The Beginning

My story is a little different than most of the PF blogs I read on a daily basis. I did get into credit card problems in college and defaulted on my student loans. Being from a poverty stricken area and watching my mom just rack up bad debt and walk away from it, it wasn't hard for me to ignore those bills coming in the mail and allow everything to go into collections.

However, once I separated from my first husband and moved to Atlanta, GA, I got a decent (for me) full time job. I called up the federal financial aid office and got the ball rolling on refinancing those loans to get them into good repayment standing. It wasn't easy to raise 3 daughters on $10 an hour in an expensive area with no other means of financial support, much less pay off debt while I did it. But, when you're determined, you'd be amazed at what you can do.

While I made darned sure to make those student loan payments every month, I completely ignored the two credit card bills I had. All total the debt was about $1500 in credit cards. So, I just concentrated on being able to feed and house my children and let those two debts go to the wind. They eventually got charged off by the credit card companies. I definitely don't recommend this as an avenue for dealing with debt, since it wreaked complete havoc on my credit rating. But, I kept on paying (still am) those student loan payments.

Right now, our total outstanding debt looks like this:
Student Loans: $4,700
Back Taxes: $70,000
Mortgage: $148,000

I paid off my mini-van two days ago, 9 months early, so we no longer have a car payment. That's one less worry. I know that doesn't look like "alot" to some people, but believe me, $75,000 in unsecured debt is not any fun to look at. My goal is to have that paid off by January 2010 (2 years!).