Posted on November 6, 2007 at 2:32 pm My story isn't too bad, but I definitely started out down the wrong path. I was more or less debt free until I got married at 20 and inherited about $15,000 in student loan debt. ;-) Shortly after we bought a house for about another $80,000 in debt. Then bought a car for another $15,000. Got a credit card and put about $3,000 on it. And then the dumbest decision of all, about a year later we bought a second used car on the credit card so we didn't have to go through the hassle of getting a loan, for another $9,000 on the credit card. All together $122,000 in debt by the time I was 23.I think it was seeing the amount I was paying each month in interest alone that got my attention. I started doing a little side work to get some extra money, and used that to pay off the credit card as fast as possible. That took about a year and a half. We got 0% interest on the first car, and the student loan interest was pretty low, so we then started paying off the next highest interest debt which was our house. We would have just refinanced but we received a government grant for being a first time home owner that we would have had to pay back if we sold the house to refinanced within 10 years.We put everything extra we could find (side work, bonuses, tax refunds, birthday money, saved money from paying off the credit card, cut expenses, etc) against the house for another 4 years and I'm happy to say we just paid it off last week! (I'm 28 now) Having the house paid off is saving us something in the ballpark of $160,000 we would have paid in interest over the 30 year loan.We have paid off the first car, but have since bought a new car to replace the used on we bought on the credit card. We have about $10,000 in debt left on it. It's at 0% interest so we're in no rush to pay it off. The student loans are down to about $4,000 in debt which we plan to pay off this year. After which we'll be totally debt free with the exception of the car.So that's my story so far. With a lot of work, diligence of grace from God there is hope for getting out of debt. I'm starting this site to hopefully help others accomplish the same.

Posted on November 6, 2007 at 2:32 pm Very nice story and it is great to actually here how you persevered through the tough times. Congratulations and beating the fight on debt. I am sure it will be inspirational to many people.

Posted on November 6, 2007 at 2:32 pm I'm surprised the credit card companies didn't get you while you were still in college. My first day in college there were booths set up everywhere on campus giving away free lunch, t-shirts, etc if you filled out a credit card application. I filled out about 10, and never thought I would get them as I didn't even have a job. Sure enough a few weeks later my mailbox was full of credit cards. The credit card companies are parasites and assume that your parents will foot the bill after you max the cards out :mad:

Posted on November 6, 2007 at 2:32 pm It's because I didn't go to college. Part of the reason I 'inherited' student loan bills instead of having some of my own.

Posted on November 6, 2007 at 2:32 pm I'm glad to hear you're able to work things out. I guess it's good to persevere and try to do things as fast as you can, but I guess it's also bad to push things too much.

Posted on November 6, 2007 at 2:32 pm It's good to have went through that at a young age instead when you get older. I don't think you will get in that situation again. A lot of people get into trouble, but not that young. And it would take them longer to get out of that situation.

Posted on November 6, 2007 at 2:32 pm That's good to see you're working through your financial bumps in the road. Keep up the good work.

Posted on November 6, 2007 at 2:32 pm [QUOTE=scriptdude;8]yeah debt has to be wiped out but the only way to do it is stick to a budget and try to start some type of hobby and make a liitle cash on the side cheers:)[/QUOTE] my hobby is blogging, i hope i learn how to make money off that:)

Posted on November 6, 2007 at 2:32 pm That's a very inspiring theory of discipline. It's great that you were able to overcome your debt, but stress out your limits too much or you might end up in even bigger trouble.

Posted on November 6, 2007 at 2:32 pm I spent the better part of my working life living the highlife but in 1998 it got me. I lost my job and a good income. Everything I had was covered by a credit card or loans. I lost almost everything. The debt trap got me. Now, this is the sad part. I put people into business and trained then on the proper way to run a business. This included working from a budget and not going into debt over your head. I also ran a successful business but it was my personal life that was out of control. If I made a dollar I spent it. Why didn?t I look in the mirror and talk to myself? I spent from 1998 to 2004 trying to figure out where I went wrong. After working the Internet and talking to, I don?t know how many people I found the answer. I?m happy to say that I?m now debt free. I use only a debit card and live a good life, without the worry of how to pay the bills at the end of the month. Funny, I now do seminars on debt for people that are in the same fix I was in.