Clifton's Story, Debt

A few years out of college I found myself with a modest salary, an ex-wife and $14,000 in debt. It seems that I wasn’t great about controlling expenses, and I just didn't earn enough to live the life I was trying to live. So after a couple of years of paying for things like groceries with credit cards, I had a problem. My debt was spread over 3 credit cards, and I was paying only the $15-20 minimum payment each month. Even I knew that I would never get these things paid off at that rate.  

I called a nonprofit credit counseling service, and within a couple of weeks, they had negotiated with my credit card companies to reduce my interest rates down from about 20% to about 6%, saving me a ton of interest. Then, they simplified everything for me, by making the monthly payments to my credit card companies on my behalf. That way, I knew the payments arrived at the creditors on time every month, and I didn't have to close the accounts.  

Over time, I started earning a little more money at my job, so I started adding payments to the creditors on my own. Within two years, I was debt free, and now have an excellent credit rating.