It takes the average Black family 228 years to build the same amount of wealth as a white family. Yet, building wealth is possible if the parent is serious about getting themselves and their child out of poverty. The one reason we as black people suffer when it comes to being financially wealthy is because of the small reasons we don’t take into account. For example, when a parent has ruined their own credit, instead of fixing it so they can become financially set up, they take their child’s social security number and then mess up their child’s credit along with their own. The moment a parent does that to their child they have single-handedly created a purpose for the word to look at them in a negative light. 

People look at credit as being just something you don’t have when you mess it up, but it’s more than that. Bad credit is a report on your financial character. When you have bad credit you are telling the world that you are not financially capable to be responsible to handle money that you borrowed, or paying your bills. When a parent messes up their character and then turns around and messes up their child’s financial character you set them back almost 10 years in the race to becoming financially fit. 

Black people have it hard enough in this world and leaving your child’s credit shouldn’t even be something a parent considers. However, in the black family unit, it has been done so often that it seems like it’s supposed to be normal. The child grows up with credit card bills and bankruptcies like it’s a normal thing and some of these things never come off of a person’s credit report unless they have them removed by a lawyer or credit repair person. Why burden your child with bills they didn’t create?

If you are a parent and want to protect your child, protect them completely by not messing with the one thing that can give them a fighting chance. Don’t destroy what legally belongs to them. Using your child’s credit without their permission is a federal offense and though the child loves you, they do have the legal right to have you put into jail for stealing their identity. So, think twice before you use something that doesn’t belong to you.