American Debt Girl - Credit Card Debt

Credit Card Debt

Where do you need to be?

Where are you in terms of your credit card debt? Need a little emergency assistance? Need to eliminate credit card debt, and pronto? Well, have no fear, American Debt Girl is here and she will steer you clear of all things even remotely associated with debt.

To get an idea of how American Debt Girl got into debt, we need to give you her background. She was raised in a home where she never had to want for anything. Her parents were both lawyers and both were partners in the same firm. Their house was a mansion, and the grounds were so big that they included a separate house for their full-time housekeeper/nanny. There was a pool, a tennis court and a library that was decorated to resemble the Oval Office in the White House. Her parents even gave the nanny a Lexus SUV to use for her job.

When American Debt Girl went off to college, her parents gave her a credit card and paid the balance in full each month. Being accustomed to getting whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted it, American Debt Girl didn't change her spending habits and fell into some pretty horrific credit card debts. While in college, she met a medical student. They began dating, and soon after graduation, they got engaged. Her parents had hoped she would marry someone successful, and they were pleased. However, the day of the wedding, fear and anxiety set in. American Debt Girl realized she did not love this man, so she snuck out of the church and left the groom at the alter. Needless to say, after having spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on this wedding extravaganza and inviting all their closest friends and colleagues, her parents were quite upset with her. Her father cut her off and told her she'd have to get a job and make it on her own. No more shopping with daddy's money!

This didn't concern American Debt Girl, She was confident that she could make it on her own. She had graduated from college with a degree in fashion and she had been working for the last six months as a women's clothing buyer for a department store. In fact, she was excited about her newfound independence. But the reality of life set in when she had to get a car (no more limo rides from daddy's chauffeur) and pay for insurance. She also had rent, utilities and other expenses that she never had before. Still, she had a credit card, and that's all she needed--she thought. She sailed along happily for a long time until her traveling and shopping caught up with her. Her credit card minimums were too high for her to afford anymore.

Being the "daddy's little girl" that she was, she was certain that her dad would help her pay off her credit card debt. However, she was wrong. Her dad said that if she truly wanted to make it on her own, she was going to have to be an adult and face her credit card debt head on. Never having dealt with credit card debt before, she didn't know what a monster it was. She asked her best friend what to do, and her best friend told her to go to a debt management company for help, so that's exactly what she did.

When she told the debt management professional of her background and how she got into credit card debt, he asked to see her bills, what her total monthly expenses were and what her income was. He figured her debt-to-income ratio and suggested a debt consolidation program. He explained that through this program, he would contact her creditors to get her balances and interest rates reduced, then he would combine all the monthly payments into one. Her monthly payment to the debt consolidation company was quite affordable, and he estimated her debt would be paid off in about five years. Credit card debt elimination was the key to financial freedom for her.

He also strongly suggested that American Debt Girl should get some credit counseling. She had to learn to live within her means, and she had to learn how credit works. She also needed skills like budgeting, and she needed to build a savings account of her own. (Her trust fund wasn't "officially" hers until she was 30.) He explained that the skills she'd learn in credit counseling could keep her out of credit card debt in the future. She really liked the sound of this, because now that she'd had a taste of independence, she wanted to be able to rely on herself instead of others.

Go American Debt Girl, go!