My Story

I used to have fairly good money management skills. After paying off student loans within two years of getting out of school, my credit was top-notch.

Then I got some high-limit credit cards when I was about 22...like everyone who gets their first credit card in the mail, you swear you'll "only use it for emergencies" or "only buy one thing with it, then pay it off right away". Pretty soon, like almost everyone I know, I was living off of those little pieces of plastic. I simply wasn't living in my means.

In 2001, I enlisted in the Navy, which really made things hard. I was stationed in Guam, and could barely keep up with my bills. To make matters worse, I had taken out a loan on a new car. At the time, I was still in denial, but I also believed I could get myself out of the slippery slope I was in.

After I got out of the Navy and took a job, I was laid off after working for four months. The debt kept piling on and on, with bill collectors calling me all the time. Besides the credit card bills from years ago, I also had medical bills, my car loan, and a slew of parking tickets from the City of Chicago.

About a year ago, I filed for bankruptcy. I know bankruptcy is a bad thing, but I really had no choice. I knew my credit would be screwed anyway.

Filing for bankruptcy was a fairly easy process and it did leave me with a lot of relief. I was so relieved, in fact, that I did one of the most idiotic things a person who is trying to rebuild her credit could do: I started taking out payday loans. Pretty soon, I was in the nasty "pay day loan cycle", taking one out to try and pay another one off, and never having any money in my bank account due to the loan companies withdrawing ridiculous charges.

I found this site by chance, and I have visisted it daily ever since. It is so good to know that there are people out there who possess the knowledge that I had no idea existed. There are rights out there that I was not aware of. Heck, I thought I DIDN'T have rights.

After being harrassed on the phone by collectors, it is so good to read other people's stories and know that I am not alone and that there IS somewhere I can turn to for information!