How it Happened

I was in my first semester of college when I got the first offer. It was so cool, I was so excited, and I accepted without a second thought. I can remember exactly where I was sitting, on the sectional sofa in my parents' living room, giving them my information over the phone. They gave me a $600 limit, and I thought I had arrived. I can't remember what company it was, but I know that the card was black, it was a VISA, and it had a very colorful globe on it. It was as if I had the world at my fingertips, suddenly. Within a few months, I was approved for a MasterCard, a JC Penney card, and a Sears card as well. I quickly charged up things I "needed"...a microwave (I was going to be moving out soon and who doesn't need a microwave), new clothes, etc. I paid the minimum payments, because they were affordable, and there was no way I could have paid the entire balance all at once.

I decided to move to the Tallahassee area to "go to school" at Florida State (read, be closer to a boyfriend who had moved up there), and found myself getting behind. I had previously read on someone's fridge a tongue-in-cheek list of ways to make yourself feel better, and one of the things listed was to use your MasterCard to pay your Visa. This seemed like a good idea to me, seeing as how I was behind anyway, and so I took a cash advance on the MasterCard to make the Visa payment one month. I bought other frivolous things and had all the cards maxed out probably within six months of receiving them.

I moved back home, and started to try to get things straight. I went to Consumer Credit Counseling and paid them sporadically, but when I saw that I was making $25 payments on the Sears card and receiving $50 in charges, I decided that wasn't worth it and stopped making payments altogether. At some point, Sears got tired of waiting, sued me and got a judgment. On a card that had an $800 balance, they sued me for $1,600. The garnishment of my wages was about to begin. I was 20 years old, with a mountain of other debt breathing down my neck, living paycheck to paycheck and still not really making it, and I had no idea how to even begin to get out. So, I took a couple hundred dollars, found a paralegal, and filed bankruptcy.

The next company that was brave enough to give me a credit card was Capital One Visa. It was in 2005, I was just about to start school for the semester and they contacted me at the right time. I needed books, and they gave me a $200 limit. I maxed it immediately with my books for the semester. At some point, they upped my limit to $500, which was maxed pretty quickly also. When Peter and I got married and got pregnant, the goal became to get out of debt as quickly as possible. I got an offer for a WAMU Visa with a 0% balance transfer rate for 6 months, and a $1000 limit. I accepted it and transferred the Capital One balance immediately. Once Olivia came and our income was reduced, it became very easy to charge things like the electric or phone bill to one of the credit cards when we didn't have the cash on hand to cover it, always with the intention of paying it off as soon as possible, but never with the follow through. Right now, we are carrying three credit cards, all within $100 of their limits. Making minimum payments.

All that to say this....



WE ARE DONE.

CASH IS KING, DEBT IS DUMB!!!

We have a new perspective, one that doesn't include any credit cards at all, not even for emergencies! We have a small emergency fund set up that is to cover anything that we might normally put on a credit card, and anything we can't afford, we don't buy or do. I am done being a slave to these credit card companies, I am through being in debt up to my ears. A bankruptcy didn't even teach me anything. What does it take? I don't know....but I guess it takes just being sick and tired of being sick and tired. God is right when He tells us in Proverbs 22:7 that the borrower is a slave to the lender. These credit card companies have me in bondage, until I pay their card off and close my account. Which I am motivated to do as soon as possible. It is a little difficult right now, because I am eight months pregnant and can't really look for a job right now, and then once baby comes it will be difficult as well, so we really have to depend on Peter getting a second job and working about 20 extra hours a week, but, we are willing, and are going to do whatever we can, as the Lord allows, all the while being angry that we are in the bondage that we are in. And this is a good kind of anger, the motivating kind.

I thank God that he brought us into a church that was starting Financial Peace University, the brain child of Dave Ramsey. At this time, he is my personal financial hero, and God, through Dave's plan has provided the motivation and momentum for us to get where we are. Thank you, God, and thank you, Dave.