Tackle it Tuesday: Credit

March 18, 2025

Welcome to Tackle It Tuesday, a social media series where an autistic employee at AAoM (yours truly) writes workplace (and now more!) tips to better cope with the stresses of a world not built for neurodiversity.

While creating the latest entry for AAoM’s social platforms, I realized that social media alone isn’t the ideal archive for all the past Tackle It Tuesday entries, as it shares space with all the other important work AAoM does. So, this blog companion was born!

This Tackle it Tuesday is on credit cards and credit scores. If you would like to hear more about debt (like student loan debt) and the specifics on that, let me know.

An image on a green background. On the bottom right, there is a person curled up on the ground in angry confusion, with boxes labeled "Debt" "Credit Score" and "APR" on them. The text reads: "Tackle it Tuesday: Credit Cards and Scores I am going to be upfront: I don’t like the credit system. It’s a system that defies all logic and has way too many pitfalls, and those pitfalls can ruin your life. One thing I can say is I’ve figured out some kind of logic from it that makes it easier to deal with."

An image on a green background The text reads: "Tackle it Tuesday: Credit Card Glossary Credit: The money you borrow from a company to pay off later. Debt: How much you owe the people you borrow from. Credit Line: How much money you’re allowed to borrow. Credit Score: A number to measure how good you are at paying your debt. Minimum Payment: The lowest payment you can make on your debt per month."

An image on a green background. On the bottom, there are three credit card images, ,red, blue, and yellow respectively. The text reads: "Tackle it Tuesday: Credit Card Glossary Annual Fee: How much you pay a year to use the credit card Interest: Monthly fee based on what you spend in a month. This is on a percentage basis APR: Monthly fee based on what you spend in a month with other fees. This is also on a percentage basis."

An image on a green background The text reads: "Tackle it Tuesday: Credit Cards Do not spend more than you can pay off at the end of the month, treat your credit card like a debit card. This is so you can avoid interest rates, which means paying 20% more on that same purchase just because you waited too long. Paying off your bills on time also shows the credit card companies you’re responsible, giving you a better score."

An image on a green background. On the bottom, there is a person in a red shirt with a dollar bill. There is an arrow pointing from that person where the text reads "Pay March 21" and "Due March 30" The text reads: "Tackle it Tuesday: Credit Cards Set up auto-payments slightly before the deadline. Doing so will prevent you from getting your credit score lowered."

An image on a green background. On the bottom, there is a confused person in a red shirt with bubbles over them. These bubbles have "-10 points", "+20 points", and "-5 points" respectively, and represent things that impact your credit score. The text reads: "Tackle it Tuesday: Credit Scores There are a bunch of factors at play with the credit system, and some of those factors are things you don’t have immediate control over."

An image on a green background. The text reads: "Tackle it Tuesday: Credit Scores Payment History: Do you pay your credit card bills or loans on time? There is an image of a dollar bill with an arrow pointing to March Amounts Owed: How much you paid off in credit/loans each month. The more money you pay off each month on your credit cards/loans, the higher the score. There is an image of multiple dollar bills with an arrow pointing to March"

An image on a green background. The text reads: "Tackle it Tuesday: Credit Scores Credit Accounts: How many credit card lines and loans you’re taking on at once, and how many different kinds of credit lines (car loans and credit card lines are different). Do not attempt to open a bunch of new credit lines at once to boost this score. It’s going to do the opposite. (My best guess at the logic behind it is that it shows you’re borrowing money willy-nilly)."

An image on a green background. On the bottom left, there are five credit cards of various colors, with arrows all converging on text that reads "8 years" The text reads: "Tackle it Tuesday: Credit Scores Credit Account Age: They calculate this one based on taking the average from all of your accounts. It still counts even if you paid off a credit line (i.e., a car loan) The only way to change this one is to get older. Ridiculous, I know. "

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