Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 923, Having Bad Credit.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 923.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
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This episode is a dialogue between Alicia and James about having problems getting someone to lend you money.
Let's get started.
This is the second time I've been turned down for a credit card in a month.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Maybe you have a bad credit rating.
I have a full-time job with a good income which they can easily verify, and I don't have any outstanding debt, so what could be the problem?
Have you had a credit card before?
Did you always make your payments on time?
Well, no.
Then that may be your answer.
Your payment history makes a big difference with the credit bureau.
If you've missed payments or been late, that's a big strike against you.
You mean if I were late a few times, I wouldn't be able to get another credit card?
A few times?
How many times?
Well, maybe a lot of times.
And why do you need another credit card if you already have one?
Had one.
Past tense.
The credit card company cancelled it.
Aha.
I think we've just found the crux of the problem.
Alicia says to begin our dialogue, this is the second time I've been turned down for a credit card in a month.
A credit card is like a Visa or a MasterCard that you use to buy things with.
To be turned down means to be denied, to be rejected.
It's a two-word phrasal verb meaning not to allow someone to have something or to do something.
In this case, Alicia has tried to get a credit card, but the credit card company said no.
They turned her down.
She says, I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
James says, have you checked, have you looked at your credit report recently?
A credit report is a written statement, usually from one of three large companies that produce these statements about something, whether you have paid your credit card bills and your other loans from banks and other places on time.
If you don't pay your bills on time, if you send the money in late, that will show up on.
That is, that will appear on your credit report.
And if you do that a lot...
Companies are not going to give you a credit card if they see that you have not paid your credit card bills in the past, your credit card bills from other banks and companies.
Credit reports are things that every American who uses a credit card has.
Most Americans do not have a very good credit report, a very good credit record, we would say.
They have problems.
There are ways of correcting the problems, but it takes a little time.
But let's continue with our dialogue.
James says, maybe you have a bad credit rating, R-A-T-I-N-G.
What these companies do that produce the credit reports is calculate how well you do on paying your bills.
And they give you a number.
A high number is good.
A low number is bad.
So having a low or bad or negative credit rating is to have a number that indicates that you have had problems paying your bills on time in the past.
Many credit card companies look at your credit rating and decide if they're going to give you a loan or not.
Banks also look at this information to decide whether they're going to loan you money.
Alicia says, I have a full-time job with a good income.
Income, I-N-C-O-M-E, is the money you get from working.
Alicia says they can verify that information easily.
To verify, V-E-R-I-F-Y, means to check to make sure it's true.
We might also say here to confirm.
Alicia says I don't have any outstanding debt.
So what could be the problem?
Debt D-E-B-T is money that you owe other people, that you have borrowed from other people and that you have to pay back to them.
Outstanding debt is money that you have not yet paid back, money that you still have to give back to the bank or the credit card company, or whatever person or institution you borrowed money from.
James says, have you had a credit card before?
Alicia says, yes.
Did you always make your payments on time?
Your payments is the money you give the credit card company for your bill.
On time means you before or on the day that you are supposed to pay it.
So if you need to pay your bill by June 10th and you don't pay it until June 15th, you are not paying on time.
You are late.
And this will show up, this will appear on your credit report and result in a bad credit rating.
Alicia says, well, no, no, I didn't always make my payments on time.
James says, then that may be your answer.
That's the reason, possibly.
Your payment history makes a big difference with the credit bureau.
Your payment history is a report about how often you've been late in paying your bills.
The credit bureau B-U-R-E-A-U is a company that keeps track of that, organizes this information, that produces the credit report and gives the credit ratings.
There are actually three large companies in the United States that do this.
Most credit card companies use one of those three credit bureaus to decide whether they're going to give you a credit card or not.
Once again, banks do the same thing.
They use one of the credit bureaus, one of the credit companies, to see whether you are a good person to loan money to.
James continues, if you've missed payments or been late, that's a big strike against you.
To miss a payment means not to do something you should have done.
And in this case, it would mean not paying your bill when you should have done.
Sometimes people pay their credit card bills, but they pay them late.
If you do this, James says that's a big strike, S-T-R-I-K-E, against you.
The expression a strike against someone means something that will make it more difficult for you to do something well, or something that makes other people have a negative or bad opinion about you.
Usually though, it's the first meaning, referring to things that will make it difficult for you to do something that you want to do.
If your parents don't have any money and you're not able to go to school, that's a big strike against you.
That's a big problem in terms of you trying to be successful.
Now, the word strike actually comes from the game of baseball.
When the pitcher of one team, the person who throws the ball, throws the ball and the person who is trying to hit the ball, the batter swings at the ball, moves the large stick, the bat to try to hit the ball but misses, that's called a strike.
There are other ways of getting a strike too.
If you hit the ball and it doesn't stay within the lines that it's supposed to stay in the field, that could also be considered a strike.
I don't want to go into the rules of baseball, but the term you should know comes from baseball.
Alicia says, you mean if I were late a few times, I wouldn't be able to get another credit card?
James says, a few times?
A small number of times?
Then he asks, how many times?
How many times has she been late?
Alicia says, well, maybe a lot of times, many times.
James says, and why do you need another credit card if you already have one?
Alicia says, had one, past tense.
Alicia is saying that she does not have a credit card anymore.
Remember, James asks, why she needs another credit card if she already has one.
He says, if you already have one, because you would use the verb form have.
However, Alicia is saying that it's not something she still has.
It's something that she used to have, and that's why she uses the past tense had, H-A-D.
Alicia says, I had one past tense.
The term past tense is used in grammar to indicate that the verb is indicating time that has already passed, that an action has already taken place in the past and that it's finished, over and done.
Alicia says the credit card company canceled it, canceled her card.
To cancel C-A-N-C-E-L means to end something, to no longer be using a certain service or paying for something.
James says, aha, I think we've just found the crux of the problem.
Aha is an informal expression we use when you've found the solution to a problem.
And James has found the solution to Alicia's problem.
He says, I think we found the crux of the problem.
The crux, C-R-U-X, is the most important part of a situation or a story or in this case, a problem.
The main thing, the main idea that's important in understanding the problem.
In Alicia's case, she's missed her payments and the credit card company has canceled her card.
This is why other credit card companies won't give her another card.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
This is the second time I've been turned down for a credit card in a month.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Have you checked your credit report recently?
Maybe you have a bad credit rating.
Have you had a credit card before?
Did you always make your payments on time?
Well, no.
Then that may be your answer.
Your payment history makes a big difference with the credit bureau.
If you've missed payments or been late, that's a big strike against you.
You mean if I were late a few times, I wouldn't be able to get another credit card?
A few times?
How many times?
Well, maybe a lot of times.
And why do you need another credit card if you already have one?
Had one.
Past tense.
The credit card company cancelled it.
Aha.
I think we've just found the crux of the problem.
It's easy to verify the quality of our scripts.
Just listen to them.
They're all written by the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
