I was looking for car, which one’s me? A new convertible or an SUV?
Too bad I didn’t know my credit was whacked,
Because I’m driving off the lot in a used subcompact …

You’ve all heard the jingle on TV. And if you’re paying attention, you know the “free credit report offer” from this company is for customers who sign up for a credit monitoring service.

But to spin off on a different angle, has anybody noticed that characters in this advertising campaign appear to be in their young 20s? They’re either still in college or just graduating. And in one of the commercials, the plot focuses on a newlywed couple.

While I applaud the message to young adults that bad credit is a bad thing, there’s another piece to the financial puzzle.

It’s called debt-to-income ratio.

And when I was 23 years old, I faced that reality when I went through the car-buying process for the first time.

My college car was a 1980 Oldsmobile Omega that I bought from my parents in 1986.

In fall 1990, the Omega died and I needed a way to get to work.

I was under a lot of financial stress, with a divorce pending in court and a young daughter to take care of.

But I had more than two years of full-time work on my record. My first husband and I co-signed only one loan when we were married, with all other accounts in our individual names. And I had kept the bills paid.

Basically, my personal credit was verifiable and good.

I test-drove a Ford Escort that had payments of about $212 a month.

The credit company wouldn’t approve me for that loan unless I got a co-signer. The reason: I did not have enough income compared to my expenses.

I don’t remember how much my salary was at the time. But to put the car payment in perspective, my rent was only $285 a month.

I refused to purchase a co-signed car.

I was pretty smart to walk away from a stupid loan offer. A few days later, another car dealer called me about a 1984 Dodge Aeries that had just been put into inventory. That car had payments of $142 a month, in my own name, serviced by a local credit union.

When the Dodge became cranky and unreliable in summer 1997, what did I replace it with?

To borrow a line from the jingle: I was “driving off the lot in a used subcompact.”

Well, to be specific, I bought a certified used 1995 Geo Metro.

I was working full-time and had good credit.

But in comparing the overall cost of the Metro to that of a Chevrolet Cavalier, I felt more comfortable financially taking the Metro home.

I also ran that car to the ground.

In spring 2006, I traded in what was left of the Metro for my current set of wheels: a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt. This was a purchase my husband and I made within a matter of days after starting the car-shopping process.

I walked into the dealership with credit report and credit score computer printouts in hand from … guess which company?

But I paid for exactly the printouts I wanted and didn’t sign up for a service I didn’t want. The benefit is that when I signed the loan application, I knew that my credit was good and there were no errors on the account.

By the way, I don’t need a convertible or an SUV to make a statement about me and my posse.

I am a mom. And I have other financial responsibilities than just a car payment.

I think a four-door Cobalt sends that image, don’t you?

(Now, if you really want to get a credit report at no charge, go to www.annualcreditreport.com. This service useful for checking for any errors or identity theft problems at any or all of the three major credit bureaus. However, at Annual Credit Report, only the data file is free. You will have to pay to receive a credit score if you also want that information.)