Episode 17-The Credit Diva Starring Dalle Garcia

Join Host Attorney Steve Wallace and Co-Host Celena Muzic both of The Wallace Law Group, PL as they are joined by the Credit Diva Dalle Garcia of Gold Crown Credit

Topics include:
Dalle's educational and professional background
What is Credit? 
How do you obtain Personal and Business Credit?
How do you utilize and increase Credit?
What is Credit Repair?
How do you obtain Personal and Business Credit with Bad Credit or No Credit?
What is the Process to Maximize Business Credit?
What we learned from the Great Recession
Pop Culture Banter
Lightning Round

Purchase Merch!
attorneysarehumantoo.printify.me

Transcript

Steve Wallace 0:17

we have a special treat today. We are joined by Dalai Garcia.

Dalle Garcia 0:21

Hey, hi everybody. Thank you for having me.

Steve Wallace 0:26

So today we're going to talk about an extremely important topic, credit, how to use it. How to preserve it, how to increase it. And most of all, how to repair it. Cause all folks, especially during these trying financial times, folks are folks predator getting strained. but before we do that, we want to learn more about ms. Garcia. so ms. Garcia, could you tell us, where you grew up in a little bit about your childhood and your educational experiences?

Dalle Garcia 0:53

Definitely. my name is Dolly Garcia, born and raised in the Bronx. my mom she's from the Dominican Republic. So I grew up in a Dominican household and I was like one of the first ones American. So I was like one of the children that I would have to be like, what does this mean? This letter, when they get in the mail, I was like the go to and encourage, you have to get to education. You have to get to education. Because, my grandmother coming in the seventies, it was like, that was what they wanted to impose on the family education. So I felt that, living in an apartment, building in the Bronx, I always looked out the window and I used to, I know there's gotta be a better world, a bigger, much bigger things and things that I can experience. And I wanted that for myself and for my family. So after I figured out the best way to do it was through education. So that's why I was always like, Excelling at school, in the public school arena in the Bronx was not the greatest, it taught me how to be tough. It taught me how to be on point. it gives you an edge, but I also did all I could do academically to Excel. And that's how, I became like a straight, a student that led to skipping the eighth grade. I went from seventh grade to ninth grade and I was like, okay, I'm going to be an attorney in my house. So they were like, she loves to argue. She wants to be right all the time. She needs to be a lawyer. That's what I was heading

Steve Wallace 2:14

for. If only it was that simple and, but attorneys are human too.

Dalle Garcia 2:20

Exactly. So I said, you know what, I'm going to try to be like, the first person to break, like generational curses and setbacks. Like I know it was hard for my grandmother to bring my mom into the U S and then, I felt like I was responsible and I was the first one out of the family to graduate from college. That's great. So it was like a lot, that I had to learn on my own because, I didn't have any body in my experience or household to help me and say, okay, this is what you're going to expect. Or this is what needs, like I did my own college application. I was just pretty much ahead of the game. And that's what made me like become a reader. Like I was always reading. I love to read. And that's what led me to understand and comprehend things that I had to do. That's

Celena Muzic 2:58

fantastic. I think New York city, it's it. You're right. It makes you tough, but it also, it makes you competitive.

Dalle Garcia 3:06

Yes. Which

Celena Muzic 3:07

I don't see in a lot of other places, I feel like if you were in the educational system in New York city,

Dalle Garcia 3:16

you are

Celena Muzic 3:16

just competitive. You're always competing. You're competing for everything. Yes. You're testing for everything.

Dalle Garcia 3:23

Definitely. Definitely. And then, we had to, we had, at the time, when I graduated from the sixth grade, we had a, like an organization that surprised us. This was when I was in the sixth grade. Like we were at the graduation and they were like, we're going to be sponsoring this class. And we were like, Who are these people? And it was a great organization because it was, it's a nonprofit organization called the, I have a dream foundation. So I've been like a dreamer since then. So they were like, if you guys do what you're supposed to and follow through with finishing your academics and graduating, we will be with you all through all your high school and to college. And they would cover the expense for room and board and tuition. So awesome. So it was like a blessing. I was able to take advantage of that program.

Celena Muzic 4:11

That's great. That's great. And having a Dominican mom, you can't break the rules

Dalle Garcia 4:14

at home.

Steve Wallace 4:16

you and Selena share that you both have a Dominican mom and you're both from New York city. Although she's a Manhattan, not from the boogie down

Celena Muzic 4:25

my mom plays no games. I'm like, I'm an adult. She said, what did you say

Dalle Garcia 4:29

to me? I know. They were very, they're very strict. And the family value, it was so imperative. To be successful because like even though we grew up in the inner Bronx, which was considered the hood, we were not allowed to go outside at a certain time. We were like very strict in the household. it was very strict. And as girls, since I'm the oldest of three girls, we really had to entertain it. And it's if you're going to the store, take your sister with you. You're going together. Everything was together. So that was like, the idea behind the whole family structure, living in the city.

Celena Muzic 5:00

I think Latin families like to do that. Cause I have an older brother and he couldn't go from here to the corner store without taking me. My mom was like, I don't know if you're really going, but you're going to take your sister. Now. You have no choice.

Dalle Garcia 5:17

Okay, so the same thing,

Steve Wallace 5:19

follow the timeline a bit. you were excelling in school and then, you had the, I had a dream foundation, sponsoring you, throughout school. And so after you graduated high school, what was your next step?

Dalle Garcia 5:32

Okay. So I went to John F. Kennedy high school in the Bronx, and I finished there. I don't think that building exists anymore, but it was an interesting experience. from there, we communicated with the foundation. My sponsors specifically were three brothers. They were called the Robinson brothers, Jerry, Bernie and, and, the other one passed away. may he rest in peace, but he was an attorney also. And they will, I just. So amazing because we became like family, like since I was always academically advancing, I was like one of the ones that they always used to choose to do, events like, going to places that you pray that I probably would have never experienced, Because my mom didn't know going to like Arizona. I did like some options. Yeah. Allergy trips out there. That's cool. And I ended up finding like at something called which was like something where used to growing corn, the, the Incas and the Mayans they area. So I did little experiences like that. Like motivational stuff. I remember we did the Princeton. Review scenario where they do like motivational things. So they were very impactful people in my life and we became close. So then when you have a bright future, I'm like, I'm going to be an attorney and you guys are going to be a part of it. So they were all for it. So I went to the, so the first school that I went, so this is where it got weird because most people would say, go to a four year college. And I said, you know why? I don't want to, I was always adventurous, that's it? Yeah. I don't want to be somewhere for years. that's boring to me. I went to SUNY Canton, near Canada, almost. That was like at the tip of New York. Like

Steve Wallace 6:56

I grew up in Syracuse, so I'm familiar. You're like, it's on the border of, yeah,

Dalle Garcia 7:00

it

Steve Wallace 7:01

was very cold. Did you bring your parka and

Dalle Garcia 7:03

your

Celena Muzic 7:04

Steven? No

Dalle Garcia 7:04

suit really called the weather.

Steve Wallace 7:06

Oh yeah. I love it. I love it. That's why I live in Florida now.

Dalle Garcia 7:10

That's so funny, but let me tell you that cold weather, not only that, it was just like a cultural shock because I went somewhere that someone from the Bronx going there, you're like. What is going on up here, cows everywhere.

Steve Wallace 7:20

They're like, what? Who are you, ms. Garcia?

Dalle Garcia 7:27

It's amazing. But I went there for two years. I graduated, I have an associates in business from Canton, but I was able to go to Canada. Quite often, because at the time, since I had graduated early, I was still not quite 21 to alcohol. So I would go up to like Canada to Toronto and

Steve Wallace 7:46

the alcohol is a lot stronger in Canada. That's what I learned when I went to Canada. Yeah. I

Dalle Garcia 7:52

approved. Wow. So it was amazing because I was able to do that and experience things that probably would, I would have not, if I didn't go.

Steve Wallace 8:02

Toronto is actually an amazing city. You could almost, even down in the urban areas, you could almost eat off the sidewalks. They keep

Dalle Garcia 8:09

a place

Steve Wallace 8:11

like New York city. And

Celena Muzic 8:14

definitely not

Steve Wallace 8:15

Yeah,

Dalle Garcia 8:16

Northern Bronx, but, but it was a great experience. So then I said, okay, I'm going to continue. I met some people that were, interesting. I had my first college roommate. Now this was even more interesting. so the, I have a dream foundation, they would pay room and board. You were required to stay for one, one year. At their campus that was

Steve Wallace 8:34

on campus. Yeah.

Dalle Garcia 8:35

That was like the stipulation. but I was so anxious to get my own place. So after that first year I found my own apartment. Yeah,

Steve Wallace 8:43

Naglu And Canton.

Dalle Garcia 8:44

Yeah, no, something like that. It was in a house I remember. And, I was living in the first floor, so they were able to pay my rent and send me the check that they wouldn't normally send to the room and board for the school. So it was like

Steve Wallace 8:57

you made some money off that venture.

Dalle Garcia 8:59

if I would have had done some real estate, maybe rent out the room, but at the time I was just so happy that I didn't have to worry about having to pay rent and I had my own place. So it worked out. So I, I did that and that, so two years then I went to university Albany.

Steve Wallace 9:14

Oh, SUNY, Albany. That's a great school. Yeah.

Dalle Garcia 9:16

I graduated from there. I was thinking about, I'm a little Albany law school, I was entertaining Saint Rose at the time too, but I got a better deal with SUNY Albany. So I ended up. Doing my education there. And, I did well, I ended up having a, my own place too, because of course, once you're living outside of campus, nobody wants to share a bathroom anymore. And yeah, it was awesome. I had a great,

Steve Wallace 9:38

I only want to share a bathroom, my kids these days, I

Dalle Garcia 9:40

don't have a choice. I agree. That's amazing. I did, I have an economics degree. It was hard. I didn't understand econ, the economy, like the way I do now, because a lot of things I had to learn on my own, like credit, for example, even though I was an economic man, that's not part of the curriculum. And I was like, why not? You know what I mean?

Steve Wallace 9:59

Yeah, we're definitely gonna talk in a lot more detail on that one. One of the things Celine and I have had advocated for a long time and something that we're in the process of putting together is we believe that no one should grow. No seniors should graduate straight from high school without like at least an introductory course on credit balancing checkbook. And that those are things that don't exist. at least in Florida, they have an outside provider called junior achievement, which I've talked with, but they don't really go into the nuts, certain depths that we believe. What are your thoughts

Dalle Garcia 10:27

on that?

Celena Muzic 10:28

I totally agree, because I

Dalle Garcia 10:29

was ill prepared. I remember I did get my first credit card in college. That's when they start, soliciting you for cards. And I was just like, Oh, Hey, I'm going to get a thousand dollars. Sure. Let me sign up. And I had no idea about, the time to pay utilization, didn't know any of that. And I was just like, I need to buy something and put gas in the car. This is it. So that was a learning curve on its own. And I pretty much had to fall on my face before I could get out of it to understand what that was and how it impacted me. So I totally agree. And there's anything I can help to be a part of that I would, it would be my pleasure. Absolutely. I had,

Celena Muzic 11:06

I was lucky enough to have parents who really understood finances, cause they always own their businesses. and they went to college as well in New York city.

Steve Wallace 11:15

Yeah. To just the opposite. I'm the first one in my family to graduate college, like you are done.

Celena Muzic 11:20

but, what I noticed over as I got older and started being around more of a Latin community and even coming to Florida and this is before, I've met Steve, but, I used to speak to Latin communities cause I started realizing the land community has absolutely no idea. especially if they just come to this country, the functionality of credit and the importance of it, they don't understand it. And it's, and my mom one day said it's because it doesn't work that way in Latin America. It's just very different. you get credit in Dominican Republic. I believe if you have a house. So

Dalle Garcia 11:59

it's a collateral, right? Correct.

Celena Muzic 12:02

So it's two completely different things. So I would do these speaking engagements just to help people learn. Like when they come here, Hey, this is very important. Don't you know, you got a credit card. don't blow it. You have to pay this back.

Steve Wallace 12:17

a lot of our business. in addition, obviously you're where we, we have a pretty robust commercial and residential real estate practice. We represent a lot of folks in bankruptcy and especially in South Florida, which is the Southern district in our area, which includes Miami and Fort Lauderdale. We, Selena lives in Broward where for a lot of us, I live a little bit North and our office is a little bit North, but a lot of folks live way beyond their means. So we'll touch on that, a little later with you, but. folks are very irresponsible with the credit and, budgeting and handling their expenses. so just to follow up. So you're, you graduated college and then what was your next step? I know you had your, you were an aspiring attorney. but then we'd like to know what happened, which beer Jew from that road. Yeah.

Dalle Garcia 13:02

Yeah. So after I got out of college, with his economics degree, most people's let me go and hurry up and get to law school. And if I had the financial support, then maybe that would have been. You know my reality, but I said, I've been in school for four years. I think I need to make some money, and I used to pass, and usually that's what people do. Like they want to either continue, but they're like, I need to make some money. So that was my situation. At the time I said my reality, I want to make some money. So at the time my mom moved from the Bronx. maybe like a year before I graduated from the Bronx. So Tarrytown. So she always wanted, she was always progressed. She's a progressive person. So she was like, I got to get my girls out of the inner city. So she moved to Westchester County. So I would travel, when we, for graduating from SUNY Albany to go visit my family in Tarrytown at the time. Of course, I said, okay, I'm graduated now. It's time for me to fight for a position. So I was looking for positions in Manhattan, but it was more convenient for me to stay in Westchester County. So I was, I had two job offers. I remember one was from PaineWebber. as an entry level, in the financing financial district, which everything happens for a reason. I'm glad that I did it because that was before nine 11. And I took the position. I remember interviewing with the lawyers, quarter Ray-Ban Douglas Pinero, and at the time it was just, Panera. It was just. Douglas Pinero and Corey Raven, I really didn't understand the legalities behind real estate transactions. I've always read about it real estate and wanted to be a part of it, but it didn't understand how it worked from the beginning to the end. So that gave me that insight. Sorry. So Doug Pinero, he never had a assistant. I was like the first one they were telling me. So they were scaring me, like he's tough as nails. And I was like, okay. but I just went with it. I just said, okay, I'm going to learn. I'm going to move forward. This is where it needs to be. So it was tough because imagine throwing all these files at me, these Manila folders, okay, we got these contracts, they got to go out. We need to get title. I'm like, Okay, where do I begin? So that's how it started, but I was so happy to be a part or that experience because most people that are in real estate, whether they become a licensed agent or whatnot, don't really have this experience of how. At a law firm, how in New York state, they are able to go from, the offer letter to the office, memorandum to getting a contract, going to get into title review, to, to the oldest steps involved, getting the conditions satisfy for commitment letter. I did all of that. All of that. And then I said, you know what, I'm over here doing closing statements, preparing the checks for these people. I'm like, wait a minute. I need to position myself as a recipient of these checks. Like, how do you check people? And I'm like, am I remember getting like carpal tunnel because I was typing so much. So it was that critical, but I was like, But I got it wrapped involved into it. It wasn't like, I was like a robot, okay. I was like, okay, I want understanding and comprehension of what I'm doing. And I really dug deep into it. So then I was there for awhile for like maybe two years. But before the two year Mark came, you meet people at the law firm. There's a great place to network. I met a lot of people that were, real estate brokers. They dealt with a lot of people in New York city brokerages in Manhattan, Coldwell banker Douglas element, all the high end. So the bees, and I used to do files for like famous people. And I was like, Oh wow. I was fascinated yeah. By that. But I wanted to get in that needs to get into, so I met this guy who owned a mortgage company and he was like, you'd be good because you're bilingual, you can help people. I said, all So I, I had no idea. About mortgage financing, but then he got me my first mortgage calculator and I was like, what is this? I started learning how to do it. So yeah. Okay. Loan-to-value I see. All right. So being bilingual, I was able to get a lot of clients. I remember I got my first commission check. I was like, what the hell am I doing at this law firm? You know what I mean? Exactly. All of that. Everything is. a process it's the most high God has a PR has a plan for you. You think, but you really don't know. I'm saying you're like in the midst of it. So I'm in the midst of it. I'm closing my own deals. I'm still at the law firm. Then I had clients, I had a lot of the Latino population. So being bilingual, they used to, can you also help me with the house too? I'm like, because it was supposed to County, there was not that many. Latino bilingual people that they felt comfortable with. So I said, I might as well go get my license too. So I would, I was doing both. I got my license. I signed up with a brokerage.

Celena Muzic 17:09

And,

Dalle Garcia 17:09

and then I was still doing mortgages, so I would get two checks in one deal.

Steve Wallace 17:14

Those are nice checks. Yeah.

Dalle Garcia 17:16

Closing attorneys would be like, that's not legal. I'm like, ah, here's my dual agency agreement. Take it and leave it or make a copy. but it used to be who's this young girl, because she could do all that. But all of that came from the hustle from learning how to do these files for Doug. And then it became, and then I started referring business to them. So when I had clients that needed an attorney to represent them in New York state, I said, Oh, I know some attorneys, it was like a relationship like that. and that's how it started. And I'm thinking I'm going to go to law school, but because they even helped me finance my L set. Preparation Kaplan and I did it, but then I said, I'm making these commissions. I was like, okay, that's going to have to put a pause on that because I'm on, I'm having a good run here. That's what made me to pause the law school and just continue with, finances. And

Steve Wallace 18:03

then they did something. Did some events, pause.

Dalle Garcia 18:07

Yeah. Because then, then I'm like, meeting, Investors that are like high end investors doing commercial deals, the state, and I've always loved commercial real estate. We did a little bit of that at Raven Panera and Herrick, but I was like, you know what, let me get myself a position. Even though I didn't want to work for someone else. I said, let me work. They were offering a position. Also in white Plains, New York with, lumen health and affair. At the time I was working with Richard Healthman. So he trained me pretty much on how to do he was representing the bank. He was the bank attorney for at the time, it was a story of federal. And that was like the big bank at the time where a lot of the investors used to go to. So I had to learn how to do that.

Steve Wallace 18:44

Cause they probably had to loose. They play at loose underwriting guidelines. That's where all the investors went and I bet you, they don't exist anymore. Why

Dalle Garcia 18:55

it's true, but I had a lot of experience with that because as a loan originator, and I'm still doing real estate on the side, I took this job too, so I'm over here, juggling everything, but I wanted to learn this in the legal side, because I know that is what makes you more knowledgeable and powerful because most people don't have that experience. So I will be here preparing assignments of mortgages. All kinds of documents to make these deals happen, meeting a lot of investors. and I ended up getting to work with some of them outside of the office, okay, let's invest together. And I'm like, I really want to get in. So they helped me get in. But, when I got in things were going, I'm making these commissions. Eventually I left the law firm because I said, I can't be doing this and wasting my time when I have all these things. Yeah,

Steve Wallace 19:36

of course. That's what I say, but I haven't figured out how to leave the law firm yet.

Dalle Garcia 19:42

so then I said, okay, that's it, I'm going to just leave on my own. And I just leaked and it was scary because, I didn't have any fixed income. I didn't have the, the salary from the law firm, but I just. Just kept going hard. And I just like you a saline, I would talk to the Latino community and talk to them and empower them because a lot of them were, my clients had no idea how to become first time home buyers. So I would teach them about FHA. I would teach them about their credit, even though at the time I would review credit, but I wasn't like restoring credit or repairing three. Okay. And then at the time, This was the pre, recession. if you had a, a pulse, you can get a mortgage. Yup.

Steve Wallace 20:20

Those are the good old

Dalle Garcia 20:21

days.

Steve Wallace 20:22

Those Ninja loans, no income, no asset.

Celena Muzic 20:25

I wish I was a grownup.

Steve Wallace 20:27

Yeah, those are pretty awesome.

Dalle Garcia 20:29

I was doing so many deals like that, like paint hotcakes, like I have selling pancakes. I was like, okay, you had a pulse. Okay, let's go. No income, no assets.

Steve Wallace 20:37

I was doing those closings and the numbers just didn't add up. When I have a teacher making $30,000 and they're buying an $800,000 home. I'm thinking to myself, How are these people gonna even make the first payment and then the great recession hit. And so we were doing, at the time we were doing a lot of closings commercial real estate, but yeah, one of the good things, at least on my end is when I was in last school, I worked for a solo practitioner. Oh, all she did was practice bankruptcy law. So he taught me all of that. And then all of my clients that are doing these Ninja loan, closing sport, stop paying their mortgage. They're like, Steve, how can I stay in my home? And so during, before the great recession, we represented a lot of investors similar to yourself. And we were actually defending mortgage foreclosures before that wasn't even an industry. A lot of people are like, why are you even doing wasting your time? How are these people? If they can't pay their mortgages, how are they going to pay your attorney fee? But we developed a nice system where they would pay like a monthly rate. And from basically 2008, 2009 to 2012, 2013, All we were doing were foreclosure defense, short sales and bankruptcy. And so we're gearing ourselves up because we're afraid there's a next wave coming.

Dalle Garcia 21:53

Yeah. But we've learned a lot from that experience,

Steve Wallace 21:56

Yeah. So tell me what you've learned during the,

Dalle Garcia 21:58

So crazy, I'm closing all these deals. We did a hundred percent financing, 6% seller's concession where we didn't even have to come with money at all to the table. It was okay.

Steve Wallace 22:06

Clients would get money back. And a lot of those

Dalle Garcia 22:08

closes like, Oh my God, this is amazing. And then, and I'm over here, Naive as it was, I'm thinking like I'm really helping people achieve the American dream. Like they're able to get their home, because if the bankers, they were caught, the brokers are coming to my office, talking about pretty much knocking down the door. this is a new program. We do this cell, this we're going to give you this, giving us all kinds of incentives.

Steve Wallace 22:28

You get two points on the front and three in the back. Cause we, we had it. We had we, my law partner and I, we had a mortgage brokerage firms, so we listened. They would come and they'd take us out for dinner, for drinks. It was

Dalle Garcia 22:42

crazy. Yeah. They were coming to take me to, we were having all kinds of like me even Louis the third team. I'm like, whatever you want. And I'm like, he's okay, let me sell this program then. we're thinking we're doing the right thing, at the time we never, no one's thinking there, the houses are going to be going upside down. so that's what happened. So then we go from.

Steve Wallace 23:00

really what proved the end of it was the world savings pick a payment, which Washington mutual took over. And that's why Washington mutual doesn't exist anymore.

Dalle Garcia 23:09

I remember all those programs. if I couldn't shop it with this one, I was shopping with that one. whoever would approve my client to get to the closing table. That was what we wanted. And times like, let's go. it was, so it was so crazy because when things turned around and took a whole, I remember I started, I was. Putting these deals in and underwriters started saying for what we were closing, like hotcakes, they were like, throw the fight back at me and be like, no, we can't. And I'm like, what do you mean? We need more information. It started like that. I started seeing like a trend. I said, something's happening because now my deals are not closing. I, and I'm, I have a team I'm depending on this.

Steve Wallace 23:41

I had a deal in 2008 and it was the day that Lehman brothers went under and we had a commercial deal. And Lehman brothers were finding the financing and we called up frantically and I actually talked to the general counsel Lehman brothers, general counsel in Manhattan. And he's listen, if it was already in the pipeline and it was already approved and with a commitment. We'll fund the deals, but I was like,

Dalle Garcia 24:08

it's just

Steve Wallace 24:08

and then surprise. Guess what the client lost the building to foreclosure. I don't think that client, and it's actually a really funny story. He was like a rabbi. No, but he had this, like he was, he had this like some weird thing where he actually was buying a, a home Depot when they used to do the lighting. Like they had that separate thing. And he was buying that in South Florida. And he was using that as something, but I talked to the lender afterwards and he never made a payment.

Dalle Garcia 24:34

Oh, my goodness. it just took a turn. no one could expect, I started seeing a little like stagnation with my pipeline, but I was like, this is just crazy. So it went from closing all these deals to like nothing. So it'll hold a whole, like a stop. So I'm like, so everyone starts panicking. We started seeing what's going on in the economy. Like you said, Lehman brothers. All of them, Morgan Stanley there, they started talking, yeah. All these deals and stuff. So I'm like, what is going on? So it was like a really stressful time because you have other people livelihood on your shoulders. You have not only your clients are thinking they're going to go into their first homes or refinance their homes. So have, employees that, is it depending on their income to work through you? So it was like a time that I was like, wow, I didn't know what to do. No one was ready for this. So I said, okay. So I had to, I started looking, I had to shut down my office. I had an office in Elmsford in tech, off a texter road. I had, I went from a nice, beautiful home and having investment properties that just started going downhill, like tenants rents. Yeah. I went through a lot. I lost a lot of that. I ended up having to back to the Bronx, like a woman that was making so much money, giving it up and had luxury cars to like. Moving back pretty much. and I was just like, what am I going to do? And I felt like a failure because, I was like, how do I, where do I go from here? You know what I mean? My family, Dominican, a family, they're looking at you, like what happened to her? yeah. I felt bad because I was like, this is not who I am. I'm a go getter. And I need to get out of this. So that's where the Google Chrome critic kind of started. Like I was doing also foreclosures. I was helping people also, file the bankruptcy. However, It would impact their credit because of course, even if you're not following through with it bankruptcy, that is going to show up on your credit,

Steve Wallace 26:17

on your record. Yeah.

Dalle Garcia 26:18

Correct. So all of these things, so I had to work on, I had to go through my own. I didn't have to go through bankruptcy. Thank God. Like I really worked so hard on my credit, like to the point where I would stay up late at night, figuring out what I'm going to do and learning the securitization process and what really happened because. you think, banking, but you really don't know banking and understand what was taking place. how was, were securitize. And I never knew that this happened and I started getting deeper into the room or why this is happening. There's currency really backed by gold. Is it not w all these things I learned during that process. And I was empowering people that were in that position to say, Hey, don't give up on your house so quickly, because a lot of these lenders really are not the due holder, in course. It was a crazy time. And here I am in my little apartment in the Bronx, again, trying to get out of, swimming, trying to get out of this, this situation. And then I had my son and at the time too, so it was like two that he was born in 2009. So I'm going through all of this at the same time. And I was like, this is not the kind of life that I worked so hard for to give him, but that's the reality and you just gotta roll with the punches and being part of born and raised in New York city gave me that edge biter. I think if I didn't, my ancestors been through worse,

Celena Muzic 27:30

so

Dalle Garcia 27:31

I said, okay, I'm going forward. So I started getting really. Hands on this credit. I remember at the time before the recession, I used to refer my clients that were ready to purchase homes, but had issues to another company that went out of business. So I said, I'm going to do this myself. So I had clients, those clients that I had helped get into these mortgages, Oh my God, my credit is messed up. What can I do? I can't refinance because they were at a negative amortization. Their houses were upside down and I'm like, and they looking for me for solutions,

Steve Wallace 27:59

Oh Dolly, can I ask you a question? I'm sorry to interrupt. So you mentioned a couple of things, but I know you started company gold, crown credit repair. Correct. and so one of the things and, work tangentially, w with credit repair companies, and oftentimes we'll get referrals from credit repair companies for bankruptcy. If there's a position, there's a point of no return where they're at least at that current snapshot in time, they're not eight, you're not able to. Repair not you, but whoever refers us, they're not able to repair their credit. So could you just tell us a little bit more and just give us a better understanding of what the credit repair process is? Cause it's something that we'd like to learn.

Dalle Garcia 28:38

Absolutely. Of course there's a learning curve for many people. Just trying to understand the report. It's a whole lesson in itself, but, I always advise the first thing I do to people that contacted me about their credit is well, let's review it. So I go through each and every credit report individually myself and I say, okay, I usually advise them to use identity iq.com. so a, there is a fee involved with that, but that allows me to see all three credit bureaus in one report. and I look at that, the first thing I see is, okay, the name variation. The date of birth, the addresses, people just jumped by to the meat and potatoes of the report, but that is also very critical. If the name variation is not correct, and it's be much like, what you guys do at the law firm, cross all your T's. and that all your eyes like is this name correct? Is the date of birth? Correct. Why are all these addresses here? So that personal identifier situation is something that we first look at and we clean it up because we want to make sure that there's not so many addresses there. It just looks better to have just. To keep it simple and current with what's happening with your life. So we do that and also review the, everything that's on it. Let's look at the accounts. Do you have any revolving accounts, installments? Are there any lates? A one time I'm 30,

Celena Muzic 29:55

which is one time 30 day lays can

Dalle Garcia 29:57

really impact your credit. From a hundred points or higher, like in a huge thing, like people would be like, Oh my God, my credit went down a hundred points and I'm like, let me look. you paid late, paid 30 days late can impact your credit from 50 to a hundred points in a big way. You could be at 700 and go down to 600

Celena Muzic 30:14

in one, one.

Dalle Garcia 30:16

we look at that, we look at, any collections, any charge offs, I don't advise clients to pay collections. I tell them that all the time people would be like, why not? the secondary market, they purchased this debt, as a third party debt collector. And you also not saying that you don't owe this debt, but do you always, to the people that are saying that they, that you owe, there has to be some kind of conditional acceptance on that.

Steve Wallace 30:38

So I asked you a question about that. Specifically. So when we handle, mortgage closings or refinances, oftentimes one of the conditions that the lender has is that it has to be paid off on the closing statement. So I'm just curious. how you handle that. And I guess the other follow up question to that would be if they pay off like a following, I assume the reason why you're saying not to do that is cause it really doesn't impact your credit score that much. If you pay off a collection

Dalle Garcia 31:06

that is correct. Paying off the collection is just going to say paid. Yeah. So if you're in the midst of refinancing or purchasing a property, the new lender may say, those may be the conditions they require for them, that loan, which is a means to an end. So if someone has to do it, then, so be it, but that's on a mortgage scenario, but if it's like a debt Lake yeah. Credit card debt, I was supposed to propose a recovery. Yeah. or a Midland or something like that, then that can be challenged,

Steve Wallace 31:36

familiar with them. They're we oftentimes get our bankruptcy clients when somebody calls us, if they're getting sued by their creditors, that's a very common accommodation and there's. There's a couple, there's four or five different attorneys in South Florida that handle all of those. And they're not the most pleasant people to deal with the same, at least.

Dalle Garcia 31:53

I know. I know, because let me tell you I've had experience like that with them, and they are, that's their business like attorneys are not only going to, they're going to court to do judgements on people all day everyday. So they said, why not? Let's get our. debt collection number and start operating as a debt collector. So buying the debt is a huge business. And when I go through these special appearances, because I've been for myself and also, supporting clients, even though I'm not an attorney or give legal advice, I'll go to the, the hearing. And I'm like, okay. and I noticed a pattern to this, and this is all around the United States, not just in New York or in the state of Georgia, but I've been to special appearances where they'll say, okay. You're challenging the debt. You're not going to, they're going to try to pull you in, Hey, if you sign right here, we can work something out before you get to see the judge it's like this. Like they read out of the same book.

Steve Wallace 32:42

no, that's definitely that happens. That happens in Florida all the time. So

Celena Muzic 32:45

yeah. it's like a script. It's like a script. Hey, let's enter into a settlement agreement. I'll give you a payment

Steve Wallace 32:51

plan. It'll be $25 a month. Don't worry.

Dalle Garcia 32:55

No, but that's all gained because if the, if the person that is assuming that the alleged that is theirs starts challenging these things, and I say, who are you like? can you show me that you are the actual, lawfully the owner of this debt? They'll just give you copies of the previous deck, the person that you did own, like it was capital one or whatever of the. Of the invoices or the billing statements you got to remember, but that's not proof that they own the debt. So it gets real deep with this stuff. So we've challenged them and won cases where they dismiss it. But what they try to do is push them towards the end. So they'd be like the last person that the judge would entertain so that they don't, mess up the other. One's we can't let them talking like that in front of

Steve Wallace 33:33

yeah. Then everybody will be enlightened and we don't want that. I guess the other thing that I know that you have a lot of experience in is helping folks build business credit. And can you give our listeners some suggestions on how to build business credit, and then also tell us what the differences are between personal and business credit and then,

Celena Muzic 33:51

and how are linked to your business as well? Because if you have bad personal credit and then you open a business, people say, my business should be a different entity and.

Dalle Garcia 34:03

And those are good questions. And during that time, when the last recession, those were the things that I've learned, because even though I was working in establishing entities, I wasn't really understanding how to separate the two because you don't really need to use your own social security number to build business credit. So I had to learn that too, and how that works. And that's so powerful. So for example, if your credit, your personal credit is not that great, of course you should be focusing on trying to restore it and work it and make it better, but you, that doesn't necessarily stop you from establishing business credit without using your social security number. You just start off with your business profile. So that's how we help our clients. We say, okay, you have a new LLC. Okay. Or new corporation. Now you get your EIN. We make sure you get your DUNS and Bradstreet number. So you got some kind of profile or visibility that basket, when the banks are ready to give you a line of credit, they can find you a, we also advise people to get a virtual address that's separate from their personal address and kind of make that business look like. Legit. if I go online, I can find you're in existence. And that's what we want to see.

Steve Wallace 35:08

Oftentimes it's at a ups store,

Dalle Garcia 35:10

that ups store is considered a red flag for some banks. Yeah.

Steve Wallace 35:15

So mentioned,

Dalle Garcia 35:18

be like, I can get appealed PO box. I'm like, no, you want to get a virtual address because it's just, something that the banks are going to say. Okay, that's good. You don't have, even if your credit is, 500, 400, whatever, it's not where it needs to be. You can still focus on building your EIN number as a business and separated from your person. And you can start with small vendors. And that's how we started. We started with net thirties and we start with small vendors that normally. will not give you credit if you try to do it on the personal side, but they will do it for your business. You have your business profile.

Steve Wallace 35:48

so what would be a small vendor that you would start a new company with that? If somebody else

Dalle Garcia 35:53

a small vendor I was started, would it be like you line Granger? One of those companies and they made sell commercial things like rooms, whatever, folder holders, but you can start like that. And it should be a minimum of $50 purchase. And that's pretty much building business credit. We started. If $50 pay the $50, buy the thing, whatever item you get and pay right away, don't even wait. And then that's it. You're building business credit. So we strategically choose the vendors that are going to report to the business credit bureaus, and then there's social security, number two personal guarantee. It, and that can go on and on in phases, we start with five to seven, then we move on to revolving. Okay. Credit for the business without using the social also, and even Amazon's and stuff like that, just from the pay score, which is what a FICO score is on the personal side, so then they're going to look at that versus, what's your social and they will ask. So I must let people know that they will put on the application. Their social security information, but you there's a way to omit it and avoid it. And this is some of the things that we guide our clients to do.

Steve Wallace 36:56

What I've seen is there's a large proliferation of business lenders, probably in the last four to five years with the advent of the FinTech movement. Could you speak a little bit on that? Like the cabbages and some of those other, some of those other companies, I'm just curious if you have any,

Dalle Garcia 37:12

they have, even I was considering to become a direct lender under the SBA, which is a small business administration and that's what they do. They just get, they prepare their documentations with the sec. And get her become accredited. And once they become accredited like a cabbage, now they can offer those programs. So they're getting paid, they're giving these clients these opportunities to get these types of loans.

Steve Wallace 37:33

Let me tell you, cabbages has higher interest rates than Tony soprano ever gave. I'll tell you that

Dalle Garcia 37:39

they do because a lot of these loans, especially lately, especially post COVID, they, They have these loans that you don't have to use your personal social security number, you have a business and you can show, tax returns. That's all they need to see. And, we do funding to, in our business. I go crown credit. We do business funding as well, and we'll deal with it, but we deal with other, there are other lenders that are just PR primarily. Funding small businesses. And a lot of them may not require tax returns. Some of them may require you to personal guarantee. But the great thing about is that if you do get these lines of credit, they won't show up on your personal credit. So a lot of my clients that may have me be in the midst of buying a house or refinancing a house or trying to get, or eventually trying to get some kind of investment opportunity. They don't want to really bother their credit or their utilization. So you'll go ahead and say, let me get business funding, which is not going to report on my personal credit. And I'm going to be able to use the funds to invest. or maybe pay down some of their personal credit cards that is causing their utilization to be very high. So there's little strategies that you can do to help the person be able to manage both their personal credit and their business credit. But having both is critical. Even if you don't have one invoice, one book of business setting us up self up as an LLC or corporation has many benefits hitters.

Steve Wallace 38:58

this is very enlightening.

Celena Muzic 38:59

at what point do you tell your clients, who are trying to repair the car?

Dalle Garcia 39:03

Listen,

Celena Muzic 39:05

this is the end of

Steve Wallace 39:06

the road. That's a great question.

Celena Muzic 39:07

Cripsy is going to be the way to go because

Dalle Garcia 39:11

I believe.

Celena Muzic 39:12

People do get to a point where you're just a hamster on a wheel and you're not getting anywhere. And then bankruptcy really can help you.

Dalle Garcia 39:23

I have one that I may be able to refer to you guys, especially if you do bankruptcy nationwide, he lost his job. So all his debt Everything is mortgage is in foreclosure pretty much. He's 120 days. And your ears, all the credit cards. Oh, let me, I can restore, but no, one's going to give him anything, unless he does bankruptcy,

Steve Wallace 39:44

you can't imagine they make the payments for him.

Dalle Garcia 39:46

Exactly. No, I can remove it. Like people think that there's like a magic wand, Oh, remove that. It's not that simple as so this is where bankruptcy comes into play and I strongly encourage it. This is why this country offers that loophole for bankruptcy so that people can start all over a restart just like this economy. So it's yeah, everyone goes through setbacks, you lose your dog. You just can't pay. So yeah. When I see that, and it's like too many, outstanding lines of credit creditors that are like 90 days going into collection or repossession. I have one, he had a repossession to, that he has voluntary give back his car, but he voluntarily gave back the car that is still going to report as a possession on this report. So when it's like that, and it's just too much, just go and file bankruptcy and start all over and then you'll see how, and then you can elaborate more on the differences. I know there's differences in bankruptcy procedures, and, but I know that will help the client start all over and not have to wait a year, two years figuring in the hamster wheel, like you mentioned, figuring out what are they going to do in the midst of that.

Steve Wallace 40:47

But we look at bankruptcy as a financial planning tool. We don't want to put somebody into bankruptcy. And I know Selena will agree with me. We don't want to put anybody into bankruptcy unless we know that once they get through it, they're going to be yeah. In a better position than they were from the start.

Dalle Garcia 41:01

And that's awesome because that's something that you may want to discuss more, especially to our community, because bankruptcies is, has like a bad connotation. And I educate the client and say, not necessarily they offer it. And yet it will show in your credit report, how many people thought bankruptcies and are in their homes they're able to make moves otherwise. How long is it take you for you to get to the next step is going to be very difficult. So maybe that may be the option. Correct.

Celena Muzic 41:26

And what do you recommend for people that have filed bankruptcy? Because a lot of times people come back and say, okay, We're done with the bankruptcy. How do I remove that from my credit?

Dalle Garcia 41:38

And it depends, like I deal with compliance. I'm not disputing, I'm challenging. It's two different things. And we could talk about that maybe in another podcast, the difference between challenging and disputing. So I'm dealing with a compliance. And compliances is a very effective way because a lot of the times under the law, it shows that the bankruptcy it's public records, although that's part of the B credit report, a lot of the times is unlawful to be reporting that type of stuff. On someone's report. If you know how to finagle the laws in your favor, so you can go to the County and you can challenge and say, this is not supposed to be reporting, but a lot of people don't know the credit bureaus. They make money off of these reporting on their credit.

Steve Wallace 42:18

Oh, interesting.

Dalle Garcia 42:20

Yeah, it doesn't mean that it's the end of the world. Some sometimes it'll say it stays there 10 years, but just because the bankruptcy has been filed doesn't mean it has to be reported. So you see this things that you can do to help yourself eliminate that from the credit report. Okay. Although it's still there. If they do like Alexa nexus search, depending on who was there in the search, they're not going to, if they're going to see it, but not going to be reporting, which doesn't affect the person from. having that so called on their credit report, but even though they can still rebuild their credit, they can, I always tell them there's ways to rebuild. You can rebuild and it's possible. I see people go from a bankruptcy to, okay, how do I to getting new lines of credit, being able to reestablish themselves and even get their mortgage and be able to get into a home. So it's good to see that and to help people achieve those goals. Okay. Fantastic. Fantastic.

Celena Muzic 43:10

That's great. Cause I feel like

Dalle Garcia 43:11

a lot of people need that

Celena Muzic 43:13

advice as well.

Dalle Garcia 43:14

Cause

Celena Muzic 43:15

I filed bankruptcy. I can never get a credit card again or I can never move forward. and I always tell them, this is not the end. This is the beginning.

Steve Wallace 43:24

Exactly. It's a fresh start. Just like Congress said in the legislative history for the bankruptcy code. I always that's my sales pitch. Don't

Celena Muzic 43:31

y'all can borrow it.

Steve Wallace 43:33

Okay. a couple of pop culture questions for you.

Celena Muzic 43:36

I have

Dalle Garcia 43:36

a question who was,

Celena Muzic 43:38

what actor. What was your, who was your child after our musician? Was your childhood crush

Dalle Garcia 43:47

and who is it?

Steve Wallace 43:48

Yes, we do. We all do.

Celena Muzic 43:54

Who was it?

Dalle Garcia 43:55

There's so many. Wow. Oh my God. You guys got me stuck over here. I'm trying to think of who was,

Steve Wallace 44:05

let me ask the tough questions on attorneys are human too.

Dalle Garcia 44:08

I've always liked. I've always liked Michael Jackson. I always, even though, even to this day, I listened to Michael Jackson and I'm like, why did he change his looks? He was so cute.

Steve Wallace 44:18

Yeah. I don't think he would like you these, during his later days, but that's for another topic and another

Celena Muzic 44:24

Michael Jackson. So you like original Michael

Steve Wallace 44:27

Jackson off the wall. Jackson, five type of Michael

Dalle Garcia 44:30

Jackson. Okay. And that's like that. I used to watch that foot work and try to copy it. And I even ended up getting one of the gloves when I was

Steve Wallace 44:36

here you go. Okay, cool. I always want it beat a jacket, but it was too expensive. My parents would never get it. My final pop culture question is. And I know we've talked about this online is basketball. Okay. One of the important questions on our show is who is the greatest of all time in basketball, Michael Jordan, or LeBron James?

Dalle Garcia 45:02

I like LeBron James.

Steve Wallace 45:04

Somebody is on my side and why?

Dalle Garcia 45:07

I just love, I just, I'm not saying that Michael Jordan wasn't like, on top of his game. Cause he was, I just liked the way he is with his community. More so than Jordan, like Michael Jordan, he came from like the bottom and he's, he was family oriented until he divorced. But for some reason I admire LeBron for being so young and so family oriented and wanting to give back to the community and building the school and everything like. I loved Michael Jordan, but when I started seeing LeBron James doing that, I was like, LeBron James, definitely. Okay. I love it.

Steve Wallace 45:39

And he doesn't like that answer, but I do. So

Celena Muzic 45:42

that's

Steve Wallace 45:42

Selena is all about the joy.

Celena Muzic 45:44

We were here

Dalle Garcia 45:47

by Jordans all the time when I was like that, but, but I know

Celena Muzic 45:52

times have changed.

Dalle Garcia 45:54

People change.

Celena Muzic 45:56

It's changed.

Steve Wallace 45:58

Okay. Your final pop culture question before we take it home with the lightning.

Celena Muzic 46:01

Okay. I want to know this just because we both have Latina moms. What, and I don't know if our listeners are gonna know, but what novella do you remember your

Dalle Garcia 46:13

mom? Because

Celena Muzic 46:15

I remember my mom watching. What was it? Mighty?

Dalle Garcia 46:24

When I heard that song, Oh, let me have you up and get to the living room where everybody's at

Steve Wallace 46:29

last

Dalle Garcia 46:29

night, he ended up marrying Tommy Mottola.

Steve Wallace 46:34

Interesting.

Celena Muzic 46:35

Yes, that is a thing, Steven,

Steve Wallace 46:39

I'm going to have to look at it. I'm gonna have to watch it on YouTube. Marty Milo.

Celena Muzic 46:42

Yes. That was a, that is a staple Latin mama. Novella.

Dalle Garcia 46:49

I miss it at all. Amati model.

Celena Muzic 46:51

There was a lot of, yeah, there's a lot of cat fighting. Oh,

Steve Wallace 46:55

nice. I like the cat fighting a big fan of that. Okay. So now we're going to finalize, finish it out with the lightning round. Just very simple. This or that? No thinking, no explanation. First question Coke or

Dalle Garcia 47:07

diet Coke. Coke.

Steve Wallace 47:10

New York pizza or Chicago

Dalle Garcia 47:11

pizza. Pizza.

Steve Wallace 47:13

Okay. Hugging or kissing?

Dalle Garcia 47:15

Hugging. Cat or dog

Steve Wallace 47:19

eat your mountains and last one burger or tacos. Okay. Thank you so much, Dolly. This was a great episode.

Celena Muzic 47:28

So tell us how we

Steve Wallace 47:29

can find you. We met on LinkedIn. You're very active on LinkedIn and other social media. So if you could just tell us how we can find you in

Celena Muzic 47:37

yeah. and your new Instagram.

Steve Wallace 47:38

Yes. Back when all of that.

Dalle Garcia 47:40

So my Instagram is gold. Crown credit. You can email me a gold crown credit@gmail.com and at Gmail. And you can also go to my website. I go crown credit.com. I'm on. LinkedIn. That's where we met. Great to meet you, Steve from there. And we am also on Instagram and Facebook go crown credit, (844) 244-8144. I'm at extension one.

Steve Wallace 48:05

Thank you so much. This was an excellent episode. and if we may incur, if we may pry, we'd love to have you on in the future. Yeah,

Dalle Garcia 48:13

absolutely. Thank you, Selena,

Celena Muzic 48:15

especially with this economy and everything going on, I feel like we're going to need you back on.

Steve Wallace 48:19

Absolutely.

Dalle Garcia 48:21

It will be my pleasure. Anything I can do to help.

Celena Muzic 48:23

Fantastic.

48:25

Thank you.