Debt-Free-Destiny.com is all about providing information and tips to help you get out of debt and stay out. Through personal experience and expert, sage advice, we've been able to compile the very best resources to help you make the best choices and to enable you to be financially independent.
My Story
I've had more than my share of debt.
It wasn't long ago that I was in some serious trouble: I
was in deep credit card debt and was paying for life's
essentials with my credit card, struggling to keep my family
afloat.
I finally learned some hard lessons
and took some drastic measures, changed my lifestyle and spending habits.
It wasn't easy. But I did it. And I
created debt-free-destiny.com to share what I've learned
from the experts and to encourage others on the path of debt free living.
Here you'll find information on how to eliminate your debt, save
money and build a solid financial foundation for your future.
I began my working career with a part time job painting college dorm rooms while
trying to finish a Masters degree. I was also waiting a year
for my wife (then fiancé) to graduate from college.
Well, the part-time job did not supply me with enough income to save for the
wedding, buy necessities, and pay for my graduate degree. So I was looking for a little loan....
Enter the 1st Credit Card Offer
I applied an got
a $1000 limit Visa card. On top of college loans, the credit
card debt kept piling up. I was easily making the payments, in fact, I
paid off the whole balance a few times. But life's expenses caught up with me.
We got married both got better jobs and paid off our debt. But
then came the apartment we wanted. We sank back into a pattern with our credit cards of "Oh
we'll pay it off, we both work and make decent money" This "waiting to
pay it off" mentality really got us into trouble.
Soon baby #1 arrived. My wife quit working. Before we knew it, we were
in over $10K in credit card debt, plus $8K in school loans. I realized
I had more debt than I could handle and less income to handle it with.
Enter 0%
credit card offers.
This is when we
started playing the transferring balances game. A 0% offer came in the
mail, "Perfect" we thought, "we'll just move this balance over the new card
and just pay the minimum until we get back on our feet". We
never missed a payment. We played this game over and over again until
we had about 4 credit cards between us carrying a total balance of over
$20K. We then decided to pay off the remaining balances on our 2 vehicle
loans by moving them to our 0% credit cards. Dumb move. We
stopped paying the same payment amount, because we didn't have to.
The minimum on the 0% card was much less that our car payments.
Enter house and the
"Home Depot Hundred"
We bought a
house right before we had our second child, and everyone knows, when
you buy a house, your expenses go way up. As a friend once told me,
once you buy a house, you have to add the "Home Depot Hundred" to your
monthly budget. So true. We knew the expenses would go up, but what
we didn't anticipate was our lack of self-control to avoid buying
too many nice things. Nice
costs money. Never missing a payment, we tried to reward ourselves
with nice things for the house after we got a certain credit card down to a
certain level. This self-discipline worked for a while, but then we
slacked.
Enter
unexpected expenses.
I had to have some
serious dental work done. Thousands of dollars' worth. How did I
pay for it, ahhhh my trusty Visa, of course. Engine repairs on my
usually reliable Honda Accord. Other major work on our mini-van.
Roof leaks. Broken central air conditioning. These are some of
the fun things that can jump up at your during the course of life. Had
we done it right, we would've had a savings account to dip into, but we
didn't so our debt started to soar. Our budgeting technique
stunk. Balance transferring continued. Soon we had child #3 and
6 credit cards with a balance of $35K.
Enter exit
strategy.
At this point,
in order to pay our minimums, we were literally putting groceries and gas on
credit cards. I was putting my precious credit score ahead of common
sense. I had the desire to pay all of it back and but I was putting
everything at risk just to make the minimum payments and to maintain my sense honesty and decency. I knew something had to give. That's when we
started considering all our options. Consolidation, Home Equity Loan, Settlement? What to do?
With great anxiety, we finally
decided to try debt settlement and we've
been extremely happy with our choice. For more information on our
choice, read why I chose debt
settlement.
As you can see from our
settlements page, we've saved a ton of
money. And we've paid all the remaining balances off.
We finally created a new budget, without the
credit card payments, and have been sticking to it ever since.
Does this story sound any bit familiar? I know I'm not
alone and neither are you if you've experienced some of these
same things.
There is hope.
Please browse
the rest of the site to get some information that will help you
get going and beat the debt monster before it consumes you.
Thanks for
visiting.
All The Best,
Brad
Creator/Editor
www.debt-free-destiny.com
PS. And remember,
the most important thing is to take action!
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