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| Credit Counseling Success Stories |
Dear Maria,
We wanted to thank you for all of the help you gave us. Honestly, n about 3 hours of your time you really turned our life around. When we
met with you back in October we had no idea what we were going to do to deal with our $18,000 in credit card debt, $20,000 bills for an oil
spill at our house and pay for all of our student loans, regular expenses and $1200 per month mortgage. It seemed like we never had the
money to pay our bills, there were always late and our credit cards were all maxed out and at really high interest rates. We were also
ashamed because despite each of us having graduate degrees - we had no idea how to manage our finances.
You really explained a lot of things that we didn't know such as, the importance of a credit report, how credit companies work in their own
best interest, how credit cards should be used (don't spend more than 25%) and how to make a budget. We had fooled ourselves into
believing that we were living on a budget when in reality we never kept track of how much we were spending on anything. We would spend
too much money when we got paid, run out of money, pay our bills late and then charge things on the credit card because we didn't have
money.
We were a little skeptical that a budget would help at first because it always felt like we never had money to pay the bills when they came
in. You said if we made a budget we would have the money and you were right. But there were many tears and shouting shed over that
budget the first couple of months. It wasn't easy. Its a hard pill to swallow - like a diet that you really can't cheat on. We were arguing about
how every dollar was spent, how it should look in the spreadsheet and what to do once we set the budget and then need money for
something not in the budget. We found that we had to redefine the work "need" for ourselves. There are lots of things we can live without.
But, when all was said and done - the budget worked...even through the holidays.
The other huge piece of the puzzle was the help from our families. One family paid off the credit cards ( they had to un-stuff the mattresses)
and one paid off the oil spill (by taking out a second home mortgage). Now we pay each family back each month a set amount and like you
said, call them up and say "Thank you! Thank you!" all the time.
For the first time in our lives we have actual savings accounts! This is a really big step for us. We set up a 'dibble dabble' account that we
automatically deposit into every month and an emergency account that we also contribute to each month that's earning money through
mutual funds. My father has been telling us to 'save your money' for years - and we have finally listened. We're even starting to look at life
insurance and setting up an IRA. We find that we have plenty of money to pay our bills on time and we will have enough money to install new
fences this spring with cash - something that we would have charged on the credit card in the past.
Maria, we want to thank you for giving it to us straight and helping us with patience, dignity and compassion to dig ourselves out of this
problem. You taught us a lot and we hope you will continue the good work Happy New Year and God Bless!
We wanted to thank you for all of the help you gave us. Honestly, n about 3 hours of your time you really turned our life around. When we
met with you back in October we had no idea what we were going to do to deal with our $18,000 in credit card debt, $20,000 bills for an oil
spill at our house and pay for all of our student loans, regular expenses and $1200 per month mortgage. It seemed like we never had the
money to pay our bills, there were always late and our credit cards were all maxed out and at really high interest rates. We were also
ashamed because despite each of us having graduate degrees - we had no idea how to manage our finances.
You really explained a lot of things that we didn't know such as, the importance of a credit report, how credit companies work in their own
best interest, how credit cards should be used (don't spend more than 25%) and how to make a budget. We had fooled ourselves into
believing that we were living on a budget when in reality we never kept track of how much we were spending on anything. We would spend
too much money when we got paid, run out of money, pay our bills late and then charge things on the credit card because we didn't have
money.
We were a little skeptical that a budget would help at first because it always felt like we never had money to pay the bills when they came
in. You said if we made a budget we would have the money and you were right. But there were many tears and shouting shed over that
budget the first couple of months. It wasn't easy. Its a hard pill to swallow - like a diet that you really can't cheat on. We were arguing about
how every dollar was spent, how it should look in the spreadsheet and what to do once we set the budget and then need money for
something not in the budget. We found that we had to redefine the work "need" for ourselves. There are lots of things we can live without.
But, when all was said and done - the budget worked...even through the holidays.
The other huge piece of the puzzle was the help from our families. One family paid off the credit cards ( they had to un-stuff the mattresses)
and one paid off the oil spill (by taking out a second home mortgage). Now we pay each family back each month a set amount and like you
said, call them up and say "Thank you! Thank you!" all the time.
For the first time in our lives we have actual savings accounts! This is a really big step for us. We set up a 'dibble dabble' account that we
automatically deposit into every month and an emergency account that we also contribute to each month that's earning money through
mutual funds. My father has been telling us to 'save your money' for years - and we have finally listened. We're even starting to look at life
insurance and setting up an IRA. We find that we have plenty of money to pay our bills on time and we will have enough money to install new
fences this spring with cash - something that we would have charged on the credit card in the past.
Maria, we want to thank you for giving it to us straight and helping us with patience, dignity and compassion to dig ourselves out of this
problem. You taught us a lot and we hope you will continue the good work Happy New Year and God Bless!