A Stupid Credit Card Debt
I was recently divorced and I had no job. I was living at an old aunt’s place, since I couldn’t even rent a room and all I had was a credit card. I had already started paying the minimum amount and it was excessively overloaded. In the end, as it happens to most individuals in the same situation, they called me in to hand over the card, so they could void it.
Accumulative Interest
What came next was an endless “pilgrimage” with my few belongings, from house to house. No steady job, since I was quite battered due to the fact that in the course of just 30 days I was left without a job, without a family and no place to live in. I started a “dry” spell and it remained with me until I finally got round to a new atmosphere, new job and new energy. But the card debt… was accumulating interest.
It Is Easier Said Than Done
I had started a new era in my life, finding a new niche and exploiting it very well, since it was a free-lance job. In the end I slided into a self-employed situation that was very well paid. I had learnt to sell my services very well and quite dear. I remembered the debt at all times, but I just didn’t feel like putting my head on the chopping block.
The Inevitable
One day, the inevitable happened. My father had passed away and my family needed to sell the house to buy a smaller one for my mother. Seven brothers and sisters had to sign an authorization for the sale… But I was barred from all commercial operations because I had a debt. What started as a $5,000 debt was now, after 7 years, a nice fat sum of $20,000.
The Solution
My sister took a loan under her name and a small part of it was used for the moving and some repairs that had to be made on the new apartment. The rest was all to pay for my debt, cash down, so as to accelerate my legal rehabilitation. And now, came the real difficult part. I had to pay an installment of $800, at a time I had not planned to allot that much money to a debt I didn’t even want to pay back.
Four Long Years
Forty-eight months of bleeding my pocket from its precious greenbacks. There was no other option. If I failed to pay, it could mean serious trouble for my sister and in the long run a default with the probable loss of my mother’s house.
I still don’t know how I managed to pay every single payment. The summer months are usually bad for business, since I was teaching English to Korean immigrants and when their kids had vacations, they dropped off. I skipped a payment at the very beginning, but made up for it the following month.
Conclusion
What I mean with this is that when you want to hold on to your precious home, and especially the home of those who depend on you, you don’t know how you manage, but you pay up. And your property is never at risk. With a firm intention, there is no fear of not making it.
