My dream was always to own my own business—be my own boss. I made it. I now work from my home, consulting on “green” solutions for other businesses. I love my work, and the fact that I’m helping the planet, too. But, my personal finances need real help. I have really high credit card balances because I used my cards for starting up the business and have never managed to pay down the balances. In the first couple of years of my business, I goofed up my bookkeeping, too. So, I’m slowly paying off some back taxes that I owe, on top of credit card balances.

I’m older now and wiser with my business, too, I hope. My wife and I want to start a family. But, we want to buy a home first. With the credit issues I have had, I didn’t think we would qualify for a mortgage since lenders would consider both of our credit histories together when applying for a loan. I felt bad that my credit problems would taint my wife’s good credit history. My wife disagreed that our situation was hopeless. So, we sat down with a lender to see if there was a solution for us. More >