Break Free and Save

By Desirae Williams

Staff Writer

My heart starts to beat a little faster, my hands clam up, the line gets longer, and cashier is looking at me with those, "you know your card wont work if I swipe it through a third- time" eyes. Finally the cashier asked if I would like to use another form of payment. Yea right, like I had that option.

Visa used to my friend, my confidant, that someone I could depend on. Obviously, not after that last pesky situation.

I was knee-deep in debt and needed some a way out or I would be buried beneath it pretty soon.

As a debtor, I embodied Kanye West's rap lyrics, "I'm addicted to spending before I get it". It is as if he created that song for me. He perfectly captured the essence of the blessing, and curse of purchasing unnecessary items without having the means to do so, plus, getting away with it, all in the name of interest!

It was at 18 when the credit card company sought to destroy me, by gearing up their best army. They recruited me and others who were unaware of the disadvantages of advanced monies. Amex, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover all suited up their elite soldiers and veterans to the “plastic game.”

They boldly hunted me down to “sign on the dotted line”. As innocent as I was, so was I ignorant, and allowed Visa to conquer over the other choices, and accepted a loan of fifty dollars in exchange for a one-hundred and fifty dollars.

What was I thinking? Other than noticing how small the text size was becoming as I attempted to review my terms and conditions, not much.

As I replaced my cash with plastic, I managed to pile up bills (tabs) at a variety of vendors. So to sustain my “lifestyle” I had to use a card (or two) to cover whatever my money did not. I completely exhausted all of my other funds just to stay afloat.

Realizing that my tumultuous relationship with my old time companion would eventually become abusive, I searched for a way to restructure my spending. Who helped me the most? Suze Orman.

Orman is a motivational speaker, and hosts of CNBC’s , The Suze Orman Show. She provides on-air financial information that ranges from wise investments to how much to save, along with various other programs on the cable network. I even checked out her site www.suzeorman.com and found helpful tips that I eventually adapted into my routine. Most of the available resources were truly inspiring and perfect to adapt to my advantage.

Thanks to the advice I decided to just be straight forward with myself and face all of the “pink” and “green” bills that were in my name, along with filing a credit report from an accredited financial institution, and laying it in front of me so that I was aware of the damage that was caused.

This was like a cleansing process for me because I took the first step to controlling my life and reshaping my future in a positive manner. I was no longer going to pretend as if a bill or a payment was not due for services that I received.

Also, I decided to use my money in the most beneficial way, to break my financial chains loose from around my ankles, and rise to the occasion of better money management.

Actually seeing what I accumulated over time made me a little hesitant to proceed, but the process was necessary. I then created a permanent list of the creditors, services, and products that were due payment, and decided to contact them directly to clarify every condition.

After my grand tally, I decided to pay ten dollars a month on every bill and I had a total of six. I figured out how much time it would take to pay off each bill and then paid extra if necessary to try to close it faster. In addition to paying off older bills, I managed to put money aside in a savings account for emergency purposes.

Now it was hard to deal with the errors of my ways and try to tackle the issues that I created. But instead of continuing down the same path, I embraced a new philosophy in life, now, I make sure to remember that no matter how bleak the situation looks I know that I could resurface from any dilemma if I don’t ignore it. So embrace the challenges, and you’ll come out on top.

The lessons learned from this situation far exceeded the problems faced.