Monday, September 15, 2008

Couple Pays Off $18,000 in Credit Cards

In Sunday mornings paper, I was excited to read about a local couple that paid off their debts and are now debt free. Their story is an inspiration.
With 17 credit cards, this Topeka family accumulated $18,000 of debt. They were determined to climb out. Six years later, with credit counseling, they are debt free. See how they did it, vowing now to pay as they go.
- Topeka Capital Journal

One of the big problems, like many of us was that Amy and Andy Green ate out often. They also drove a sport utility vehicle that cost more than $900 a month and made every day purchases with plastic.
By 2001, Amy Green was pregnant with the couple's third child and they were suffocating under a mortgage, student loans and $18,000 in credit card debt. One financial adviser feared they might have to declare bankruptcy.
- Topeka Capital Journal
But after being featured in a Jan. 13, 2002 article on money and debt, the Capital Journal teamed the greens up with counselors from Housing and Credit Counseling and GTrust Financial Partners.

The program worked. The Greens paid off their credit cards in July 2007.

"It was just a sense of awe," Amy Green said. "That weight had finally been lifted."
- Topeka Capital Journal

A growing number of Topekan's and American's have been getting out of debt with help of Dave Ramsey, Consumer Credit Counseling, John Cummuta (as I started with), and a number of other financial gurus and advisers.

Average credit card debt among indebted young adults increased 55 percent between 1992 and 2001 — to $4,088, according to Creditcard.com. The Greens said they were typical college students, racking up credit card debts in a lifestyle of borrow today, pay tomorrow.
- Topeka Capital Journal
Of course, what the Greens and others like them found out, is it won't be easy. Like the quoted credit counselor said, you didn't get in debt over night, and you won't get out of debt overnight.
Here is some wise advice, for those who wish to get out of debt,

1. Write down all debts, including credit card debts, student loans, mortgages, car debts and interest rates.

2. Figure out monthly take-home pay and basic living expenses. Is there enough money leftover to pay off credit card debts within five years?

3. Stop using plastic and pay with cash only. Pay off high-interest debt first. Eliminate behaviors that produce debt.

4. Sell assets, such as boat, guitar, tools, extra car, baseball card collection and extra furniture to pay off debt.

5. If you don't have the capability to pay off your debts on your own, call someone who can help, such as Housing and Credit Counseling.

SOURCE: Richard Salmen, GTrust

Since July 2007, the money the Greens had been applying to credit card debt has been going into savings accounts. One account is for vacations and trips.

"I do not miss the credit cards," Andy Green said. "If we don't have the money in the bank, we don't buy it. If we're going to Disney World, we're going to have the money for it."

In August, they went to Georgia for the wedding of Amy's brother. They visited Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon to see the graves of Allman Brothers band members and took pictures of the Civil War graves and the Jewish burial ground.

Best of all, they said, the trip, like their consumer debt, was paid in full.

"I have my integrity," Andy Green said. "I paid my debts."





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