More Money Podcast - How to Rebuild Your Credit from Zero - VP Credit and Data at Capital One Canada, Becca Mintz

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

And we're back for Season 22 of the More Money Podcast, and just in time for my favourite time of year — Financial Literacy Month! To kick it off, I've invited Becca Mintz, VP of Credit and Data at Capital One Canada, on the show to talk about a subject many still feel is taboo. I'm talking about having bad credit.Here's the thing, there are a multitude of ways that you have bad credit, or maybe have zero credit history, making it hard to get a credit card or a mortgage. But that doesn't mean you're bad with money and it doesn't mean you don't have any options. Anyone can rebuild their credit, it just takes time and knowing the steps to take to get you there.In the episode, Becca and I clear up some misconceptions and myths about credit (like how checking your credit score negatively impacts it... it doesn't), discussing tools and strategizes to help you rebuild your credit, and why educating yourself about credit is one of the best ways to improve your financial future.Check out Capital One Canada's Learning Hub.For full episode show notes visit jessicamoorhouse.com/442Follow meInstagram @jessicaimoorhouseThreads @jessicaimoorhouseTikTok @jessicaimoorhouseFacebook @jessicaimoorhouseYouTube @jessicamoorhouseLinkedIn - Jessica MoorhouseFinancial resourcesMy websiteMy bestselling book Everything but MoneyFree resource libraryBudget spreadsheetWealth Building Blueprint for Canadians course Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to season 22 of the more money podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Moorhouse, and I am so happy to be back. Now, this will be a bit of a shorter fall season since I did release a special summer season, but I've got some great guest interviews in store for you. Plus, I'll be bringing back some of my favorite episodes from the archives to continue celebrating the More Money podcast turning 10 years old this year. But I'm especially excited to be back in time for financial literacy months. In case you don't know, November is Financial Literacy Month in Canada.

So it's one of my favorite times appear as a money nerd. And this year marks Financial Literacy Month's 15th anniversary. Every year has a different theme. And this year's theme is Talk Money. A call to action to encourage all of us Canadians to start having more conversations about money to break the stigma that so often surrounds financial discussions. And what better way to involve this year's theme into the podcast by having an in-depth discussion with my next guest, Becca Mintz, vice president of credit and data at Capital One

Canada. Since talking about debt and credit are especially difficult topics to talk about, I thought this would be a great opportunity to dive right in, talk about it, leaving any stigma or feelings of shame or blame or guilt out of it. Because the only way to get a handle on your debt and learn how to use credit as a tool to help you with your financial well-being is to talk about it. With that, we go through quite a lot. So let's get to that interview. Welcome to the more money podcast, Becca. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here. Me too. Me too. So, you know, as this episode is airing, it's November, it's financial literacy month, a really important month in my calendar personally, because I love talking about money.

And I, you know, my whole, you know, kind of purpose, I feel like, really is educating Canadians. And I'm so excited that you're joining me because that's exactly what we're going to be doing in this episode. So we have a lot to get through, a lot of things, a lot of questions to be answered. But to kick things off, though, tell me a little bit about yourself. You are the vice president of credit and data at Capital One. What are you responsible for at Capital One Canada? and for Canadians who may not be super familiar with Capital One, what do they specialize in? What do they do?

Capital One specializes in offering clear and transparent products to help Canadians succeed with credit. So whether you're building credit for the first time or rebuilding your credit after a difficult time, or you have great credit and you're just looking for a really awesome credit card, that's what we're really proud to do. And then in terms of my role, I lead credit and data, as you said, which is really like a big cross-functional team of data scientists, analysts, marketers, product designers, you name it. And we're really focused on leveraging data to help Canadians succeed with credit. So really the whole customer lifecycle, becoming a customer

and then growing with you as your credit grows over time. And I'm sure you get questions all the time in your role about credit. I certainly do, but I'm sure you especially do. In your experience, you know, what are some of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to credit? Because it can be kind of a hot topic. A lot of people have certain feelings about debt and credit and things like that. So in your view, what are some misconceptions that you'd like to clear up? I do get asked these questions all the time. And like you, I actually love talking about credit. So I appreciate the opening to talk about this. And I think it's really important to demystify credit scores and how credit works. So I love talking about misconceptions people have

and frankly helping provide them with a little bit of peace of mind because this can be something that causes people's stress. So maybe let me share two that come up really often. The first is that the premise of like even looking or checking your credit score can actually negatively impact it. And that is totally not true. And I actually really recommend that people keep an eye on their credit score and their credit report. Capital One has a tool called Credit Keeper, which is our version of a tool that allows you to see the trends over time. It allows you to see the factors that influence your credit score. And it's kind of like anything. It's why like everyone wears, you know, step counter or uses their Apple Watch in that capacity, you know, I think there's something to be

said for tracking things and keeping an eye on things, increasing the accountability we feel to ourselves to build those healthy habits. So I'm a big fan of tracking your credit score and it does not actually negatively impact your score in any way to keep an eye on it. The second myth that comes to mind is, you know, I hear from people who have had challenges or maybe had some missteps with their credit. And I think there is often this perception that once you have damaged credit, that's kind of it and you can't rebuild it again. And that's totally not true. Again, it's kind of like anything with building good habits. When you break those habits or when you're doing something that's not healthy for those habits, that doesn't mean that that has to be your new path.

Using credit responsibly is the best way to rebuild your credit to demonstrate that track record of being able to, let's say, pay your credit card bills on time. And you can rebuild your credit score. So, you know, my biggest urge when people come to me with that sense of nervousness or anxiety is to give themselves grace and to start again. And today can be the day one of rebuilding your credit. Yeah, I don't know why so many people feel like, because I get those questions all the time is, you know, is there anything I can do? It's like, of course, you know, there's a reason, like people don't just start at the top. And then you, you know, no matter, you know, and then depending on what you do, you just keep on going down. It can go up and down, up and down, up and down,

all your life for a number of different reasons, which we will go into next. because I think credit scores is still a thing that people don't quite understand what exactly they are. And part of it, too, is like, you know, in Canada, you mentioned the credit keeper. So that one is connected to your trans union score, right? Yes, it is. And it's provided through Capital One. Wonderful. And so, and then, but there's also the Equifax. That's another bureau. So it's also important to know. There's two different bureaus in Canada. But so, but when it comes to, because of that, there's different scoring systems. So that's, I feel like there's a little bit of a confusion. So let's kind of get into the topic of credit scores because, yeah, there are these

two bureaus. They do offer different credit scores, which can be super intimidating and confusing to people who want to get a sense of where they stand. What should people know when it comes to credit scores? What goes into calculating these scores? And why might, say, your Equifax score be different than your TransUnion score when you feel like they should be pretty much on the same level, but sometimes it can be vastly different. Yeah, it's such a great question. So you're right. We have two credit bureaus that operate in Canada. And there's kind of two reasons that come to mind for me as to why those scores can be different. The first is that not every company that you're interacting with reports to both of those bureaus. So there might be some companies that only report

credit usage to one of those bureaus, which means they don't have the same information when they're calculating their score. Capital One reports to both bureaus and a lot of other financial institutions report to both bureaus, but not 100% of companies will do so. And so as a result of that, Equifax may have more or less data on you than TransUnion. The second reason they could be different is that they use different proprietary models. And so they're taking in, you know, to use an analogy here, they might have all the same ingredients and they're both, you know, making muffins, but they're using different recipes. They both have their own formula of what they think produces the most accurate prediction of someone's ability to use credit responsibly. And those things can differ from one

another. However, I think it's important to note that there's going to be a lot of similar inputs. And so as a consumer, as an individual, the most important thing is still just using your credit responsibly. You know, they're both going to look at things like your payment history and whether or not you're making your payments on time, for example, and whether they use it slightly differently, it's not worth worrying about the nuances of it. I think it's really just important to focus on getting the basics right of using your credit responsibly. And in the end, both TransUnion and Equifax are really going to value that and reflected in your score. Yeah, I hear, and sometimes I see conversations about this online where people are so, you know, focused on the specific number, too.

Do you want to kind of talk, before we move on, to kind of talk about the different ranges? Sure. In general, it doesn't actually matter what, like, the specific number is, but you want to make sure you're in a certain range. And there's, you know, poor to excellent, all that kind of stuff. Do you want to kind of speak to that a little bit? There isn't exactly an industry standard for what different lenders will see as a perfect score versus a damage score. So I'll speak in generalities, but I do want to give the caveat that capital one may perceive this differently than a different financial institution.

Generally speaking, if your score is above around 700 or 720 or in the 800s, you have a really great credit score. And frankly, I wouldn't personally spend my energy worrying about whether I have an 805 credit score or an 809 credit score or an 820. You're just in a really great credit score. You're just in a really, really healthy range. You've already got the A plus. There isn't necessarily requirement to get less plus plus. Yeah, exactly. The keener in me is like, go for it. But, you know, I'm not sure you'll actually see a difference in terms of what types of products and services are available for you once you're going from great to greater. And then generally speaking, if you're below a 600 credit score or sometimes people use a 660 credit score, we would generally

refer to that as someone who needs to work and improve their credit score or rebuild it a little bit more over time. And similarly, that doesn't mean you won't be eligible for any types of credit products. You know, for Capital One, for example, we really focus on giving people a second chance, and we know that a number of other lenders will actually say no to people with low credit scores. But for us, you know, that team of data scientists and analysts I mentioned, we're really, really focused on building models that help us understand who within that population can repay their debt. So with that said, we have products like our secure card or our guaranteed approval card, and they're specifically designed for people with low credit scores to help them get back on their feet with a credit limit that can grow over time once you've shown that you can use that responsibly.

So I say that because it's important to note that credit score is one input. And if you do have a low credit score, you may find yourself a little bit less eligible for products and services in the market. But there are some really wonderful providers, Capital One included, that's specialized in this side of the market. So again, I wouldn't be fully discouraged, but I would be focusing on trying to get my score a little bit higher. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, what we've kind of been alluding to is the reason you want a good credit score is because then you not only will be more likely to be approved for whatever credit that you're applying for, but you'll get better rates and better terms. And that's really the thing. It's like if you have a better credit score, you get better rates and terms, that means you're likely going to save a ton of money when it comes to the interest rate that you're going to be approved for, and that is a really good thing. Now, for someone who's new to credit, for example, someone who's just moved to Canada or someone who's just turn the age of majority. What is the best way for them to start building a credit history when they have zero history and increasing their credit scores from the ground up? I know it can be very intimidating, especially I get a lot of questions for people new to Canada. They're like,

where do I start? Such a good question. We speak a ton to our customers who fall into those categories. And we get it. We feel the frustration. If you're coming to Canada from a different country, that doesn't inherently mean you're starting with a history of not using credit. But it does mean you're starting with a history of not using credit in Canada. And so those scores and that data we get from places like TransUnion and Equifax that lenders rely on just comes back with no data when you're brand new to the country or when you've just turned the age of majority in your province and you're just eligible for credit at the first time. My recommendation is to start somewhere. And so for us, that would be with a secure card. That's a great way where no credit history

is required. You're putting down collateral. So let's say a $75 deposit to demonstrate I have the to be able to carry this. Yeah. And making those payments on time gets reported to the credit bureau so that next time someone goes and says, hey, I wonder how Jessica's credit history is, there actually is a record of you over time. Yeah. It's really important to distinguish between a secure card and something like a prepaid card.

So a prepaid card when you buy those, those are kind of like a gift card. There's no credit required. You've already put down the full amount. You're just running it down like a gift card balance. A secure card, on the other hand, is a regular credit card that you can use for everyday credit card purchases and reports to those bureaus and starts to build up your history. And that is extremely important for establishing a credit score in Canada. Yeah. No, there's a, and there are a ton of prepaid cards, whether they are like the gift cards you can get at like the drugstore or there's

a lot of companies that now offer them as kind of an alternative to a debit card. But it is important to know that although those could be a great tool for you, whether it comes for, you know, just budgeting, spending within your limit, most of them, unless you opt into some other kind of feature. and usually it's a paid feature, they will not report that data to the credit bureau. So it's doing nothing for your credit. So if that is your goal, that is not a tool that's going to help you with that particular goal. So just, yeah, I think a lot of people aren't aware of that, yeah.

Yeah, you're exactly right. And for what it's worth, I'm always skeptical of those types of upsell situations. Yeah. It's kind of like anything else. When someone's offering like a fix that's really quick and easy and you just have to spend money on it to do it, you know, like anything else on the internet, I would always recommend a little bit of caution and common sense here. Building healthy credit habits is the goal, not inherently just trying to game the score. And I think there is a bit of a watch out when someone's

trying to charge you money to do those. My real piece of advice is if some company you've never heard of is asking you for money to offer you this benefit that's really important to you, I would take a beat and pause on it and think through where you can leverage a reputable financial institution, Capital One being one of many, to help rebuild your credit score appropriately. yeah just on that too i feel like i was talking to a friend this a few years ago and she had damaged credit and she was asking me for some advice and she's like what about some of these yeah organizations that promise that they're going to help you rebuild your credit and i'm like well i guarantee you they're probably a scam because there is no solution and again i've been doing this for a long time there's no solution that can fix your credit score overnight or your credit history overnight right they're just going to take your money and run because the only way sorry just like with anything with personal finance it's like investing building wealth. The only ways to do that is have a plan, stick to it being consistent. It's boring. Same with credit building. There's no overnight, you know, quick solution. It literally is about, okay, what are the tools that I can use? And, you know, you have to use different kind of

forms of credit. And there's other kind of things that can help you build a credit as well. And then it just takes time. Like, like, that's really it. But people want that quick fix. That's just not how it works. If you want to do it legitimately, quite honestly. Yeah, you're back on. Yeah. So what would you say to someone who feels like they are already behind when it comes to building credit? For example, how long can it take someone speaking of? How long can it take someone to reach a new credit score level, say from poor to fair or fair to good? Because I think, you know, even though I said it takes time, people are like, well, what does that mean? What do we talk? Months, years, decades? What does that mean? Yeah, I wish there was like a magic formula and I could just give you a number here. But I just told you to be aware of those quicks. Fixes and quick answers. Yeah, you know what? It doesn't have to inherently be a long, long, long process. And so I would hate for someone to get discouraged from taking the next responsible step because they feel like the path ahead can be long. It's so specific to someone's personal

circumstances. So, for example, if you have a credit card and you've missed a few payments and you've noticed a decrease in your score, there's no need to panic. If you start making those payments on time, I would imagine that within months, not years, not decades, months, you would start to see that credit score climb back up again over time. However, you know, if you've gone through a bankruptcy, let's say, or you've gone through a more material event that has impacted your credit score, it could take more time for that score to climb back up again. So in theory, the way it's designed is to be commensurate with what was the original problem that happened and how long will it take you to demonstrate that you now have new habits that make you a great choice for a lender to lend to.

No magic recipe, but either way, like, there's only one first step. And that first step is that you have to demonstrate responsible use of credit. So I would always take it. Absolutely. And I'm curious just because I feel like the landscape in terms of credit and just like personal finance in general is always evolving. And I say this to looking back and I started, you know, my first personal finance blog 14 years ago. And it's wild just to see the evolution of ever. everything, pretty much. You know, with that in consideration, particularly for those who might be new to credit or who are looking to rebuild their credit, where do you kind of see the landscape going? Any, yeah, I'm just kind of curious what your thoughts are on that. First, 14 years is awesome. Congratulations. I feel old. Whenever I say that, I'm like, oh my gosh, that's like a long time. I hear you. I've been with Capital One for 16 years because I love it. It's a wonderful place to work. But when I tell people that I, like in my brain, I cringe a little. That's a teenager. That's crazy. Yeah, exactly. Since I was

11, it's wild. I can't believe it. Yeah, I mean, I've had the opportunity over that period of time to see so much change in the landscape with financial services. So there's sort of the talent answer to that, which is, you know, if you ask me what it's like to work at Capital One today versus 16 years ago, you know, I could do a whole separate podcast on that. But let me take the consumer angle here, because I think that's more the spirit of English. What I would love to see change is. is for financial services in Canada to be more inclusive. It is so unfortunate that Canadians who are looking to build credit for the first time or rebuild damage credit feel like they have to choose between being rejected by their bank

and told they're not good enough or some kind of like shady player that's trying to charge some money. And it's one of the reasons I've been at Capital One for 16 years is I love that I get to work for a company that's really driven by helping people use credit wisely and really driven to give people a second chance. We know that there are some people who come to us and apply for credit cards. And when we say yes and other people have said no to them in the past, like the amount of relief and like genuine joy and feeling believed in is it's just incredible to hear from people who feel like they were never going to get a yes. And they feel trapped, right? They feel like you're telling me the best way to rebuild my credit is to use credit responsibly. And then I go to my bank

and they're like, you can't have credit because you haven't used credit responsibly. And so getting to work for a place that gets to say yes to people is such a fantastic feeling. And I think it makes Capital One special. And I envision a world where we're actually not special in that regard because there's so many more different players that are able to provide access to credit for Canadians who deserve that first chance or that second chance. So my honest answer is I hope we end up in a situation going forward where we have a much more inclusive financial services industry here. Yeah, because right now it really does feel like if you have damaged credit, or again, you're just starting from scratch with building your credit.

There's a lot of nose. There's a lot of closed doors, which for me is a concern because, you know, if at some point you do need to borrow funds, you know, such as you want to get a car loan or something like that so you can get your job, you are stuck with some companies that are going to charge you really high interest or like the worst, which is like the payday loan lenders, which they charge like astronomical and they make it very confusing for people who aren't super, you know, familiar with how they work, how much they're actually charging you in interest. And so it's, it's nice to know that there are options. But yeah, I agree. I think it needs to be way more inclusive.

Because right now it does feel like if you're in that situation, you're being penalized. Like you did something bad. Like you are a bad person. You're bad with money. And that really shouldn't be the case. It should be like, okay, where you're in this bucket now. So maybe there's some different products, different tools for you. So we can get you back into this other bucket. But right now that's not quite where it is. I did want to have. actually touch on, because we've talked a lot about, yeah, sometimes you need credit to build credit, which seems like it's a contradiction. But there are some other pathways to building your credit. For example, I know a lot of people don't realize that, you know, your cell phone can be

one of those tools. I know, I feel like I read this a while ago and I haven't really looked up on it, but sometimes your rent can be reported. You want to kind of speak to what are some different products or other things besides a credit card that may help you also. build your credit over time. Yeah, so you're right. There are other ways to build. Obviously, I'm going to recommend a credit card, but there's certainly other ways. But yeah, one of the things is like having kind of a diversified portfolio of different things is also one of those methods to building your credit. So you want to make sure you've got a credit card and this and this and this. Yeah, so you're right. Telecom companies, some of them do report to credit bureaus. There are,

it differs across provinces, but utilities could be another one. What you're really thinking about is, where am I making, like, sustained decisions that is demonstrating responsible credit use? And then we can get curious on, hey, do you report to the credit bureaus? The big caution I would give is it isn't inherently standardized. And so for someone who is, like, being very deliberate and making an effort to rebuild their credit, the best way for making a new decision is to actually ask. So you can actually ask companies, hey, do you report payment behavior to credit bureaus? And then tools like Credit Keeper will actually show you, hear all the things that are being reported to your credit

file. So when I go into my credit keeper, I can actually see my Capital One credit card. I can see my mortgage. I can see all sorts of things that are reporting. And so if you already have a bunch of different sources of credit, that's a great way that you can check what isn't reporting. And if you don't and you're kind of debating if I should get something new and you're thinking about that rebuilding journey, I would always recommend checking because it really can differ from place to place. Absolutely. And just speaking of some other kind of habits and behaviors, we've kind of touched on them already, what are some things that people should be actively doing on the regular to ensure that they are just seeing that credit score climb? I know we've kind of touched on making

sure you pay all of your bills, all the credit that you're borrowing on time every time. One misconception, but one thing I do see some people say is, oh, no, actually, it could be more helpful if you pay it off right away. Like, is there a difference paying it once a month before it's due or paying it more frequently. Yeah, it's such a good question. Sometimes I hear the misconception of, like, I have to carry a balance because that will be better for my credit score or the opposite. I have to pay down everything because it will be better for my credit score.

I've heard if you carry a positive balance, like you overpay, it'll help you. I'm like, I don't think so. And then your money's locked on that credit card. So if you need it for a different purpose and you can't use your credit card, you have to pay your rent while you can't use your credit card to pay your rent, not very helpful. Yeah, totally. And I mean, a lot of our customers are, you know, living either paycheck to pay, check or just really can't afford to have extra funds to your point tied up somewhere.

You know, taking a step back, the way that we look at credit card utilization or usage is really looking at, on average, over the course of a period of time, how much of someone's available credit are they using. And so whether you're spending and paying it down in full or whether you're spending and making at least your minimum payment, that's the most important thing. That's not really the factor. The factor is more how much of your available credit are you using. So for you personally, if you are able to pay down your credit card balance in full, that could be the financially better decision to make because you get charged interest when you carry a balance from month to month. So if you have those available funds and you're using your credit card more just for the sake of making purchases, you know, online shopping, whatever it is, and you are able to actually pay down that balance month over month, then you're going to want to do that. You're going to want to save yourself on the interest charges.

However, if you are using credit as a way to also extend or your income or manage like disparate cash flows, we have a lot of customers. customers who don't get the biweekly paycheck, their cash flows in and out are a little bit more unpredictable and credit's a great bridge to do that. Then the most important thing is to pay your minimum payment over a period of time. The last thing I'll add on this utilization thing is it's really around making sure you're showing that you can handle the credit that you have. And so if you're using every last dollar of four different credit cards and it really shows like, hey, this person seems like they're already kind of at the edge, that can be a risky signal for lenders or for the credit bureaus, whereas if you had, let's say, a $2,000 credit

limit, and on average over the course of the month, you spend, you know, $800, $1,200, sometimes $2,000, sometimes less, et cetera. That's showing that, hey, generally speaking, this person is managing this credit. They seem to be able to keep up with their payments and they're not demonstrating anything that would make me uncomfortable, giving them a little bit more if they applied for new credit. So I would think about it less in terms of what's best for my credit score and more in terms of what's best for me and my financial needs at this point in time. Okay. And I know there is the rule of thumb that you want to keep below 30% of your overall available credit in terms of your utilization. Is that that still kind of a good rule of thumb?

I've heard that rule of thumb, but I've also heard people who are above that, not at 99%. I would say you want to stay away from being at 100% usage. But I know that there are lots of people who use more than 30% and still have healthy thriving credit scores. So there's lots of tips and tricks. And especially if you're worried that you're someone who is going to be more tempted to use more than you're comfortable using, then I think having some of those tips and tricks is great. But there isn't actually like a real magic formula in terms of the credit score itself. Okay. Maybe that's just something someone made up. It's one of those things people have been saying it forever. It could be a best practice. It's a best practice. Yeah. I mean, ideally, that's great. And I always kind of say from like the behavior perspective, because like you said, ideally you don't want to just do the minimum payment because you're paying those interest charges. You want to pay it off in full every month. and if you're struggling with that, but again, the purpose of using credit, your credit is to build a credit, we need to find a kind of a different strategy. And so when I work with,

you know, clients one-on-one, usually what I suggest is like, okay, let's take a look at your budget, your cash flow. We still want you to use your credit card so we can rebuild. But maybe let's just put your fixed expenses, a few fixed expenses on there because then we know we're in our budget, we can afford to pay that off every single month. And maybe the behaviors just aren't there yet where we can use it on every day, you know, grocery reasons, just like the little things, because then it can kind of get out of hand. So maybe taking a step back and saying what is the best way for me to, you know, build that emergency fund, keep using my credit card so I can build credit, but always also make

sure I pay my payments in full because that is ultimately the fastest way you're going to build your credit scores and keep going up besides diversifying the kind of different types of credit and just, yeah, being overall responsible and just doing it consistently over time. Now, I mentioned at the beginning of this episode that we are in the midst of Financial Literacy Month. Can you share any initiatives? Capital One has launched that specifically support financial or credit literacy for Canadians or support their access to credit. I know there's a ton of stuff. You also meant, like, I actually really like Credit Keeper. I've used it before because, like you said, not only does it keep track of like your history and just your scores, so you have that clarity, but it also has like kind of suggestions.

just more information to make you more kind of literate. So do you want to kind of speak to that? Yeah, definitely. Creditkeeper is an awesome tool for this. As someone who works in the industry and, you know, like you, I still actually find it super interesting and I like find myself clicking around and looking at different aspects of it and being like, oh, that's so interesting. Yeah, cool. And that's someone who's like looked at it all the time. Like I nerd out for this stuff and I still find it fun. Beyond Credit Keeper, we have a new learning hub that I'm really excited about. So this is a like resource that has tons of different kinds of. of like two minute read, three minute reads, just kind of like nuggets written in a really

accessible tone that can help honestly kind of like the conversations we're having today, where it walks through like tips and tricks or demystifying things. And it really is just a resource you can self-serve. It's through our life and credit blog. And so people can actually go online and just click around and see headlines that work for them, whether you're really focused on budgeting, whether you're focused on rebuilding your credit, whatever it is that is like feeling really top of mind for you. There's these really digestible nuggets that are there and really written in a conversational tone, very different than what you'd expect

if you walked into a bank branch and spoke to a financial advisor in a really formal tone. It's really designed to be consumed on your phone or on your computer where you are when you're feeling like you're in the right mind space to think about, like what's one thing I can do

to make my credit healthier? So I definitely recommend that folks check out our learning hub on life and credit. And then to your point, I think the basics, just responsible use of credit. I know I'm repetitive on it, but there isn't a magic solution. It really is just trying to

get those habits right. And for me, just to add on a few things, just, you know, over the years what I've seen helpful for people in the same situation. Number one, we need to get rid of this idea that, yeah, you did something, you know, you may have, you know, done some things to damage your credit. That doesn't mean that you are a bad person. And that doesn't mean that you were stuck there. Like you kind of said, that doesn't mean that you are, you know, stuck on that path. You can absolutely change your path. And, you know, financial literacy, like building that up. so you can kind of get rid of some of those misconceptions, misinformation, super helpful. Again, that's what I think motivated me in my 20s when I knew nothing about money,

started learning about it. I'm like, oh, wow, I feel like I, you know, the mist has cleared a little bit, you know, little by little, which is really exciting. So I highly recommend just continue to educate yourself about things that you don't know. But I'd say another thing is there are so many communities out there that are in the exact same situation as you. A lot of these exist online on social media platforms, on Reddit, on wherever you feel comfortable going, and they are these communities that are supporting each

other, getting out of debt, building credit. And so I find the hardest thing is trying to do this on your own because it can be very isolating. And again, you kind of let feelings like shame and guilt, you know, kind of flood in, which we don't want to because, again, those feelings really prevent you from taking action. So I'd say either find someone in your personal life that you can maybe talk to, that could be like an accountability partner or find those online communities again. That's literally what I did. I've got online communities so I could be like, oh, okay, this is how we save money. This is how we learn how to invest in stuff to help you feel like you're not in this alone. And, you know, it just kind of builds you up and gets you excited.

And then you can celebrate with people too. I love seeing that people online celebrate their wins. Like, oh my God, my credit score is up or oh my gosh, I paid off all my debt or, hey, I just saved up my first thousand dollars. And my bank account, how exciting. And so that would be my two cents on what could we do in another way to really kind of. help you get going. And there's never been a better time than November financial literacy month to take action. And I always say that too, especially because December is a very spendy month. And so if you can kind of lay the groundwork, the foundation for what smart money moves can I make right now when I feel like it's too busy. I don't have the energy or time. Honestly, that's actually the best time to do it

because then it'll feel so much easier when there's like slower periods of time and stuff like that. So don't wait for the best time. Do it absolutely right now. Since you're listening to this podcast, this is your signal to do something about it. And I'm in full support. So you can always, you know, hit me up over DMs or email and I can be your support partner as well. Now, Becca, before I let you go, though, is there anything else that we haven't covered anything else that you'd like to leave listeners with just to, yeah, feel good about taking this next step on improving their credit situation? I loved that last thing that you said there. I, no, honestly, because, you know, we talked a little bit about that shame. We talked about

And, you know, people aren't unreasonable to feel that shame. If you are constantly getting told no and feeling rejected by a financial institution. Yeah, people are shaming you. Right. Exactly. Of course you're feeling that way if people are making you feel that way. And so I have to say, like, one of the most heartwarming things about working where I work is we get to hear so many customer stories. Like, we feel really strongly about talking to our customers and like hearing directly from individuals, not thinking about people as credit scores, like the old cliche.

And man, like, we cheer so hard when our customers have wins. Like, there's nothing more rewarding. I'm sure you feel the same in your line of work than seeing someone just, like, absolutely crush it on something that's important to them. And then to your point, like, none of us operate at our best when we're not feeling confident. You know, if I think about my own work or my own relationship or anything in my life, the points at which I'm feeling the most insecure or nervous or not sure of exactly what I do and don't know etc. That's not when I'm like in my prime, in my swing zone, to use a blue jays analogy here.

You know, we all do better when we feel confident. And then to your point, one of the ways we can feel confident is by being educated and really understanding, you know, what are those factors that go into my credit score? What are those habits that really matter? What are those myths that I've heard people say that I know aren't true? So I'm not going to stress about that thing. When we build our own confidence and we get that yes, whether it's, you know, a capital one secure card, whatever it is that you're thinking is like my first big thing that's going to move me in the right direction. I just think that's such a difference maker. And then to your point, you know, for me in particular, I find like I'm such a social animal. I love having a community of people

around me. So I just really loved what you said there about finding your people that are going to cheer you on, that are going to share tips and tricks. You know, it's such an unfortunate side effect of that feeling of shame is that you may be less likely to want to talk about it with other people. And in reality, other people can be such a fantastic way to boost your confidence. Where would any of us be without, you know, our friends or our support system to help build us up. So, you know, the thing I would want to leave with people is, like, you can do it. Like, I know you can do it. I've seen millions of Canadians through Capital One rebuild their credit score, and there's no reason you can't be the next person that can do that. Absolutely. And I always tell people to

too, especially with something as kind of, it seems like such a big mountain to climb, especially if you are in a situation where, like, I really damage the credit or I'm starting from ground zero and I really just don't know if this is possible. Give yourself a timeline. Like, give yourself one year. And I tell this, no matter what your goal is, whether it's like save an emergency fund or start investing, it feels impossible until you do it. But you also need to have the kind of before and after photos. Take like that screenshot of where you are now. And then 12 months from now, see where you are. Because I think often we don't track those metrics, but those are the metrics that are showing that it's working and that you are doing the work and it's it's it's you're successful you're

doing the things that you need to do so again if you're starting in november take those screenshots of where you're at now and then next november 26 take a look at where you're at now and if you're doing all the things that we said in this podcast you're going to be in a much better situation so well becca it was so great to have you on the show thanks for sharing all of your wisdom i know you kind of mentioned some resources but um tell me right now where can people find more information about, you know, the hub, Capital One, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, I would start with www.comitle 1.ca. That's our, you know, hub for everything.

And from there, you can click through to Life and Credit. You can learn more about our products and services. I think it's a great place to start. Amazing. Well, thank you so much, Becca, for taking the time to be on the show with me. It was great chatting with you. You too. Thank you so much.

And that was my interview with Becca Mintz, Vice President of Credit and Data at Capital One, Canada. As she mentioned, if you wanted to learn more about, credit and check out some of Capital One's educational resources. Make sure to visit Capital One.com slash life and credit. And you can also find all of their different financial products and their credit keeper tool at Capital One.ca. And if you wanted to check out the show notes for this episode because I will be linking everything in there, make sure to visit jessicamorehouse.com slash the number of this episode or just go to Jessicamorehouse.com slash podcast. Now speaking of educational resources, don't forget, I have a whole free financial resources

library you can access. Just check out my shop page to find it. Jessicamorehouse.com slash shop. I also have all of my budget spreadsheets you can download and my wealth building blueprint for Canadians course you can enroll in. And lastly, don't forget if you want to dive into your relationship with money, grab a copy of my bestselling book, everything but money, the hidden barriers between you and financial freedom available in paperback, ebook and audio book at jessicamorehouse.com or any major book retailer. Well, that's it for me for this episode. Thank you so much for listening or watching this on YouTube. We will have another guest interview for you next week.

But tomorrow I will be releasing another episode on the podcast platforms of one of the old episodes, one of my favorites from the archives. So stay tuned for that. But until then, thanks again. And I'll see you next time. The More Money Podcast would not be possible without the amazing talents of video editor, Justice Carrar, and podcast producer Matt Rideout, who you can find at ravcannada.com.