The housing crisis in 2008 made life harder for a lot of people, but my family’s personal storm didn’t arrive until the years after, in which we were unable to find consistent employment. Without the generational support structures many take for granted, and unaware of better options, we started using credit cards to keep up with our ever-growing expenses.
This stopped the bleeding for a time, but it didn’t heal the wounds. Even after the worst had passed, and we paid off our debts and collections, our credit score had taken a steep dive and unlike a loan, it wasn’t something we could simply pay our way out of. Despite the fact that we had 0 outstanding debt and no prior history of credit problems, we couldn’t qualify for credit at any major bank, and this affected our lives drastically.
We started City Lending Centers to ensure that other families will not go through their financial stuggles alone.
Margaret Adekunle worked in the banking industry for 20 years and she was a Branch Manager for 11 years at 5 different banks. She has a wealth of knowledge in personal finance, credit literacy and she is a Canadian Certified Inclusion Professional. She has an MBA from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops BC.
Ben Adekunle has over 12 years experience in IT Project Management.
