Who Has an 800 Score Besides My Mother?!

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The latest episode of Bitchstory: Breaking the Bank Ceiling 

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Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite anxiety number: the credit score.

That three-digit tattletale that supposedly sums up your financial worthiness — it feels eternal, right? Like it’s been here since Moses asked for a mortgage?

Nope. It’s younger than The Simpsons...The Credit Score Is New, Arbitrary — and Kind of Ridiculous

The modern FICO score was standardized in 1989. That’s it. The whole “your number defines your future” model is barely middle-aged. For most of human financial history, credit was based on personal relationships, reputation, or a banker’s subjective opinion — which was obviously terrible for women, people of color, and anyone outside the old boys’ club. But the so-called “objective” system we replaced it with? Still kind of a mess.

The Algorithm That Thinks It Knows You

The score doesn’t care if rent went up, childcare doubled, or your car insurance just became a side hustle. It measures risk, not reality.
You can pay every bill on time and still watch the number wobble for no clear reason.
It’s like astrology without the poetry — mysterious forces decide your fate, except this time they report it to Equifax.

And in this economy?
Who, honestly, has an 800 score besides your mother and that one guy on YouTube who calls himself a “finance influencer”?
Perfect credit feels less like a badge of responsibility and more like a fantasy character alignment: lawful-good with zero debt and generational wealth.

The Credit Score Ignores the World We Actually Live In

  • It doesn’t adjust with economic swings — your score might tank for using credit during inflation, even if that’s just survival.

  • It rewards longevity, not recovery — so if you made one mistake years ago, it haunts you like an ex who still has your Netflix login.

  • It pretends neutrality but carries old biases. The algorithms learned from historical data, which means they learned from discrimination.

  • It worships debt as a sign of trust. You literally have to owe to prove you can be trusted with money. Make that make sense.

Why Feminists Should Care

When women in the 1970s were denied credit without a husband’s signature, they built their own solutions — like the Women’s Bank of Denver — where fairness wasn’t a novelty; it was policy.

Those women weren’t trying to optimize a score. They were building access.
They didn’t need algorithms to tell them who was “reliable.” They knew reliability looked like working, caring, creating, paying bills, raising kids, starting businesses — often all at once.

Today, the algorithm is the new gatekeeper. Less visible, more automated, and just as capable of exclusion. When we talk about “financial empowerment,” it’s not just about getting the same tools men had; it’s about questioning whether the tools themselves are rigged.

How to Stay Sane in a System That Scores You

  • Check the report, not just the number. It’s like reading the comments: painful but necessary.

  • Play the game strategically. Keep utilization low, automate the boring stuff, and know that the system was designed for lenders, not for you.

  • Redefine success. An 800 doesn’t mean security. Stability and sovereignty might.

  • Support alternatives. Push for models that include rental history, on-time utilities, gig work, and nontraditional income — especially those helping women, freelancers, and marginalized groups get fair recognition.

  • Tell the story. The Women’s Bank founders proved something radical: when systems fail, women build better ones.

Final Thought

The credit score is a math mask pretending to be morality.
But your worth isn’t numerical, and your financial power isn’t measured in digits.
Remember: before the algorithm, women just made banks.

Maybe it’s time we do it again.