FROM STRUGGLE TO SCHOLAR

ELIZABETHTOWN- Credit is a hard thing to understand yet alone master. Flame Newton though is a local author and credit specialist. He’s been named America’s #1 Credit Educator, Started a successful business, and has sold copy after copy of his series School of Credit.

How did he get here? Why does he choose to help others? The answer to the question is layered in his experiences and in the words of his series of books, School of Credit.

“School of Credit is where I teach people about credit in grade levels, each one pertaining to a different aspect of credit,” said Newton.

Newton’s school of credit series begins with his first book School of Credit: Learn & Master the 12 Levels of the American Credit system. This book breaks down the credit system in a simple and compact way in order for the layman who is picking the book up to understand. According to Newton, this book is almost like high school in the School of Credit.

“One is more structured like high school with 12 ‘grade levels’ while one is centered around business.”

The one in question is the second book, School of Credit: Learn and Master the 8 levels of the Business Credit System. This book tackles things that go into the business side of credit and how you as the reader can efficiently help and master your own credit to your advantage.

This format makes it easier for the reader to follow along and familiarize themselves with the concept of financial independence as well as making the information palatable and easy to digest. Newton’s history truly begins in Elizabethtown with his mother and father. His mother, an educator, worked in tandem with his father, owner and operator of Newton’s funeral home, to raise Newton and his siblings.

Flame’s life took a series of ups and downs as he navigated the next few years. He got in with people who were doing things that weren’t exactly legal which led to him going to prison from 2011-2016. While in prison, this allowed Flame to get a new outlook on his situation.

“I came to a realization. 80% of inmates were there because of monetary crime in some way. Be it killing for money, stealing, or doing things for money,” said Newton.

Newton used this seemingly dire situation to his advantage as he began to teach inmates the unwritten and secretive rules he had learned about with credit before getting arrested. He began to see this as a skill that he had honed and perfected.

When he got out in 2016, he decided to use the knowledge he had of both the predatory nature of credit and the bright side of untapped potential that it holds to the average person. Newton taught himself how to structure a book and how to develop his own personal style.

“I wanted to kind of talk to a common person who’s going through stuff on a daily basis that can’t understand this stuff,” said Newton.

This writing style was successful as it allowed Newton’s

During my conversation with Newton, as we sat in the Newton funeral home, he told me the story of his life and I became acutely aware of the significance of us being there. Not only because it was his family’s business but a physical representation of his metaphorical rebirth as someone who uses his knowledge to help and empower people.

Almost all Americans aren’t as knowledgeable about what credit is and can offer them, it’s almost like this nebulous and unreachable counter that can decide everything about your life and how people view you.

“If there’s a 27-point checklist my advisees have to hit when we go into the bank, we’re going to have those 27 points ready to go,” Newton said.

Now a multi-time author, Newton devotes his life to keeping his advisees in the know about credit as well as educating those that don’t understand it. Newton has a lot planned for the future from a podcast to a credit event that will allow him to reach out to more people within the Elizabethtown community.