The plain truth is this: the credit-reporting system was established to help businesses, not consumers. In fact, the system works against the average American.

Here is how the system should work: 

• If you pay your bills on time, you should have a high credit score.
• If you have no late payments on your credit card, you should have a high credit score.
• If you pay a collection account, your credit score should increase.
• Credit card companies should be required to report positive information to the credit bureaus.

Guess what? The credit-scoring system does not work this way.

I have worked in credit-related industries for over 10 years and have seen firsthand how unfair, unjust, and downright criminal this system truly is. In fact, until recently, credit-grading organizations would not even tell consumers how they were graded. Imagine that—you receive a grade that plays a critical role in your ability to secure loans, but you don’t know the criteria by which you are being graded!

And even now, the credit-scoring system is confusing and shrouded in mystery. And unfortunately, the system has always acted against the average hard-working American. Pay your bills on time and in full? It’s not enough. Think you are behaving responsibly by paying a collection account? Your score will drop. Use a small percentage of your limit? The credit card company is not required to report this information.

As a result, credit card companies and the banks that give out home loans are freely and easily able to take advantage of the very people they are supposed to be helping. Because of the twisted, nonsensical, unethical system operating today, many of us—most of us!—are overpaying on our credit obligations without even realizing it.

Earlier this year, I went to Washington, D.C., to lobby our politicians to change the credit laws. I went to a financial literacy summit to discuss the problems with the credit laws. I wanted to talk about the average Americans who were taken advantage of. I went to Washington without any tangible backing, without even a single signature showing that my voice was not alone. Not surprisingly, I didn’t get a single response.

I’ve written my senators and congressmen. In return, I have received form letters thanking me for my time and assuring me my concerns would be taken under advisement. If I showed that my voice was just one of millions, I would get more than a pathetic rubber-stamped letter. I would get results.

That is why am creating a petition and by the time I return to Washington D.C. in March of 2010, I will return with a million signatures, a million voices—if not more. Behind each voice is a story that illustrates just how wrong the current system is.

I want to hear your story, and I want Congress to hear your story. I want to change the ending of your story. So please, share your story by leaving a comment below with:

1. Why you think the credit system is unfair?
2. How have you been negatively affected by the system and/or your credit card company?

Having your voice heard will get the banks where they belong — on our side.  And with the banks on our side, the politicians will be on our side.  With the politicians on our side, the credit laws will finally change.

Enough is enough.