Christian Weddings

Praise God for no more debt!!!

(:

IDK if anyone else has debt issues but i thought that i would share this praise with everyone. (:

Okay first back story:
When i was 18 i had a student loan to go to a private Christian college here in Northern California. Because of that it gave me very good credit for such a young age. SSOOOO i got some credit cards with absolutely NO knowledge of how credit cards work. I was working a good job and thought i only had to pay the minimum payment. Long story short i maxed out my cards within the year and couldnt pay them off. They eventually went into collection and 6 years later are still not paid off. 

I knew that i needed to pay them off..but it just seems like TOO much. When i was doing Bethel School of Ministry 3 years ago i tried to pay them little by little...but i wasn't even making a dent. I had HORRIBLE credit and it is something i wanted to get taken care of so that FI wouldn't marry that too. We want to be able to get a house someday and nice cars...but my credit is BAD and FI has none. 
Well i got a letter the other day that my Capital One card collectors were willing to settle for $281.99 (i owe them $900!). 
So i just paid it. It was part of wedding money...so i cant pay anything on the wedding this week...but thats okay. They said my credit will be updated in 30 days! 

Praise God!!!!! that will help my credit tremendously! I am praying that i can pay EVERYTHING off before August 20 (my wedding date). It takes awhile to build credit scores back up....but i am past a start! (: 

Re: Praise God for no more debt!!!

  • edited December 2011
    Congrats!  I have student loans and credit cards, but luckily I knew how to use the credit cards and have never had any debt on them.  The only debt I have right now is my student loan, but I can't wait to pay it off.  I just lost out on buying a house because the student loan payment is going up, so you can imagine how upset I am to be under that debt burden.
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  • edited December 2011
    oh ya! my debt was always something that in the back of my mind. i knew that i wanted to take care of it.....but just didn't know how. 

    so i love that its starting to go down! lol
  • edited December 2011
    Yeah, I hate debt. HATE.  My FI has some CC debt and I have student loan debt.  We both have car loans, and I have a mortgage payment.  UGH!!!  I think I'd feel better about our progress on paying it off if his CC debt was eliminated.  We'll keep working on it, little by little.  It sure would be nice to settle for less than the value of the debt though... I am guessing that's not good for the credit score either, but it certainly helps to be out from under that mountain! 

    One of the things I've studied lately is about financial responsibility -- both Suze Orman type methods as well as Dave Ramsey.  (Polar opposites).  I don't want to have this "master" of debt enslaving me, (a la Dave Ramsey method), but I also realize that it is still responsible to have debts like a home mortgage or a small car loan that is manageable.  So... finding a balance is what we're working on too!! 

    Oh, and sending congratulations your way for hitting this milestone!!! :-) 
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  • edited December 2011
    thanks kelly! yes.... my FI is learning all about managing finances. I am good NOW about it! (: 

    I think that settling isn't the best...but it will show that i paid it off which will improve my credit. so it'll be good! (:
  • edited December 2011
    That's awesome that you are getting it paid off! I have student loans, but that is the only debt I have. I only have 1 credit card because I don't trust myself haha. It is all paid up to date. Luckily for me, my FI is amazing with finances! A little while before we got engaged, he strongly urged me to open a savings account and I have a certain amount of money go into it each month. I have never been off track with my money (not TOO much), but he will make sure I never get off track from now on. 

    Anyway, good for you! I am happy for you! 
  • azdancer8azdancer8 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Good for you!

    DH and I are extremely fortunate - we have no debt. My school loans were paid off by a trust two months after I graduated, and the money that I still owed my dad for my car was paid off right after the wedding. DH paid his own way through college debt-free, and owns his car outright. We both have credit cards, but pay them off every month, and only use them occasionally to maintain our credit (like for gas). We intend to build a house debt-free as well, so we're saving everything we can.
     
    It's such a good feeling knowing you don't owe anyone money, and you'll get there if you keep working at it. :)
  • mrandmrsbristmrandmrsbrist member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_christian-weddings_praise-god-debt?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:464687ae-7bc1-4360-9aea-999e11f1e1adDiscussion:c3b5af4f-3d13-49e1-bcef-1dc044ac4089Post:972fb21b-838e-4d50-a6c9-583c19f7bdc1">Re: Praise God for no more debt!!!</a>:
    [QUOTE]Good for you! DH and I are extremely fortunate - we have no debt. My school loans were paid off by a trust two months after I graduated, and the money that I still owed my dad for my car was paid off right after the wedding. DH paid his own way through college debt-free, and owns his car outright. We both have credit cards, but pay them off every month, and only use them occasionally to maintain our credit (like for gas). We intend to build a house debt-free as well, so we're saving everything we can.   It's such a good feeling knowing you don't owe anyone money, and you'll get there if you keep working at it. :)
    Posted by azdancer8[/QUOTE]

    FI and I are going to be like that. I own my car, I'm on a full ride scholarship, FI is on grants and scholarships, and he has a credit card he pays off every months. I have the phone bill in my name, so that gives me some credit.

    We've talked about the future and we want to build our first home debt-free, we want to be able to purchase nearly everything with cash or credit we pay off at the end of the month, etc.
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  • edited December 2011
    that's so AWESOME!! good job!!
    i was going to have a lot of school loans to pay off to from going to a private university, but my mom's giving me some of her inheritance from my very very generous great grandpa, so that's all covered! FI has some credit card debt and we're gonna start working on that so its a little daunting but your story is really encouraging!
  • SuMmErKuTiESuMmErKuTiE member
    5 Love Its First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Congrats! That's such an awesome feeling! I got into a lot of trouble in college as well with my credit cards and went on a 5 year plan to pay off my debts. It was such a great feeling to have that taken care of and watch my score continuing to climb back up. I haven't had a late or missed payment in 6 years and when DH and I applied for our mortgage they came back and congratulated us both on having such great credit! I couldn't believe it! It felt so good to know that I was able to come back from such big mistakes.

    You're doing the right thing and taking care of it at a young age so it doesn't affect you later on down the road when you and your FI want to buy a house or new cars, etc...
  • edited December 2011
    Congrats on getting out of debt!! 
    It's such a good feeling knowing that you don't owe anyone. 
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