Unlock the secrets to transforming your financial future with insights from Matt Dillingham, a former Marine turned credit and financial health expert. What if a simple shift in mindset could significantly change your financial situation? As we usher in the new year of 2025, explore Matt's compelling journey from the military to mastering credit repair and financial literacy. He shares powerful strategies for improving your credit score post-holiday spending and discusses the vital link between personal growth and financial success. Plus, get a glimpse into Matt’s daily health rituals, including his passion for fitness and the invigorating benefits of cold showers, all designed to boost your personal and financial well-being.
Navigate the complexities of credit repair and financial opportunities with our comprehensive discussion that clears up common misconceptions and highlights the importance of maintaining a strong credit report. Discover the distinct processes of credit repair, debt consolidation, and debt settlement, and learn how credit scores can open doors to homeownership and business loans. We also shine a light on the unique challenges veterans and seniors face, offering actionable advice on responsible credit management. Delve into the personal story of the A1 Solutions Group CEO, who turned early financial setbacks into a thriving career, emphasizing honesty, lifelong credit protection, and a holistic approach to client support. This episode promises to equip you with the knowledge and accountability needed to take charge of your financial destiny.
Connect with Matt Dillingham
website: www.a1solutionsgroup.com
email: mdillingham@a1solutionsgroup.com
Phone: 877-250-7170 office
Stay tuned for the next episode of Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson. Subscribe - Follow and Like Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Ready Set Collaborate podcast with Rhonda
Pearson, where we will dive deepinto the world of networking,
collaboration and partnership,unlocking the secrets to a
successful team working withininnovation.
Whether you're an entrepreneur,a creative professional or just
someone eager to understand thepower of networking and
(00:23):
collaboration, this podcast isyour go-to resource.
Join us as we explore thestories, strategies and insights
from experts, entrepreneurs andthought leaders who have
experienced the magic ofnetworking and collaboration to
achieve successful results.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Tune in to Ready.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Set Collaborate podcast on a journey towards
achieving your goals with hostWanda Pearson.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Welcome.
Welcome to the Ready SetCollaborate podcast with Wanda
Pearson and my guest, mattDillingham.
I am so excited to have Matt onthis show because this is a new
year, 2025, that we need to getour stuff in order, which means
our credit, our finances, allof that.
So that's why I want to do thatstart the beginning of the year
, to get our stuff together asfar as getting our finances,
(01:16):
credit report, credit together,getting your will done.
All of that stuff is soimportant to get started the
right way.
So I want to introduce you tomy guest, matt Dillingham.
Say hi to the audience, matt.
Hey, everybody, glad to be here.
Yeah, matt, we were justtalking about the weather.
(01:36):
Matt is in Virginia, so he'sgot a lot colder weather and
snow than we do.
I'm so excited to have him hereand share his expertise on
credit reporting and financesand that's so important, right.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Very.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, and I thought about Matt.
I said because we did actuallya webinar together about two
years ago.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, it's been that long.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, oh wow, and we did, and we did.
Yeah, it was yeah, oh wow, andwe did, and we did.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So a lot of people.
It's January.
We did a lot of spending forChristmas.
I know I got six grandkids andI said I wasn't going to do it.
And I did it and I said, OK,I'm not doing this again.
I said it last year, I'm notgoing to do it again and I
(02:25):
credit in order and paying offcredit down my credit is so
important to me because mycredit report is very important
and I want to make sure that Istay up in those 800s and you
can get there too, with Matt'shelp, by repairing and improving
your credit score.
Let me talk a little bit aboutMatt.
Matt Dillingham is a formerMarine.
He served from 2006 to 2012.
While in the Marine Corps, hegraduated with a degree in
family studies from theUniversity of Maryland at
(02:46):
College Park.
He is also an award-winningauthor and a co-author of the
book Born to Risk.
Though he did not followthrough with his major after
college, that choice of majorstarted his journey of
self-development, which led himto the world of credit.
Matt is a spiritual person thateverything is energy and that
(03:08):
to change one's life, to simplychanging your energy within that
and filling out the emotionsthat come up to you.
He is currently the COO of A1Solutions Group and enjoys
teaching people not just abouthow credit works, but how the
power of credit can change one'sfinancial reality for the
better.
Matt, thank you so much forcoming to my Ready Set
(03:30):
Collaborate podcast.
I'm so excited to have you here.
Matt, tell us a little bit moreabout you that I haven't talked
about already.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm going to summarize my journey in a bit.
I guess I'll start with somefunny things.
My favorite film of all time isTop Gun, the first one.
I've been watching that since Iwas three years old, since 1988
.
I don't know why.
It's always stuck with me, saysa little bit.
I'm a big advocate for health.
(03:59):
I exercise six days a week.
I do the cold showers in themorning for three minutes.
I don't side up.
It helps me wake up.
That really helps with whenwaking you up puts you in a
better mood.
It's healthy for you.
And I've got a point where it'sI have it now, or if I don't do
it, I feel weird, which isinteresting.
So there's that side and reallybig on the inner development
(04:21):
work.
Because at the end of the day,whether you're trying to change
your credit, fix your finances,change your health, whatever
your outer world is simply areflection of what's going on
inside, and too many of us wantto change the external, which
makes sense.
You have to understand that you, it's what's going on the
inside.
The beliefs you had, the wayyou're looking at things,
perceiving stuff, was what'scausing the outside.
So you gotta work on that firstand and then from there
(04:43):
everything else can flow andfollow.
And it's not that point.
It won't be some sort ofchallenge, just kind of
adjusting and getting new tochange and making more autopilot
at that point.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Absolutely that cold shower.
That seems too cold with thiscold weather out here now, you
know what, though?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I'll tell you what it's best to do it now, because
it's colder, but it prepares youbetter for the weather.
The easy thing is, I'll do itin the summertime, of course,
it's hot, it's humid.
In the wintertime, though,that's where you have to go,
alright, but it does wake you up.
But then, after about twominutes, your body adjusts to it
(05:22):
and so you do feel warm.
Trust me, the first two minutessuck, and I'm gonna lie, I'd be
like why ain't this thing?
But then, after about twominutes, I've noticed it's like,
all of a sudden, you feel thislike adjustment or calm come
over you and you go when you'relike oh I, I can do this, and it
feels in this difficult, yourbody heating up.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It's a whole bunch of benefits, yeah, but better than
coffee say that much god blessyou, so you could have that one
yeah, I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
It's interesting.
It helps me so much.
Endurance all this.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Let's go for it, yeah no, and that's what's important
as far as what you're used to,how long you've been doing that
for oh, when did I start?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I think?
I think the that's a goodquestion.
I would say about two years,because I started with listening
to.
I forgot how I got introducedto the windmoth, windmoth,
windmoth method.
Let's say I listened to theaudiobook and he sells you very
hard and taking a cold shower, Iwas like all right, fine.
So started out gradually.
Like he says, do 30 seconds,you do that for a week, then you
(06:27):
bump it to another threeseconds.
So after three, four weeksyou're at like a couple minutes.
So I initially was doing it.
I would take my word to theshower and then end with the
cold and then after a while Iwas like I forget why.
I'll listen to the joe roganpodcast and see if they've seen,
see other people on YouTube.
I wanted to.
I got into, I haven't done oneyet.
(06:47):
The cold plunge was like muchcolder and Joe Rogan only talks
about it three minutes.
I hate it Sucks, but once I'mout I'm better.
I feel happier, better mood.
I was like all right.
So then I was like let me justdo three minutes of cold shower
instead and start my day thatway.
It really does make a bigdifference.
You're like, oh, I feel happier, don't?
(07:09):
I don't?
It's pretty how that works, butyou will have better mood.
Look, I feel better, wow great,that's great.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Now, people, now you see, this is another way to get
your mind together yeah, it does, because they're no.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
And the serious laugh that last I'll say about this,
because typically what I do I'llhave I'll take an energy shot
or some cream to help keep mybody going to work out.
There have been times when I'mit's the energy shots hit me and
I'm sitting there I'm like I'mjust not, I'm just not right.
Then I take a little shower andthen I just first there's more.
I got out and I was like yo,let's go, let's, let's do this,
(07:42):
let's go get it worked.
I was like there's a need tokick.
So that means that for me, mybody's, we need to do this so we
can fully get going that'sawesome that's awesome, that's
awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So let's get into the meat of the ground here why,
why we're here, and that wassome good information as far as
that, too, here.
Yeah, so can you explain whatcredit report repair is and how
it works?
So what credit repair is andhow it works.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
So what credit repair is?
I'll say, ok, no, let me just.
I'll tell you what it's not.
It's not a miracle.
People please stop coming to ushoping that I'm going to snap
my fingers, you're going to bethe 700, 800.
That's not how it works.
We I just.
That's not what it is.
What credit repair is at leastthe way I define it it's, first
(08:28):
and foremost, educating you oncredit how it works.
What it's not taught, just likefinancial literacy educating
you what is how it works right.
Then also, in addition to that,it's disputing the negative
items on your credit report,meaning our inquiries, late
payments, collections, charge ofbankruptcies, to get deleted
(08:50):
off the file.
It can also include, if need be, settling on certain accounts,
like charge of collectionsmethodology, that where,
depending on who, you would havea resource they call it debt
recontracting their debtsettlement to where they look at
(09:10):
what's going on, castviolations by the debt
collectors to get to then settleon it or, if any case, get that
wave and and depending on whatthe debt collector may have done
, you may give money back overto you and get out of the room
again.
This is an imagined pill.
It's by understanding yourrights, everything else.
So that way.
If you have to go through that,I'm gonna tell you how it works,
(09:33):
because when we're done, youhave to maintain it.
It's a lifelong thing.
It does not, being a factoryline, unfortunately, and that's
what how I would say it's saying.
Here's what it it is that works.
Here's what we're going to dofor you, to help get you where
you want to be and then maintainit afterward.
That way, should anything elsehappen to you down the line, I'm
going to work with you versusfor a lot of people A lot of
(09:54):
people in my space will not saythis.
A lot of people will get theircredit fixed.
They'll get to that $700 orthey get the car, what they want
, and then about six monthslater right back where they were
prior.
Yep, that's gonna get it.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And again it's like stop doing that, because it just
makes it harder to keep goingfrom that point on oh,
absolutely, and that wasactually one of the things I was
going to ask you about thecommon misconceptions about
credit repaid services.
I think you just answered thatquestion there no, no, there's
another one one.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
No, there is a common misconception.
People think credit repair,some people think that it's the
same as debt consolidation orlike paying off debt, and it's
not.
Those are two different things,three different things.
So it's not the same because,if you don't know, I'm not
negotiating with the creditorunless it comes down to it, and
I will say this to you as well.
If you do that collectioncharge off, there is a
(10:46):
possibility.
I don't know the chance, butI'd say this sometimes people do
get sued by the originalcreditor of the debt collector
because they can do that.
But again, even happens.
You have rights and how to umnavigate that, because what most
people do?
They see the court summons andthey go nope, and it's not.
You don't do it because they'regoing to show up for court.
(11:08):
You're not going to show up.
The judge will be all right,default judgment.
You were in your favor.
When you can avoid court, maybecome out some whatever
settlement and then also, inaddition to asking for a paper
deletion and then get it off andthen you're good to go.
You have to understand, doesn'tmatter what this, what the
situation, you have rights.
Know that when it comes to thisand give it the right resource,
(11:31):
and if I'm not a lawyer, I'llsay it's not a lawyer, but I
have resources that specializein this area.
I will help you with that byreferring to them, because
they'll be to tell you x, y andz do this, you're good people
been happy and they're like,thinking like.
You're welcome.
You do not need to stress aboutthis.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Sorry for the long tangent no, that's good, and you
can refer them to me, becausethat's what we do the legal
shield but, there's so manyother things people don't know
about.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
You're about debt collector violations and I'm
like you won't know this stuffand I'm like it's insane no,
absolutely, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So let me ask you another question.
So how does credit impact aperson's financial opportunities
, such as home ownership orbusiness?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
loans.
Yeah, credit, not no longer issomething that denies you
chances to get loan money like apersonal loan.
Most people are saying, hey, Ihave to.
If you don't have good credit,it's hard to rent an apartment,
but you can forget getting amortgage.
And if you do get a mortgage, alittle credit score, you'll pay
an arm and a leg and then someto get it.
(12:32):
You'll come with so much moneytable and then also there's so
many conditions they have put inplace.
Don't do that, just put in timeto come.
That way, if you get at least620, you can qualify for certain
programs.
Also, depending on your job andwhat you get, it's so much
better.
There's that it can cost youmore money with, depending on
the state.
They're changing this.
(12:53):
Homeowner's insurance, carinsurance, life insurance,
health insurance I don't agreewith it.
But I'm thinking of my drivingrecord should be the factor in
my insurance premiums, notbecause if you can't pay your
bills you're like screw it, Idon't care, I dropped today and
just go crazy on the road.
(13:13):
That's two of the things thatmakes argument is a correlation
Sure there is, I see that, a lotof insurance.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
auto insurance companies are now checking your
credit.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yeah, they do, and it's not like it's a huge impact
with some influence that youwant to lower it.
There's that.
Hospitals run your credit.
It's a soft pull even to havehealth insurance, because people
forget hospitals are business.
If they got to do whatever theygot to do, they want to make
sure they're going to get somemoney back or whatever, because
they do that.
It's a soft pull, but there'sthat.
(13:42):
The other thing I want to tellpeople is that credit can also
deny you opportunity to makemore money.
Jobs check, your creditsoftball, depending on the
industry.
You can be denied gettingcertain appointments with
certain insurance companies.
Credit clearances can be denied.
You can lose your job due toyour credit, also depending on
what career you're in, whetheryou're in the government, where
(14:03):
you, what career?
Where you're living, whereyou're from the government,
military, certain things, oreven in the medical field.
Due to your bad credit, you canbe denied a lateral move or
even a promotion.
Wow, yeah, so it's not just likeyou can't get money, it's be
alone, but you can now havethings to make money, because,
(14:24):
at the end of the day, whatpeople don't understand is that
when you, if you get bad credit,they're judging you based on
what's on paper and you have tolook at your own file, which is
hard to do for a lot of peoplebecause it's scary.
I get that, I've been there.
You have to understand ifyou're showing up, if your
credit is represented andshowing collections charge of
late teams, all these things.
What you're saying is characterwise, I don't care to pay my
creditors and people back on atimely manner.
(14:44):
Then people think, okay, if Ipay this collection charge off,
I'll be good.
No, because then what happens isit gets updated being a paid
collection charge off.
Then again they look at it andthen they think so you didn't
want to pay anyone back untilyou defaulted on these accounts,
or you paid it back because yougot sued.
So I'm supposed to look to youto loan you money or hire you
(15:07):
for my company, because guesswhat?
To be true, he who has the goldmakes the rules, or he who pays
you the money makes the rules.
So if they want you with acertain character financially,
they can do that.
I don't care who did it, butI'm not the employer.
So that's what I have to lookat.
So how do you look on paper?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
That is so true.
So I got so many things thatyou're going to have to come
back on my show.
I know, apart from you right,there's a lot to this, it's not
just like credits, Like oh no.
No, it's a lot, but yeah.
So what are the first stepssomeone should take to improve
their credit score and what aresome of the common mistakes that
they make trying to fix theirown credit?
(15:45):
I know there's a two-in-onequestionnaire.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I know, but one of them I just mentioned is paying
the collection charge off.
So they don't have to.
That's one.
But before let's step back, thefirst thing you have to and
again this is the hardest forsome people because it's a scary
step WithHandlingCreditReportcom they now
allow you to pull your creditreport once a week for free.
Do all three bureaus.
Do not pay for your score.
There's a reason behind.
(16:09):
They did that because Congressrequired them to do this back in
the 90s and the bureaus werelike that's not fair.
How can we make money?
Oh, we'll charge them for theircredit scores.
So don't do it.
Or, if you don't want to dothat, you can use, you can pay
for credit monitoring.
That gives you all threebureaus, not credit karma trash.
(16:31):
We use my score if yourecommend that, or you use my
fico is going to get fico score,which is by 90 of companies on
the stage you get all threebureaus.
You need to get all threereports and start looking at on
that.
And then you want to look atjust four tiers your credit
report, four tiers personalinformation, hard inquiries,
your accounts and public record.
You want to look at all thatinformation and the personal
information will contain yourname, variation of your name,
(16:53):
birth date, phone number, social, current address, old addresses
you've worked at, old employeesyou worked at and you want to
look at that and go, okay, is myname spelled correctly?
Do I have names in my heart?
Mine is my birth date.
Do I have more than one social?
Are my current addressescorrect?
That happens on the oldaddresses too.
Some people have addresses onit that they've never lived at.
I have one client who did thisprocess when we had people
(17:16):
calling the bureaus to updatethis and I don't know one bureau
had him for his name, had himlisted as a state highway for
his name.
This stuff happens and we'lltell you.
So you want to go through thatand clean that up, to have one
name was listed on your socialsecurity card one current
address, one correct social, noold addresses, one current
(17:40):
report.
That way you look clean againabout paper Two, look at your
hard inquiries.
You can dispute those as well.
See which ones are again yoursor not yours.
You can see them anyway.
Otherwise they stand for 10years.
Then comes the accounts,whichever focuses on.
Look at your accounts, look atthe payment history.
This is also important becausethat one portion I was speaking
(18:01):
with.
They had fraud.
They had a collection on therethat they didn't sign for from
department complex that theynever lived at.
Somehow someone got theinformation and then they some
other stuff too was nuts thathappens.
Go through all those at youraccount.
Great, is it a charge ofcollection?
That's fine.
Go through all of them, go okay.
Then look at the public record.
(18:22):
Anything in there, no awesome.
From there you have to look atokay, what can I dispute late
payments, collection charge-offs, hard inquiries.
Then the other side to it islooking at what do I need to
continue to build upon or add?
Here's how you know if you haveto add new credit when you're
looking at your report and allyou have are collections charged
(18:46):
off and all your accounts areclosed.
Or some people, all they haveare collection charged off.
What happens is people don'tknow this, they dispute stuff,
they get some big completions,their score goes up and it
stagnates because you're notbuilding new credit.
So if you have nothing butnegative items on there, meaning
nothing but collections chargedoff, or you have a combination
of that plus closed accounts,you have to start rebuilding
(19:07):
credit in your name again,because if you don't, the stock
comes off.
The report was stagnant.
You're not building anythingnew.
A great analogy I make is savethe backyard.
And your backyard is filledwith nothing but dead plants and
trees and stuff.
If you clear it out, great, thebackyard is clean.
But unless you plant new,fertile, new soil and seeds and
(19:30):
plants and fertilize andeverything else, nothing new
will grow from there.
You'll have an empty backyard,nothing.
Same thing with credit.
You have to start doing that.
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I agree.
So I'm going to ask you this.
And then we got to get to itbecause I want to get to your
AIMA Solutions Group.
Support for seniors how unique,what unique credit challenges
do seniors face and how can theyovercome them?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Great question, because most people I work with
are mostly between 20 to 50,maybe 60.
And I'll say this For seniorsit's different, because you're
you're like yeah, I'm done withthis, I don't need this anymore.
You've been through it, you'vebeen your light paying tax.
You're like I'm trying to lookforward to just make it to the
end and be chill.
What I can say is this if youhave not stayed on top of your
(20:17):
credit in years, you need tolook at it because again it they
, these companies do not carehow old you are or what you've
done.
The challenge you run into as asenior citizen is that if you've
not maintained your creditscore and it's gone to the
crapper and then you get creditpulled again, you will get
(20:37):
judged.
They're going to look at youand go.
You're 65, 70 years old.
Why is your credit terrible?
They will not say this to you.
They'll think that and thenthey'll be like goodbye.
There was one guy we were tryingto work with didn't work out
because this character was shewas insane, she would cuss me
out.
So it was weird.
I was like don't hate me, buthe was 75, he was a veteran
trying to get a house 580 deniedand I'm like, okay, let's help
(21:00):
him, but they didn't care.
It does not matter, unlessyou're like wealthy as anything
at that point, which most peoplearen't you still need to
maintain it and just look at itand just stay on top of it.
But from what I've heard frommost people who are older, they
understand credit report andthey'll stay on top of it.
They'll be in the 800s highestin the 100s and they won't apply
for a damn thing.
(21:20):
They're like nope, unless youpay the money for it.
Then I understand that.
That makes sense.
You want to use my credit?
How much do you want to pay forit?
It's gold, it's priceless.
That's what I would say, seniorcitizens.
Someone wants to pay you forusing credit.
Charge them money Because themoney will come back to them.
They need to pay you for yourtime, effort and the discipline
(21:45):
yeah, which you can do your time, effort and the discipline yeah
, which you can do.
Actually, here's the money hack,senior citizens.
You want to make a section ofmoney.
You can add people as anauthorized user to your credit
card.
You can charge monthly howevermuch money you want, the card
that comes to you.
Don't give it to them, theydon't need it and then it goes
in their file.
It's great you want to do that.
If you don't give it to them,they don't need it.
(22:06):
And then it goes in their filethrough school grade.
You want to do that.
You're in 800s and stuff.
You got good credit cards.
Never been late.
Balance is paid off, cool.
I ask them seriously how muchyou want for it.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And look them dead in the eye.
And I was going to say because alot of seniors get scammed,
yeah, and also some of them arestruggling with medical bills or
credit predatory lending yeah.
So that's something that theyhave to look out to.
So it's always good for them tocheck their credit report to
make sure that's you that'sdoing this here, definitely.
(22:37):
So let's talk about becausewe're winding down time I told
you I had to have you back onhere.
I told you I'd have you back onhere.
Let's talk about A1 SolutionsGroup, which you're the CEO.
What inspired you to start yourjourney in the financial
services or credit repairindustry?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Okay, 2013, I was 27 years old and I was at the
bankruptcy courts in green bed,maryland, going bankrupt at 27.
That was a humbling momentbecause I thought, for every
reason that had that moment intime, only people in their 40s,
50s and 60s declared bankruptcydue to medical bills.
I think here I was, 27, provedmyself wrong real hard, so that
(23:14):
started me down the journey.
I got certified with creditpair.
Then then fast forward, I gothired by a welfare company that
was in small business lendingand then really saw credit
really impacts that and thenthat led me to become a broker
for a little bit and the peoplewould say, oh, I'm tired of
these hiring business loans.
I would ask them which creditscore.
A lot of them would say, oh, itwas being low sixes or high
(23:37):
fives and I'm like, well, unlessyou change that, you're not
going to get the business as youwant.
So I started referring to theother company that would fix the
personal in their businesscredit and then moved to
Winchester, virginia, and so mygirlfriend lives here.
So that's why I got here firstoff, didn't have anything here.
I came here I didn't have a job.
I had insurance license, I knewa processor.
(23:59):
I didn't know anybody.
I had no car, nothing, badcredit still.
Then I started to grow up, havea small business again called
up cold calling banks herelocally, back calling Maryland.
One lady beggars like hey, I'llsend you business, any business
, but left me in person mygirlfriend at the time she still
was saying I'm sorry, she stillwas saying girlfriend was
saying my girlfriend at that mygirlfriend, luckily, fortunate
(24:20):
at the time had a new car, shutme right, driving an hour and a
half away meet with his banker,sat down and talked to him in
business card I'm a now businesspartner and decided to jump
headfirst into credit then.
That's why I got into it thenand learned way more to the game
that I realized to basically towhere I'm at today that's
(24:42):
awesome, but what sets you apartfrom my other financial and
credit repair services?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I tell people the truth yeah, um, we do that.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Uh, we tell people the truth.
I tell them look, my intentionis to help you understand this,
versus fix it and go away.
Two, we provide our clientslifetime protection and credit,
meaning, once you're done withthe process, stay with us as a
client.
Anything that's happenedbecause again it follows you for
life We'll dispute, help youout without you paying anything
extra to pocket.
(25:13):
You're covered on that.
Three, I'm also a certifiedlife coach, so I provide
coaching for my clients If theywant it, truly dive deeper into
the root causes of what you gotin the first place.
So we don't address that again.
Credit payers are a band-aid.
Let's dive into that and giveyou more resource.
Let's have a big network ofpeople helping you out with
legal stuff.
Like you, I have one client ofmine that helped me build a
(25:35):
resume, found something likethat, and then out of that we're
collaborating now to do morebusiness, to help do financial
literacy for adults.
We have that.
So if you need something a newrealtor, loan officer I'm going
to hook you up.
I can't do somethingcredit-wise.
I know someone that can.
You're good.
It's not just us, it's me andthe entire network to help you
out.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah, Absolutely, and that's why collaboration is the
key to success.
You have partners and you'reworking together.
That's how you work together asfar as collaborating with each
other.
So let me ask you somethingelse, and then we'll wind it
down, because I want you toshare the links I'm going to put
it on the show notes of wherethey can get their credit scores
as well.
So how has your role as ceoinvolved in the company's
(26:15):
inception?
I think we already talked aboutthat a little bit.
But your team you have a teamthat you work with, right, you
work with everybody as far as umthe collaboration.
But how has your role as a ceoinvolved into your company's
inception?
I think you said that in thebeginning, right?
Speaker 3 (26:33):
yeah, I would say, because the company wasn't
started by me.
It started by my businesspartner back in 2010.
So I came on board in 2019 andfirst became official managing
partner in 2020, right beforethe pandemic happened.
It's crazy.
My role has changed becauseI've learned that people need
(26:57):
more.
I'm repeating myself, but I dothis because it's important.
People need more help than justcritical.
They really do need thataccountability to guide them
through things, because lifehappens, things happen.
The economy has been the best,there's challenge, all these
things be like, look like.
Let's work more closely so Ican help you to realize the
(27:18):
power within you to help changethings in your life.
That way, as we come together,it's not just two rockets, it's
ends up being three or fourtimes as fast and really seeing
that people need that.
Help with bond to literacy,really need help with.
Okay, before we talk aboutbudgeting the money you get,
(27:41):
where is it going?
Let's be where we're at first,because your credit is a
reflection of your financialbehavior.
Your financial behavior is areflection of your beliefs and
all this other stuff, andrealize that people need more
help if they want it.
And that's the hard part people.
It's meaning, hey, I havethings I need to work on, but
I'm not sure if I want it.
And that's the hard part,people.
It's meaning, hey, I havethings that I work on, but I'm
not sure if I want to admit thatto somebody, because it's a
personal thing and I understandit.
But if you do that, everythingelse changes dramatically for
(28:04):
you.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
And that makes sense.
That makes sense.
So what are your future goalsfor A1 Solutions?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
So the future goal I have for this year, I'm going to
have this setup where I'm goingto take a step back.
I'm not going to stop doing it,but I'll have a sales team
handling things, helping withtheir credit, doing more small
business funding, and that'swhere it's running and growing
without me having to be there atpresent time, Because what I'm
(28:32):
doing this year is in thetransitioning that's happening.
I have another business, a lifecoaching business called
Infinite Power Coaching, and Ihave a product podcast for that.
We're doing more of that and Ialso have worked on and launched
a men's course.
So I'm nutrition doing that andso that's what I'm moving on to
.
But you know I'm never going todrop this because it's still
(29:00):
needed everywhere.
Everywhere I go, people like toknow hey, we have a podcast.
I know there's other things andit's just something I'm like I
can't drop, but I like justhelping people out.
I was like, let me tell youthat there's light in the sun on
your suit, which is not thatbad.
You know about this, I had noidea.
You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
And that's what it's about is sharing your knowledge,
your information, with people.
So what legacy do you hope A1Solutions Group leaves behind?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
I've never thought of that.
That's a good question.
What legacy?
I would say just helping peoplebeyond, helping people to
empower them to maintain theircredit and have the change they
want in their how, change theywant in their lives financially,
and know that they can achievetheir financial goals and way
(29:42):
more.
They're not stuck.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Not getting stuck, but you can.
What do you call it?
A setback to have a comeback iswhat I call it, exactly, yeah,
so thank you so much, matt, forbeing on the show.
So tell people how they can getin touch with you.
I'm going to put this in.
You can send that to me as well.
Put it on the show notes, aswell as tips and something, and
also I had a considerablecoaching call with you.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Oh, perfect If they want to get a hold of me.
It should still be up.
You can go to speakwithmattinfo.
No need to put in trip Wbecause if you do it won't work.
I don't know why.
But speakwithmattnfl.
That'll take you directly to mycalendar link.
We'll go through a minute call.
We'll resume.
You can do that.
You can also go to our websiteat wwwa1solutionsgroupcom I'm
(30:27):
going to say it again becauseit's for the group A number one,
not spelled justa1solutionsgroupcom, not spelled
just A1SolutionsGroupcom.
And then you can useMySquaredQcom to get your credit
report or do it the free way.
Either way it's stillbeneficial.
You need to see everything onthere.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Awesome.
Thank you so much, matt,because this is definitely
needed for us to start this newyear.
I appreciate you being on theReady Set Collaborate podcast
Listen audience.
Definitely get in touch withMatt and I'm going to put his
information in the show notes,but make sure you follow,
download and share theseepisodes, especially with Matt.
(31:07):
This is a new year, 2025.
We've got to start getting ourstuff in order and this is a
great way to get our stuff inorder as far as your credit,
financially, your goals to helpyou start the new year off.
Matt, thanks again for being onthis on the podcast.
I appreciate it.
I am on all podcast platformsReady set collaborate with Wanda
(31:28):
Pearson.
Thank you so much, matt.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Thank you, aminah, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Thank you for tuning into this episode of Ready Set
Collaborate.
For more information about thehost head to
WDPearsonAssociatescom andthat's P-E-A-R-S-O-N.
Want to connect?
Send an email to Wanda atWDPearsonAssociatescom.
(31:52):
At WDPearsonAssociatescom.
And, as always, stay tuned forthe next episode of Ready Set
Collaborating.
Welcome to Ready Set Collaborate podcast with Rhonda
Pearson, where we will dive deepinto the world of networking,
collaboration and partnership,unlocking the secrets to a
successful team working withininnovation.
Whether you're an entrepreneur,a creative professional or just
someone eager to understand thepower of networking and
(00:23):
collaboration, this podcast isyour go-to resource.
Join us as we explore thestories, strategies and insights
from experts, entrepreneurs andthought leaders who have
experienced the magic ofnetworking and collaboration to
achieve successful results.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Tune in to Ready.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Set Collaborate podcast on a journey towards
achieving your goals with hostWanda Pearson.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Welcome.
Welcome to the Ready SetCollaborate podcast with Wanda
Pearson and my guest, mattDillingham.
I am so excited to have Matt onthis show because this is a new
year, 2025, that we need to getour stuff in order, which means
our credit, our finances, allof that.
So that's why I want to do thatstart the beginning of the year
, to get our stuff together asfar as getting our finances,
(01:16):
credit report, credit together,getting your will done.
All of that stuff is soimportant to get started the
right way.
So I want to introduce you tomy guest, matt Dillingham.
Say hi to the audience, matt.
Hey, everybody, glad to be here.
Yeah, matt, we were justtalking about the weather.
(01:36):
Matt is in Virginia, so he'sgot a lot colder weather and
snow than we do.
I'm so excited to have him hereand share his expertise on
credit reporting and financesand that's so important, right.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Very.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, and I thought about Matt.
I said because we did actuallya webinar together about two
years ago.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, it's been that long.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, oh wow, and we did, and we did.
Yeah, it was yeah, oh wow, andwe did, and we did.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So a lot of people.
It's January.
We did a lot of spending forChristmas.
I know I got six grandkids andI said I wasn't going to do it.
And I did it and I said, OK,I'm not doing this again.
I said it last year, I'm notgoing to do it again and I
(02:25):
credit in order and paying offcredit down my credit is so
important to me because mycredit report is very important
and I want to make sure that Istay up in those 800s and you
can get there too, with Matt'shelp, by repairing and improving
your credit score.
Let me talk a little bit aboutMatt.
Matt Dillingham is a formerMarine.
He served from 2006 to 2012.
While in the Marine Corps, hegraduated with a degree in
family studies from theUniversity of Maryland at
(02:46):
College Park.
He is also an award-winningauthor and a co-author of the
book Born to Risk.
Though he did not followthrough with his major after
college, that choice of majorstarted his journey of
self-development, which led himto the world of credit.
Matt is a spiritual person thateverything is energy and that
(03:08):
to change one's life, to simplychanging your energy within that
and filling out the emotionsthat come up to you.
He is currently the COO of A1Solutions Group and enjoys
teaching people not just abouthow credit works, but how the
power of credit can change one'sfinancial reality for the
better.
Matt, thank you so much forcoming to my Ready Set
(03:30):
Collaborate podcast.
I'm so excited to have you here.
Matt, tell us a little bit moreabout you that I haven't talked
about already.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm going to summarize my journey in a bit.
I guess I'll start with somefunny things.
My favorite film of all time isTop Gun, the first one.
I've been watching that since Iwas three years old, since 1988
.
I don't know why.
It's always stuck with me, saysa little bit.
I'm a big advocate for health.
(03:59):
I exercise six days a week.
I do the cold showers in themorning for three minutes.
I don't side up.
It helps me wake up.
That really helps with whenwaking you up puts you in a
better mood.
It's healthy for you.
And I've got a point where it'sI have it now, or if I don't do
it, I feel weird, which isinteresting.
So there's that side and reallybig on the inner development
(04:21):
work.
Because at the end of the day,whether you're trying to change
your credit, fix your finances,change your health, whatever
your outer world is simply areflection of what's going on
inside, and too many of us wantto change the external, which
makes sense.
You have to understand that you, it's what's going on the
inside.
The beliefs you had, the wayyou're looking at things,
perceiving stuff, was what'scausing the outside.
So you gotta work on that firstand and then from there
(04:43):
everything else can flow andfollow.
And it's not that point.
It won't be some sort ofchallenge, just kind of
adjusting and getting new tochange and making more autopilot
at that point.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Absolutely that cold shower.
That seems too cold with thiscold weather out here now, you
know what, though?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I'll tell you what it's best to do it now, because
it's colder, but it prepares youbetter for the weather.
The easy thing is, I'll do itin the summertime, of course,
it's hot, it's humid.
In the wintertime, though,that's where you have to go,
alright, but it does wake you up.
But then, after about twominutes, your body adjusts to it
(05:22):
and so you do feel warm.
Trust me, the first two minutessuck, and I'm gonna lie, I'd be
like why ain't this thing?
But then, after about twominutes, I've noticed it's like,
all of a sudden, you feel thislike adjustment or calm come
over you and you go when you'relike oh I, I can do this, and it
feels in this difficult, yourbody heating up.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It's a whole bunch of benefits, yeah, but better than
coffee say that much god blessyou, so you could have that one
yeah, I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
It's interesting.
It helps me so much.
Endurance all this.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Let's go for it, yeah no, and that's what's important
as far as what you're used to,how long you've been doing that
for oh, when did I start?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I think?
I think the that's a goodquestion.
I would say about two years,because I started with listening
to.
I forgot how I got introducedto the windmoth, windmoth,
windmoth method.
Let's say I listened to theaudiobook and he sells you very
hard and taking a cold shower, Iwas like all right, fine.
So started out gradually.
Like he says, do 30 seconds,you do that for a week, then you
(06:27):
bump it to another threeseconds.
So after three, four weeksyou're at like a couple minutes.
So I initially was doing it.
I would take my word to theshower and then end with the
cold and then after a while Iwas like I forget why.
I'll listen to the joe roganpodcast and see if they've seen,
see other people on YouTube.
I wanted to.
I got into, I haven't done oneyet.
(06:47):
The cold plunge was like muchcolder and Joe Rogan only talks
about it three minutes.
I hate it Sucks, but once I'mout I'm better.
I feel happier, better mood.
I was like all right.
So then I was like let me justdo three minutes of cold shower
instead and start my day thatway.
It really does make a bigdifference.
You're like, oh, I feel happier, don't?
(07:09):
I don't?
It's pretty how that works, butyou will have better mood.
Look, I feel better, wow great,that's great.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Now, people, now you see, this is another way to get
your mind together yeah, it does, because they're no.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
And the serious laugh that last I'll say about this,
because typically what I do I'llhave I'll take an energy shot
or some cream to help keep mybody going to work out.
There have been times when I'mit's the energy shots hit me and
I'm sitting there I'm like I'mjust not, I'm just not right.
Then I take a little shower andthen I just first there's more.
I got out and I was like yo,let's go, let's, let's do this,
(07:42):
let's go get it worked.
I was like there's a need tokick.
So that means that for me, mybody's, we need to do this so we
can fully get going that'sawesome that's awesome, that's
awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So let's get into the meat of the ground here why,
why we're here, and that wassome good information as far as
that, too, here.
Yeah, so can you explain whatcredit report repair is and how
it works?
So what credit repair is andhow it works.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
So what credit repair is?
I'll say, ok, no, let me just.
I'll tell you what it's not.
It's not a miracle.
People please stop coming to ushoping that I'm going to snap
my fingers, you're going to bethe 700, 800.
That's not how it works.
We I just.
That's not what it is.
What credit repair is at leastthe way I define it it's, first
(08:28):
and foremost, educating you oncredit how it works.
What it's not taught, just likefinancial literacy educating
you what is how it works right.
Then also, in addition to that,it's disputing the negative
items on your credit report,meaning our inquiries, late
payments, collections, charge ofbankruptcies, to get deleted
(08:50):
off the file.
It can also include, if need be, settling on certain accounts,
like charge of collectionsmethodology, that where,
depending on who, you would havea resource they call it debt
recontracting their debtsettlement to where they look at
(09:10):
what's going on, castviolations by the debt
collectors to get to then settleon it or, if any case, get that
wave and and depending on whatthe debt collector may have done
, you may give money back overto you and get out of the room
again.
This is an imagined pill.
It's by understanding yourrights, everything else.
So that way.
If you have to go through that,I'm gonna tell you how it works,
(09:33):
because when we're done, youhave to maintain it.
It's a lifelong thing.
It does not, being a factoryline, unfortunately, and that's
what how I would say it's saying.
Here's what it it is that works.
Here's what we're going to dofor you, to help get you where
you want to be and then maintainit afterward.
That way, should anything elsehappen to you down the line, I'm
going to work with you versusfor a lot of people A lot of
(09:54):
people in my space will not saythis.
A lot of people will get theircredit fixed.
They'll get to that $700 orthey get the car, what they want
, and then about six monthslater right back where they were
prior.
Yep, that's gonna get it.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And again it's like stop doing that, because it just
makes it harder to keep goingfrom that point on oh,
absolutely, and that wasactually one of the things I was
going to ask you about thecommon misconceptions about
credit repaid services.
I think you just answered thatquestion there no, no, there's
another one one.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
No, there is a common misconception.
People think credit repair,some people think that it's the
same as debt consolidation orlike paying off debt, and it's
not.
Those are two different things,three different things.
So it's not the same because,if you don't know, I'm not
negotiating with the creditorunless it comes down to it, and
I will say this to you as well.
If you do that collectioncharge off, there is a
(10:46):
possibility.
I don't know the chance, butI'd say this sometimes people do
get sued by the originalcreditor of the debt collector
because they can do that.
But again, even happens.
You have rights and how to umnavigate that, because what most
people do?
They see the court summons andthey go nope, and it's not.
You don't do it because they'regoing to show up for court.
(11:08):
You're not going to show up.
The judge will be all right,default judgment.
You were in your favor.
When you can avoid court, maybecome out some whatever
settlement and then also, inaddition to asking for a paper
deletion and then get it off andthen you're good to go.
You have to understand, doesn'tmatter what this, what the
situation, you have rights.
Know that when it comes to thisand give it the right resource,
(11:31):
and if I'm not a lawyer, I'llsay it's not a lawyer, but I
have resources that specializein this area.
I will help you with that byreferring to them, because
they'll be to tell you x, y andz do this, you're good people
been happy and they're like,thinking like.
You're welcome.
You do not need to stress aboutthis.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Sorry for the long tangent no, that's good, and you
can refer them to me, becausethat's what we do the legal
shield but, there's so manyother things people don't know
about.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
You're about debt collector violations and I'm
like you won't know this stuffand I'm like it's insane no,
absolutely, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So let me ask you another question.
So how does credit impact aperson's financial opportunities
, such as home ownership orbusiness?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
loans.
Yeah, credit, not no longer issomething that denies you
chances to get loan money like apersonal loan.
Most people are saying, hey, Ihave to.
If you don't have good credit,it's hard to rent an apartment,
but you can forget getting amortgage.
And if you do get a mortgage, alittle credit score, you'll pay
an arm and a leg and then someto get it.
(12:32):
You'll come with so much moneytable and then also there's so
many conditions they have put inplace.
Don't do that, just put in timeto come.
That way, if you get at least620, you can qualify for certain
programs.
Also, depending on your job andwhat you get, it's so much
better.
There's that it can cost youmore money with, depending on
the state.
They're changing this.
(12:53):
Homeowner's insurance, carinsurance, life insurance,
health insurance I don't agreewith it.
But I'm thinking of my drivingrecord should be the factor in
my insurance premiums, notbecause if you can't pay your
bills you're like screw it, Idon't care, I dropped today and
just go crazy on the road.
(13:13):
That's two of the things thatmakes argument is a correlation
Sure there is, I see that, a lotof insurance.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
auto insurance companies are now checking your
credit.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yeah, they do, and it's not like it's a huge impact
with some influence that youwant to lower it.
There's that.
Hospitals run your credit.
It's a soft pull even to havehealth insurance, because people
forget hospitals are business.
If they got to do whatever theygot to do, they want to make
sure they're going to get somemoney back or whatever, because
they do that.
It's a soft pull, but there'sthat.
(13:42):
The other thing I want to tellpeople is that credit can also
deny you opportunity to makemore money.
Jobs check, your creditsoftball, depending on the
industry.
You can be denied gettingcertain appointments with
certain insurance companies.
Credit clearances can be denied.
You can lose your job due toyour credit, also depending on
what career you're in, whetheryou're in the government, where
(14:03):
you, what career?
Where you're living, whereyou're from the government,
military, certain things, oreven in the medical field.
Due to your bad credit, you canbe denied a lateral move or
even a promotion.
Wow, yeah, so it's not just likeyou can't get money, it's be
alone, but you can now havethings to make money, because,
(14:24):
at the end of the day, whatpeople don't understand is that
when you, if you get bad credit,they're judging you based on
what's on paper and you have tolook at your own file, which is
hard to do for a lot of peoplebecause it's scary.
I get that, I've been there.
You have to understand ifyou're showing up, if your
credit is represented andshowing collections charge of
late teams, all these things.
What you're saying is characterwise, I don't care to pay my
creditors and people back on atimely manner.
(14:44):
Then people think, okay, if Ipay this collection charge off,
I'll be good.
No, because then what happens isit gets updated being a paid
collection charge off.
Then again they look at it andthen they think so you didn't
want to pay anyone back untilyou defaulted on these accounts,
or you paid it back because yougot sued.
So I'm supposed to look to youto loan you money or hire you
(15:07):
for my company, because guesswhat?
To be true, he who has the goldmakes the rules, or he who pays
you the money makes the rules.
So if they want you with acertain character financially,
they can do that.
I don't care who did it, butI'm not the employer.
So that's what I have to lookat.
So how do you look on paper?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
That is so true.
So I got so many things thatyou're going to have to come
back on my show.
I know, apart from you right,there's a lot to this, it's not
just like credits, Like oh no.
No, it's a lot, but yeah.
So what are the first stepssomeone should take to improve
their credit score and what aresome of the common mistakes that
they make trying to fix theirown credit?
(15:45):
I know there's a two-in-onequestionnaire.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I know, but one of them I just mentioned is paying
the collection charge off.
So they don't have to.
That's one.
But before let's step back, thefirst thing you have to and
again this is the hardest forsome people because it's a scary
step WithHandlingCreditReportcom they now
allow you to pull your creditreport once a week for free.
Do all three bureaus.
Do not pay for your score.
There's a reason behind.
(16:09):
They did that because Congressrequired them to do this back in
the 90s and the bureaus werelike that's not fair.
How can we make money?
Oh, we'll charge them for theircredit scores.
So don't do it.
Or, if you don't want to dothat, you can use, you can pay
for credit monitoring.
That gives you all threebureaus, not credit karma trash.
(16:31):
We use my score if yourecommend that, or you use my
fico is going to get fico score,which is by 90 of companies on
the stage you get all threebureaus.
You need to get all threereports and start looking at on
that.
And then you want to look atjust four tiers your credit
report, four tiers personalinformation, hard inquiries,
your accounts and public record.
You want to look at all thatinformation and the personal
information will contain yourname, variation of your name,
(16:53):
birth date, phone number, social, current address, old addresses
you've worked at, old employeesyou worked at and you want to
look at that and go, okay, is myname spelled correctly?
Do I have names in my heart?
Mine is my birth date.
Do I have more than one social?
Are my current addressescorrect?
That happens on the oldaddresses too.
Some people have addresses onit that they've never lived at.
I have one client who did thisprocess when we had people
(17:16):
calling the bureaus to updatethis and I don't know one bureau
had him for his name, had himlisted as a state highway for
his name.
This stuff happens and we'lltell you.
So you want to go through thatand clean that up, to have one
name was listed on your socialsecurity card one current
address, one correct social, noold addresses, one current
(17:40):
report.
That way you look clean againabout paper Two, look at your
hard inquiries.
You can dispute those as well.
See which ones are again yoursor not yours.
You can see them anyway.
Otherwise they stand for 10years.
Then comes the accounts,whichever focuses on.
Look at your accounts, look atthe payment history.
This is also important becausethat one portion I was speaking
(18:01):
with.
They had fraud.
They had a collection on therethat they didn't sign for from
department complex that theynever lived at.
Somehow someone got theinformation and then they some
other stuff too was nuts thathappens.
Go through all those at youraccount.
Great, is it a charge ofcollection?
That's fine.
Go through all of them, go okay.
Then look at the public record.
(18:22):
Anything in there, no awesome.
From there you have to look atokay, what can I dispute late
payments, collection charge-offs, hard inquiries.
Then the other side to it islooking at what do I need to
continue to build upon or add?
Here's how you know if you haveto add new credit when you're
looking at your report and allyou have are collections charged
(18:46):
off and all your accounts areclosed.
Or some people, all they haveare collection charged off.
What happens is people don'tknow this, they dispute stuff,
they get some big completions,their score goes up and it
stagnates because you're notbuilding new credit.
So if you have nothing butnegative items on there, meaning
nothing but collections chargedoff, or you have a combination
of that plus closed accounts,you have to start rebuilding
(19:07):
credit in your name again,because if you don't, the stock
comes off.
The report was stagnant.
You're not building anythingnew.
A great analogy I make is savethe backyard.
And your backyard is filledwith nothing but dead plants and
trees and stuff.
If you clear it out, great, thebackyard is clean.
But unless you plant new,fertile, new soil and seeds and
(19:30):
plants and fertilize andeverything else, nothing new
will grow from there.
You'll have an empty backyard,nothing.
Same thing with credit.
You have to start doing that.
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I agree.
So I'm going to ask you this.
And then we got to get to itbecause I want to get to your
AIMA Solutions Group.
Support for seniors how unique,what unique credit challenges
do seniors face and how can theyovercome them?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Great question, because most people I work with
are mostly between 20 to 50,maybe 60.
And I'll say this For seniorsit's different, because you're
you're like yeah, I'm done withthis, I don't need this anymore.
You've been through it, you'vebeen your light paying tax.
You're like I'm trying to lookforward to just make it to the
end and be chill.
What I can say is this if youhave not stayed on top of your
(20:17):
credit in years, you need tolook at it because again it they
, these companies do not carehow old you are or what you've
done.
The challenge you run into as asenior citizen is that if you've
not maintained your creditscore and it's gone to the
crapper and then you get creditpulled again, you will get
(20:37):
judged.
They're going to look at youand go.
You're 65, 70 years old.
Why is your credit terrible?
They will not say this to you.
They'll think that and thenthey'll be like goodbye.
There was one guy we were tryingto work with didn't work out
because this character was shewas insane, she would cuss me
out.
So it was weird.
I was like don't hate me, buthe was 75, he was a veteran
trying to get a house 580 deniedand I'm like, okay, let's help
(21:00):
him, but they didn't care.
It does not matter, unlessyou're like wealthy as anything
at that point, which most peoplearen't you still need to
maintain it and just look at itand just stay on top of it.
But from what I've heard frommost people who are older, they
understand credit report andthey'll stay on top of it.
They'll be in the 800s highestin the 100s and they won't apply
for a damn thing.
(21:20):
They're like nope, unless youpay the money for it.
Then I understand that.
That makes sense.
You want to use my credit?
How much do you want to pay forit?
It's gold, it's priceless.
That's what I would say, seniorcitizens.
Someone wants to pay you forusing credit.
Charge them money Because themoney will come back to them.
They need to pay you for yourtime, effort and the discipline
(21:45):
yeah, which you can do your time, effort and the discipline yeah
, which you can do.
Actually, here's the money hack,senior citizens.
You want to make a section ofmoney.
You can add people as anauthorized user to your credit
card.
You can charge monthly howevermuch money you want, the card
that comes to you.
Don't give it to them, theydon't need it and then it goes
in their file.
It's great you want to do that.
If you don't give it to them,they don't need it.
(22:06):
And then it goes in their filethrough school grade.
You want to do that.
You're in 800s and stuff.
You got good credit cards.
Never been late.
Balance is paid off, cool.
I ask them seriously how muchyou want for it.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And look them dead in the eye.
And I was going to say because alot of seniors get scammed,
yeah, and also some of them arestruggling with medical bills or
credit predatory lending yeah.
So that's something that theyhave to look out to.
So it's always good for them tocheck their credit report to
make sure that's you that'sdoing this here, definitely.
(22:37):
So let's talk about becausewe're winding down time I told
you I had to have you back onhere.
I told you I'd have you back onhere.
Let's talk about A1 SolutionsGroup, which you're the CEO.
What inspired you to start yourjourney in the financial
services or credit repairindustry?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Okay, 2013, I was 27 years old and I was at the
bankruptcy courts in green bed,maryland, going bankrupt at 27.
That was a humbling momentbecause I thought, for every
reason that had that moment intime, only people in their 40s,
50s and 60s declared bankruptcydue to medical bills.
I think here I was, 27, provedmyself wrong real hard, so that
(23:14):
started me down the journey.
I got certified with creditpair.
Then then fast forward, I gothired by a welfare company that
was in small business lendingand then really saw credit
really impacts that and thenthat led me to become a broker
for a little bit and the peoplewould say, oh, I'm tired of
these hiring business loans.
I would ask them which creditscore.
A lot of them would say, oh, itwas being low sixes or high
(23:37):
fives and I'm like, well, unlessyou change that, you're not
going to get the business as youwant.
So I started referring to theother company that would fix the
personal in their businesscredit and then moved to
Winchester, virginia, and so mygirlfriend lives here.
So that's why I got here firstoff, didn't have anything here.
I came here I didn't have a job.
I had insurance license, I knewa processor.
(23:59):
I didn't know anybody.
I had no car, nothing, badcredit still.
Then I started to grow up, havea small business again called
up cold calling banks herelocally, back calling Maryland.
One lady beggars like hey, I'llsend you business, any business
, but left me in person mygirlfriend at the time she still
was saying I'm sorry, she stillwas saying girlfriend was
saying my girlfriend at that mygirlfriend, luckily, fortunate
(24:20):
at the time had a new car, shutme right, driving an hour and a
half away meet with his banker,sat down and talked to him in
business card I'm a now businesspartner and decided to jump
headfirst into credit then.
That's why I got into it thenand learned way more to the game
that I realized to basically towhere I'm at today that's
(24:42):
awesome, but what sets you apartfrom my other financial and
credit repair services?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I tell people the truth yeah, um, we do that.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Uh, we tell people the truth.
I tell them look, my intentionis to help you understand this,
versus fix it and go away.
Two, we provide our clientslifetime protection and credit,
meaning, once you're done withthe process, stay with us as a
client.
Anything that's happenedbecause again it follows you for
life We'll dispute, help youout without you paying anything
extra to pocket.
(25:13):
You're covered on that.
Three, I'm also a certifiedlife coach, so I provide
coaching for my clients If theywant it, truly dive deeper into
the root causes of what you gotin the first place.
So we don't address that again.
Credit payers are a band-aid.
Let's dive into that and giveyou more resource.
Let's have a big network ofpeople helping you out with
legal stuff.
Like you, I have one client ofmine that helped me build a
(25:35):
resume, found something likethat, and then out of that we're
collaborating now to do morebusiness, to help do financial
literacy for adults.
We have that.
So if you need something a newrealtor, loan officer I'm going
to hook you up.
I can't do somethingcredit-wise.
I know someone that can.
You're good.
It's not just us, it's me andthe entire network to help you
out.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah, Absolutely, and that's why collaboration is the
key to success.
You have partners and you'reworking together.
That's how you work together asfar as collaborating with each
other.
So let me ask you somethingelse, and then we'll wind it
down, because I want you toshare the links I'm going to put
it on the show notes of wherethey can get their credit scores
as well.
So how has your role as ceoinvolved in the company's
(26:15):
inception?
I think we already talked aboutthat a little bit.
But your team you have a teamthat you work with, right, you
work with everybody as far as umthe collaboration.
But how has your role as a ceoinvolved into your company's
inception?
I think you said that in thebeginning, right?
Speaker 3 (26:33):
yeah, I would say, because the company wasn't
started by me.
It started by my businesspartner back in 2010.
So I came on board in 2019 andfirst became official managing
partner in 2020, right beforethe pandemic happened.
It's crazy.
My role has changed becauseI've learned that people need
(26:57):
more.
I'm repeating myself, but I dothis because it's important.
People need more help than justcritical.
They really do need thataccountability to guide them
through things, because lifehappens, things happen.
The economy has been the best,there's challenge, all these
things be like, look like.
Let's work more closely so Ican help you to realize the
(27:18):
power within you to help changethings in your life.
That way, as we come together,it's not just two rockets, it's
ends up being three or fourtimes as fast and really seeing
that people need that.
Help with bond to literacy,really need help with.
Okay, before we talk aboutbudgeting the money you get,
(27:41):
where is it going?
Let's be where we're at first,because your credit is a
reflection of your financialbehavior.
Your financial behavior is areflection of your beliefs and
all this other stuff, andrealize that people need more
help if they want it.
And that's the hard part people.
It's meaning, hey, I havethings I need to work on, but
I'm not sure if I want it.
And that's the hard part,people.
It's meaning, hey, I havethings that I work on, but I'm
not sure if I want to admit thatto somebody, because it's a
personal thing and I understandit.
But if you do that, everythingelse changes dramatically for
(28:04):
you.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
And that makes sense.
That makes sense.
So what are your future goalsfor A1 Solutions?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
So the future goal I have for this year, I'm going to
have this setup where I'm goingto take a step back.
I'm not going to stop doing it,but I'll have a sales team
handling things, helping withtheir credit, doing more small
business funding, and that'swhere it's running and growing
without me having to be there atpresent time, Because what I'm
(28:32):
doing this year is in thetransitioning that's happening.
I have another business, a lifecoaching business called
Infinite Power Coaching, and Ihave a product podcast for that.
We're doing more of that and Ialso have worked on and launched
a men's course.
So I'm nutrition doing that andso that's what I'm moving on to
.
But you know I'm never going todrop this because it's still
(29:00):
needed everywhere.
Everywhere I go, people like toknow hey, we have a podcast.
I know there's other things andit's just something I'm like I
can't drop, but I like justhelping people out.
I was like, let me tell youthat there's light in the sun on
your suit, which is not thatbad.
You know about this, I had noidea.
You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
And that's what it's about is sharing your knowledge,
your information, with people.
So what legacy do you hope A1Solutions Group leaves behind?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
I've never thought of that.
That's a good question.
What legacy?
I would say just helping peoplebeyond, helping people to
empower them to maintain theircredit and have the change they
want in their how, change theywant in their lives financially,
and know that they can achievetheir financial goals and way
(29:42):
more.
They're not stuck.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Not getting stuck, but you can.
What do you call it?
A setback to have a comeback iswhat I call it, exactly, yeah,
so thank you so much, matt, forbeing on the show.
So tell people how they can getin touch with you.
I'm going to put this in.
You can send that to me as well.
Put it on the show notes, aswell as tips and something, and
also I had a considerablecoaching call with you.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Oh, perfect If they want to get a hold of me.
It should still be up.
You can go to speakwithmattinfo.
No need to put in trip Wbecause if you do it won't work.
I don't know why.
But speakwithmattnfl.
That'll take you directly to mycalendar link.
We'll go through a minute call.
We'll resume.
You can do that.
You can also go to our websiteat wwwa1solutionsgroupcom I'm
(30:27):
going to say it again becauseit's for the group A number one,
not spelled justa1solutionsgroupcom, not spelled
just A1SolutionsGroupcom.
And then you can useMySquaredQcom to get your credit
report or do it the free way.
Either way it's stillbeneficial.
You need to see everything onthere.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Awesome.
Thank you so much, matt,because this is definitely
needed for us to start this newyear.
I appreciate you being on theReady Set Collaborate podcast
Listen audience.
Definitely get in touch withMatt and I'm going to put his
information in the show notes,but make sure you follow,
download and share theseepisodes, especially with Matt.
(31:07):
This is a new year, 2025.
We've got to start getting ourstuff in order and this is a
great way to get our stuff inorder as far as your credit,
financially, your goals to helpyou start the new year off.
Matt, thanks again for being onthis on the podcast.
I appreciate it.
I am on all podcast platformsReady set collaborate with Wanda
(31:28):
Pearson.
Thank you so much, matt.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Thank you, aminah, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Thank you for tuning into this episode of Ready Set
Collaborate.
For more information about thehost head to
WDPearsonAssociatescom andthat's P-E-A-R-S-O-N.
Want to connect?
Send an email to Wanda atWDPearsonAssociatescom.
(31:52):
At WDPearsonAssociatescom.
And, as always, stay tuned forthe next episode of Ready Set
Collaborating.
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