balance low, there was one other thing that his Working Credit counselor suggested that would boost his score faster than he expected.  “That’s when he told me about using a credit-builder loan, and my score really increased!”  A credit-builder loan is, in some ways, like the reverse of a traditional loan. With a traditional loan, the borrower gets the money first and then pays it back. With a credit-builder loan, the lender holds the borrowed amount in an account while the borrower makes payments. The payments are then reported to the credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian).  

Once the loan is paid, the borrower receives the full loan amount.  

 In April, Thomas was overwhelmed when his landlord decided to sell his apartment building and end Thomas’ lease early. Although he was devastated, Thomas didn’t take too long to turn his lemons into lemonade.  “Because I had been working on my credit, I was like, man, I’m just going to buy a house.”  And, by June 2023, that’s exactly what Thomas Hyslop did.   

Thomas is now studying real estate and is working toward owning more properties and turning them into Airbnb and short-term rentals.  

 He continues to work with Derison and had this to say about his Working Credit counselor, “He’s pretty awesome, really encouraging. I’ve not had very much encouragement or positive influence in my life.” Thomas smiled, “He told me that he’s proud of me, and for a guy, that’s something you don’t hear very often.”