Hitchhiking is a bad idea. In no way do I advocate hitchhiking in this article. However, it is free, and for covetous misers such as myself, free is good. In fact, my entire time spent hiking and camping on Vancouver Island was free, except for an A&W Cholesterol-filled meal and a deliciously-illegal-in-the-states Cuban cigar with which I rewarded myself after a successful week in the rainforest. But on the hour-long thumb-journey from Sooke to Port Renfrew, I received not only a free ride, but more valuably, free financial advice.

She drove a Landcruiser and was around forty but looked young, and she was a successful realtor, her husband an equally accomplished artist. In exchange for picking me up, she gave me a stackful of house listings and told me to fold them. This would save her an hour, she said, and was a fair exchange for the ride.

She asked me what I do and when I told her about the site, she spurted off endless advice for smart young investors. She told me that she and her husband used the equity of her house to make real estate investments for her ten-year-old daughter. In this sense, the wealth stayed in the family and her daughter would be able to borrow against the property in ten years time, when its value will have skyrocketed.

Because the 2010 Winter Olympics are coming to Vancouver, there has been a surge in the real estate market there, unlike in the rest of the North America, which is slowly recovering and in my opinion, will start going back up shortly (downturns in the real estate market typically last a maximum of three years). The city of Vancouver has put a moratorium on development of any more condominiums, so the condo market on Vancouver Island has surged. The realtor’s daughter and her family are reaping the benefits.

While your parents buying a house for you at age ten is unrealistic for most people outside Vancouver Island, and for most people in general, this realtor gave me some more broadly-appealing financial advice on ways to use your credit to increase your finances. Your credit rating is important to banks. While it seems arbitrary and is arbitrary for the most part, banks must rely on that number in order to operate efficiently. The thing that destroys most people’s credit rating are student loans. Students assume that banks will be forgiving of indiscretions in paying off student loans. This is not true. While sane, caring individuals would give a student a second chance, students are of little value to banks. We’re poor, lazy, inexperienced, and have few marketable skills. So pay your student loans. It’s not a bluff!

However, if you’re one of the many people for whom this advice comes too late, the realtor suggested good ways to build new credit and to fix your credit rating if it is damaged. She suggested pre-paid credit cards at as young an age as allowed. There is no danger in these, and they do (somehow, I don’t know how, since they’re technically not credit) build your credit rating.

To fix your credit rating, first of all pay off all your debts. No one will listen to you until you do. Next, take advantage of a right that we all have without realizing it. We’re all allowed to petition creditors, and all have the right to attach a letter to our credit rating for banks to consider. If you failed to make a monthly payment on your credit card, you can write a letter saying you were young and ignorant and didn’t realize the value of paying bills on time. You could also contest the debt and even if it is unforgiven, demand that the letter be attached to your credit score. In this sense, you get the opportunity to argue for yourself and potentially counteract whatever the number on your rating says about you. Get a trusted financial person to cosign and vouch for you if possible. This could be someone at your local bank or a successful businessperson.

All Canadians hate the US a little bit (Don’t deny it.). The realtor told me that in the US banks, like police, are huge doushes. Even if you get a debt forgiven, it is still on your credit rating and banks will ask about it. If it were me, and I were meeting with a bank representative under such circumstances, I think I’d reply outraged that the debt was forgiven and therefore irrelevant and there’s nothing to talk about. But, in addition to being cheap and miserly, I’m also proud. The former qualities are good when dealing with banks, the latter is not. The realtor told me that a pride-filled approach usually does not work with banks, but that the potential loanee should present himself with humility, that it’s important to dress well, and that well-spoken applicants receive well-above what their credit-score says they should.

As far as I’m concerned, this is all good advice. What is better advice, however, is don’t ruin your credit score and don’t go into debt! And don’t hitchhike!