Americans' credit card balances are at an all-time high.
Total debt now tops one trillion dollars, according to the Federal Reserve.
And with student loan payments continuing soon, financial experts are concerned for debtors’ futures.
But there is help out there for folks dealing with debt, just ask Gabriel Grant of Morris.
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His home build quickly became a headache -- a very expensive one.
“We overshot our budget grossly and I turned to credit cards at that point,” Grant said.
Grant made a job change and used the GI Bill to go back to school, and he and his wife had a baby on the way too.
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Payments became unmanageable for Grant.
“I was over $25,000 in debt when I found MMI and that was between five different credit cards and a personal loan on top of that too, so it was a lot.”
Grant found Money Management International (MMI)’s services while searching for help online.
MMI is a nonprofit that offers debt management plans for free or for a minimal fee with the goal of giving you financial freedom.
“It bundled everything into one payment and most of the interest payments went down below half of what they were when I was working with the credit card companies. [MMI was] able to negotiate lower interest rates for me and just make that easy monthly payment where I could make that payment every month,” said Grant.
With MMI’s guidance, Grant was able to clear his debt in three years -- all $25,000.
“Paid off. And every time I had extra cash wherever it was from, I made sure to devote it towards that and it paid off quicker than I thought it would.”
“He came to us when he was looking for a consolidation loan. He actually wasn’t looking for counseling or education at all, but he found that part of it so empowering. When he got a windfall, he put it towards that debt management program, increased his credit score by 50 points, along the way,” said MMI’s Thomas Nitzsche.
If someone can relate to Grant’s tougher financial times, he encourages you to find a plan and program to help.
“Be proactive about it really, because the longer you let it build up, the more avenues you try to approach, and it builds a web of debt and it’s hard to climb out of that, really.”
