School of Credit’s Flame Newton is out of Prison, and Revealing his Secret Money Tips

Flame Newton is turning his criminal past success in identity theft to educate and empower others. The author and credit expert shares his money tips on credit cards, protecting your identity and much more to help us all be financial grownups.

Flame-Newton-Main-Instagram-The-School-of-Credit.png

Flame’s Money Story

Aw man. I always take a deep breath before I do that, because anytime I get into this area, I like to make sure it's detailed. I like to make sure that you understand it and it's clear. That I misinterpret nothing that I've said or going to say, or getting ready to say. And that was, I was the bad guy, right? I went to jail for murder and I went to jail for bank robbery. Right. That's what I went to jail for. What I did was I rob people and I killed them while they were still living. And they have a term for it and have a word for it. That word is called identity thief. I went to prison for a very long time based upon that, right? Because I did something in the eyes of the government they never seen, heard, or even done before.

Flame Newton:
And I know you got all misjudgments about me right now, as you listening to this. But I like to make sure that you hear it right out of the horse's mouth, as they say. What I did was wrong, wrong to the utmost. But when the government said I did was I only stole people identities that had a 600 credit score or below. So not the 700 or higher that everyone was so in love with. What I did was, is I was able to clean their credit up and then attach it to a business to go get money from. Now, although that my method was wrong, the process wasn't. And so I ended up going to prison. And while I was there, there were guys that was there and they was always talking to me. And they would say the same thing like you was talking about earlier Bobbi. You know what they would say to me? Man, I sure wish they would've taught me credit in school.

Flame Newton:
That got me to thinking. A lot of these people that are in prison contrary to your belief, are there for monetary value. And what does that mean? The reason that they was there was for something pertaining to money and you can say, well, he killed him. He killed him because he was trying to get some money. Somebody owed him some money, some type of relevance to it. He there for robbery. Robbing somebody to get some money. Say he there for drugs. Selling drugs to get some money. And you start to add these things up. What they don't know is pretty much what we talked about earlier. The fact that stuff was not talked about in heavily populated areas. And so being understand of that magnitude, I'm able to teach.

Flame Newton:
And one of the biggest compliments that I've ever getting is when a kid had asked me one time, I'm sitting in prison and he asked me, he said, Flame, could you read this to me? Read. And the word was tomorrow. Couldn't believe it. See things that we take for granted, these things really weigh down on other people like, reading.

Flame Newton:
Now, although that he could tell you about 28 grams is 28 grams. And understanding the ounces and because he's dealing with drugs all day. And he learned the numbers in that magnitude, even count money all day long pertaining to it. But he didn't know the magnitude of things like reading. And I said, what if you read something that you like? And so when we get into these type of components pertaining to it, I'm understanding, and I make sure that on every single platform that I've ever been on, will never be one that I would never say the words that I'm apologetic on all get up for every single thing and every victim that I've ever affected. I make sure of that. I don't hesitate that. But with that being said, along this life, we have journeys and this was just one of mine.

Bobbi Rebell:
What did you actually go to jail for?

Flame Newton:
I went to jail for identity theft, money laundering, and bank fraud. So what I did was I took people’s identity, attach it to a business and went in and got a lot of money from it. What I was doing was cleaning up the negative items to make them appear as more trustworthy than they actually were, getting the banks to give out money to that particular person. That was when I would go get the money and take off in that manner. Money that they didn't even know that it existed from the people that I took the identities from.

Bobbi Rebell:
Wow, that's really scary.

Flame Newton:
Over 75% of the American public, that once they fall in debt, they go back into debt within the two to three year window. Why? Because they have not been educated about it. So the more that they can get educated about something pertaining to what fuel, I'm just talking about credit.



Flame’s Money Lesson

Flame-Newton-Twitter-Quote-#1-The-School-of-Credit.png

Bobbi Rebell:
What did you actually go to jail for?

Flame Newton:
I went to jail for identity theft, money laundering, and bank fraud. So what I did was I took people, identity, attach it to a business and went in and got a lot of money from it. What I was doing was cleaning up the negative items to make them appear as more trustworthy than they actually were, getting the banks to give out money to that particular person. That was when I would go get the money and take off in that manner. Money that they didn't even know that it existed from the people that I took the identities from.

Bobbi Rebell:
Wow, that's really scary.

Flame Newton:
Over 75% of the American public, that once they fall in debt, they go back into debt within the two to three year window. Why? Because they have not been educated about it. So the more that they can get educated about something pertaining to what fuel, I'm just talking about credit.




Flame’s Money Tip

Flame-Newton-Twitter-Quote-#3-The-School-of-Credit.png

Flame Newton:
And the tip that I'm going to give you for this is watch this. You pull out your credit card right now. I need everybody to pull out your credit card. If you driving just keep driving, don't do it while you driving. But right now I want you to pull out your credit card. If the front doesn't match the back, that card is whack. If the front says Chase, the back of your card must say Chase. But if the front of your card, now I love Victoria Secret. Victoria Secret, we love you too. But if your front of your card says, Victoria Secret and the back of your card says Synchrony Bank, that's not a great quality credit card. You like bank issued credit cards.

Bobbi Rebell:
Why? Tell us why.

Flame Newton:
Because That is a quality lender. And a quality lender meaning that that point, that bank have gave you money. They didn't give you goods or services for money. I like to explain it in this way. Like Home Depot. Home Depot has a great company. I love Home Depot to death. But if Home Depot gives you let's say, a $2,000 line of credit and you go buy refrigerator for a $1,000. If you buy a refrigerator for a $1,000, that refrigerator might've cost Home Depot $200. So if it cost Home Depot $200, that means you paid one fifth of the price of that. So if you didn't pay back Home Depot that thousand, lets say you didn't pay them back. What was the loss to Home Depot? Was the loss $1,000 or was it $200? The bank issue is going to lose more so the risk is going to be higher, which makes it a more quality card.



Follow Flame!



Follow Bobbi!





Did you enjoy the show? We would love your support!

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. We love reading what our listeners think of the show!

  1. Subscribe to the podcast, so you never miss an episode.

  2. Share the podcast with your family, friends, and co-workers.

  3. Tag me on Instagram @bobbirebell1 and you’ll automatically be entered to win books by our favorite guests and merch from our Grownup Gear shop.





Full Transcript:

Bobbi Rebell:
I hope you guys are all celebrating some big adulting milestones this season, and you know what? Finding the perfect gift for those celebrations can be kind of tough. I have the solution over at grownupgear.com. We have adorable hats, totes, mugs, pillows, teas, and seriously, the most cozy and comfortable sweatshirts. They're all on grownupgear.com and all at affordable prices. We even now have digital gift certificates if you can't decide. Use code grownup for 15% off your first order. Buying from our small business helps to support this free podcast. And you know what? We really appreciate it. Thanks guys.

Flame Newton:
You know what they would say to me? Man, I sure wish they would've taught me credit in school. And that got me to thinking. A lot of these people that are in prison contrary to your belief, are there for monetary value. And what does that mean? The reason that they was there was for something pertaining to money. And you can say, well, he killed him. He killed him because he was trying to get some money. Somebody owed him some money, some type of relevance to it. He there for robbery, robbing somebody to get some money. Say he there for drugs, he selling drugs to get some money.

Bobbi Rebell:
You're listening to Money Tips for Financial Grownups, with me, certified financial planner, Bobbi Rebell, author of How to be a Financial Grownup. And you know what? When it comes to money, being grown up is hard, but together we got this. Hey friends, this is going to be a very different and a very important episode. Normally we talk a lot about things like staying out of debt, and financial literacy, and the consequences of not doing those things of not knowing what's going on with your money. But what about financial literacy to stay out of prison, to not commit crimes? That is what my guest Flame Newton wanted to talk about. He spent about a decade of his life serving time for identity theft. And head a lot from fellow prisoners about why they were there. And in almost every case, Flame says the crime was tied to money in some way. It brings the importance of financial literacy to a whole new level.

Bobbi Rebell:
This man has a lot to say that makes sense, but you have to pay close attention. So this is an episode you really want to be present for. I hope all of you get as much out of this interview as I did. It is really, really good. Here is school of credits, Flame Newton. Flame Newton, you are a financial grownup. Welcome to the podcast.

Flame Newton:
Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me.

Bobbi Rebell:
Thank you for being here. And by the way, we connected on Clubhouse. So you're my first Clubhouse find. So I'm so excited because you have the most amazing backstory and you have incredible advice. I do a little homework on my guests Flame, and this was on your Facebook page and it's very appropriate to our grownup audience. You say the phrase I get tired of hearing is, "They didn't teach us this when we were growing up. News flash, you grown up now. So you better learn it. Or this thing called life will teach you." Tell me more about that and your general philosophy. And then we're going to get into more about you.

Flame Newton:
Wow, Bobbi. One thing that I can say pertaining to that, we listened to a lot of people in a different manner of ways. And one of the ways that as a collective group of individuals, they coming together and they always have this quite saying. And that saying is, man, they didn't teach me this when I grew up. Right? And so all of these things amongst that, or my parents didn't teach me this. And they'll say all of these different things, but what we must know and what we must understand is that at this point, this world is not the world that we had it when we grew up. It's not. And that's something that we have to come to grips on, is the fact that now we in a position now to creatively get information from all walks of life.

Flame Newton:
I mean, even think about our children now, right? And our children, they have friends all over this globe. All right. And it's all based upon the technology that we have in advance. So pertaining to just utilizing the school system, getting the school system to teach us things. Right. Or even passing judgment down to our parents who actually never taught as well. And when you start to base it upon that, now you start to say, you know what? Now it's up to me. Why? Because now I'm kind of adapted to what my children are doing. What is that? I'm adapted to the globe because they have this thing and it starts with www. And when you say www, let's let it be understood and what it is. It's called the world wide web, right? The first word tells you everything, the world. And so you can get different perspectives pertaining to the information that you don't know from people that are all over the globe, all over America.

Flame Newton:
So if you're looking for information pertaining to something that can make you better, you have these places. And they're a lot of free places. And we can talk about them. Places like Google. And I understand Google have a lot of bad information and misinformation, but there's also some good ones there too. So let's not discredit those. They also have places like YouTube, even the social media networks like Facebook, or even going down to where you got me at, which was Clubhouse, right? And a collective group of these places that have pertaining to a lot of this information, we just have to buckle down and get it into a point to where we got to find out what matters to us most. What we're going to quit doing, is we're going to quit making up excuses and bringing up the past as a reason for why we're not moving towards the future.

Bobbi Rebell:
I totally agree. Could not agree more. And we could talk about this all day, but I want our listeners to learn more about you and your backstory. Because you are highly intelligent and you are a student for sure. And unfortunately earlier in your life, you use that for some, well, some things you went to prison for. Tell us more about that.

Flame Newton:
Aw man. I always take a deep breath before I do that, because anytime I get into this area, I like to make sure it's detailed. I like to make sure that you understand it and it's clear. That I misinterpret nothing that I've said or going to say, or getting ready to say. And that was, I was the bad guy, right? I went to jail for murder and I went to jail for bank robbery. Right. That's what I went to jail for. What I did was I rob people and I killed them while they were still living. And they have a term for it and have a word for it. That word is called identity thief. I went to prison for a very long time based upon that, right? Because I did something in the eyes of the government they never seen, heard, or even done before.

Flame Newton:
And I know you got all misjudgments about me right now, as you listening to this. But I like to make sure that you hear it right out of the horse's mouth, as they say. What I did was wrong, wrong to the utmost. But when the government said I did was I only stole people identities that had a 600 credit score or below. So not the 700 or higher that everyone was so in love with. What I did was, is I was able to clean their credit up and then attach it to a business to go get money from. Now, although that my method was wrong, the process wasn't. And so I ended up going to prison. And while I was there, there were guys that was there and they was always talking to me. And they would say the same thing like you was talking about earlier Bobbi. You know what they would say to me? Man, I sure wish they would've taught me credit in school.

Flame Newton:
That got me to thinking. A lot of these people that are in prison contrary to your belief, are there for monetary value. And what does that mean? The reason that they was there was for something pertaining to money and you can say, well, he killed him. He killed him because he was trying to get some money. Somebody owed him some money, some type of relevance to it. He there for robbery. Robbing somebody to get some money. Say he there for drugs. Selling drugs to get some money. And you start to add these things up. What they don't know is pretty much what we talked about earlier. The fact that stuff was not talked about in heavily populated areas. And so being understand of that magnitude, I'm able to teach.

Flame Newton:
And one of the biggest compliments that I've ever getting is when a kid had asked me one time, I'm sitting in prison and he asked me, he said, Flame, could you read this to me? Read. And the word was tomorrow. Couldn't believe it. See things that we take for granted, these things really weigh down on other people like, reading.

Flame Newton:
Now, although that he could tell you about 28 grams is 28 grams. And understanding the ounces and because he's dealing with drugs all day. And he learned the numbers in that magnitude, even count money all day long pertaining to it. But he didn't know the magnitude of things like reading. And I said, what if you read something that you like? And so when we get into these type of components pertaining to it, I'm understanding, and I make sure that on every single platform that I've ever been on, will never be one that I would never say the words that I'm apologetic on all get up for every single thing and every victim that I've ever affected. I make sure of that. I don't hesitate that. But with that being said, along this life, we have journeys and this was just one of mine.

Bobbi Rebell:
What did you actually go to jail for?

Flame Newton:
I went to jail for identity theft, money laundering, and bank fraud. So what I did was I took people, identity, attach it to a business and went in and got a lot of money from it. What I was doing was cleaning up the negative items to make them appear as more trustworthy than they actually were, getting the banks to give out money to that particular person. That was when I would go get the money and take off in that manner. Money that they didn't even know that it existed from the people that I took the identities from.

Bobbi Rebell:
Wow, that's really scary.

Flame Newton:
Over 75% of the American public, that once they fall in debt, they go back into debt within the two to three year window. Why? Because they have not been educated about it. So the more that they can get educated about something pertaining to what fuel, I'm just talking about credit.

Bobbi Rebell:
What is one thing people can look at and boost that score?

Flame Newton:
It's not your score. So let's leave that right there.

Bobbi Rebell:
Oh okay.

Flame Newton:
And I'm going to come back. I got you Bobbi. Watch this. Watch this Bobbi. I got you. I want you to be concerned with the contents which is on your credit profile. Again, the items that are on your credit profile, I want you to take heed to those items that are there, understanding that they have these things call quality lenders. Right. Quality lenders. These lenders are considered measurements. They're considered the high's to the high. Now the Bank of America's, the Wells Fargo's, the Chase's, Capital One's, the Cities, Barclays, even the US banks. You have some of those quality lenders that are on your profile.

Flame Newton:
And the tip that I'm going to give you for this is watch this. You pull out your credit card right now. I need everybody to pull out your credit card. If you driving just keep driving, don't do it while you driving. But right now I want you to pull out your credit card. If the front doesn't match the back, that card is whack. If the front says Chase, the back of your card must say Chase. But if the front of your card, now I love Victoria Secret. Victoria Secret, we love you too. But if your front of your card says, Victoria Secret and the back of your card says Synchrony Bank, that's not a great quality credit card. You like bank issued credit cards.

Bobbi Rebell:
Why? Tell us why.

Flame Newton:
Because That is a quality lender. And a quality lender meaning that that point, that bank have gave you money. They didn't give you goods or services for money. I like to explain it in this way. Like Home Depot. Home Depot has a great company. I love Home Depot to death. But if Home Depot gives you let's say, a $2,000 line of credit and you go buy refrigerator for a $1,000. If you buy a refrigerator for a $1,000, that refrigerator might've cost Home Depot $200. So if it cost Home Depot $200, that means you paid one fifth of the price of that. So if you didn't pay back Home Depot that thousand, lets say you didn't pay them back. What was the loss to Home Depot? Was the loss $1,000 or was it $200? The bank issue is going to lose more so the risk is going to be higher, which makes it a more quality card. That make any sense?

Bobbi Rebell:
It makes total sense. And I have never seen that argument frame that way and I'm processing it. And I'm going to keep thinking about it because you make a really interesting point. I want to get to where people can find you. I know you have a lot of amazing resources. I can't believe you created this in only a little over a year since you've been out. But tell us more about where people can find you and how they can learn from all that you have to offer?

Flame Newton:
Great. I appreciate it. One is I have a book which is called The School of Credit: Learn and Mastered the 12 Levels of the American Credit System, which is on Amazon. Definitely, that is something that I want you to go tap into. It's a great foundation. This is one of the books that goes down with the greats. When I'm saying greats, I'm saying the greatest books of all times, such as the Webster's dictionary, such as the encyclopedias, and those sort of ordeal. So it's in a different caliber. Also, you can find me, you can reach out to me at flame@flamenewton.com. Again, that is flame@flamenewton.com. I'm always on Clubhouse. You can find me on social media sites. I been away from Instagram. I'm starting to get over there now. Also, Facebook, all under Flame Newton. And other than that, man, listen, when you see me, man, I stop, I talk, I laugh. We joke. We kick it. We have fun. This a good time. You know what I mean? Or if not, we're going to figure out how to make it a good time. Other than that, appreciate that Bobbi.

Bobbi Rebell:
I love that. And people want to know Flame, your real name?

Flame Newton:
Flame Newton.

Bobbi Rebell:
Given by your mother. Really? That's amazing. Love it. All right. Thank you so much.

Flame Newton:
I mean, I appreciate you having me on this podcast. I'm excited for the people that are just getting started on their credit journey. I'm appreciative of people that are trying to overcome something and don't feel like they can overcome it. I'm excited for you by Bobbi and the podcast, to see which direction that it's going to grow. I do appreciate you. And I thank you. And I'm humbled on all levels.

Bobbi Rebell:
There's a lot here, but here's some things that stood out to me. Stop making excuses and saying, so-and-so, didn't teach you. Well, if you're a grown up, go out and educate yourself. In the past, you could say you didn't have access to information. Well now, as Flame points out, we do have information. We have the internet. You have to be careful. There is misinformation out there, but you can, and you need to get educated and take responsibility for it yourself. Flame also doesn't like store credit cards. Well, the basic premise is that they have less to lose if you default. His feeling, is that their validation of your credit worthiness may not have the same high bar as a bank credit card. It's an interesting theory and something we should think about. Flame also warrants that the majority of people are repeat offenders when it comes to getting into debt. So if that is you, stop the cycle.

Bobbi Rebell:
One thing you should definitely not do is go into debt buying presents for friends and loved ones this season. There's a lot of celebrations coming up. I get it. But please check out the affordable gifts on my website, grownupgear.com. And as a special promotion, we are going to give away one $50 credit card to grown up gear each week until July 4th, which is Independence Day. And maybe we can also call it financial independence day. There are two ways to enter to win. Take a screenshot of this podcast, post it on social media, Instagram specifically. And tag me @bobbirebell1. And then also email that screenshot to us at hello@financialgrownup.com. The second way to enter is to write a review of the Money Tips for Financial Grownups podcast on Apple Podcasts. Take a screenshot and send it to us at hello@financialgrownup.com. Big thanks to Flame Newton for sharing so generously with us and helping us all be financial grownups

Bobbi Rebell:
Money Tips for Financial Grownups is a production of BRK Media, LLC. Editing and production by Steve Stewart, guest coordination, content creation, social media support, and show notes by Ashley Well. You can find the podcast show notes, which includes links to resources mentioned in the show as well as show transcripts, by going to my website, bobbirebell.com. You can also find an incredible library of hundreds of previous episodes to help you on your journey as a financial grownup. The podcast and tons of complimentary resources associated with the podcast is brought to you for free, but I need to have your support in return. Here's how you can do that. First connect with me on social media @bobbirebell1 on Instagram and Bobbi Rebell on both Twitter and on Clubhouse, where you can join my money tips for grown-ups club. Second, share this podcast on social media and tag me so I can thank you.

Bobbi Rebell:
You can also leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Reading each one means the world to me. And you know what? It really motivates others to subscribe. You can also support our merch shop, grownupgear.com by picking up fun gifts for your grownup friends and treating yourself as well. And most of all, help your friends on their journey to being financial grownups by encouraging them to subscribe to the podcast. Together, we got this. Thank you for your time and for the kind words so many of you send my way. See you next time. And thank you for supporting Money Tips for Financial Grownups.



Authors, Entrepreneurs, Financial Grownup, MoneyBobbi Rebell KaufmanFlame Newton, Money Tip, Money Tips for Financial Grownups