For Eric Chiado and Kelly Knieling, it all started with a Christmas hobby horse.
The year was 1998, and they splurged to buy the horse for their 2-year-old daughter, Chloe. "And then she never used it," Ms. Knieling remembered, laughing.
The purchase put them over their $5,000 credit card limit and slapped them with a penalty, and while that wasn't a back breaker, it was a warning sign.
Mr. Chiado had a good job as an engineer, and they always paid cash for major purchases like appliances or furniture, and yet somehow, like many other middle-class families, they were always struggling.
"That was also the year we said we have so little money we can't even buy gifts for anyone else. We didn't buy for each other that year, and I remember my mother being horrified by that," Ms. Knieling said.
But it wasn't just a holiday crisis.
"At that time, he was paying the bills and he would often look at me and say 'All right, we have $60 left,' and I would say, 'But we have to eat for two weeks.' "
"We were in the place of every month having no money left, literally paying everything out and realizing we were one of those paycheck-to-paycheck families," Mr. Chiado added.
It has taken a lot of hard work and determination to climb out of that hole, they said.
It also took Dave Ramsey, a Christian financial adviser who has built a large following through a popular radio program and several books.
When they first heard about Mr. Ramsey, Mr. Chiado and Ms. Knieling were attending Forest Hills Presbyterian Church, but they couldn't afford the $80 fee to attend the Ramsey course that the church was offering.
Later, a friend loaned them all the Ramsey tapes, and they watched them back to back over two days, "like they were movies," Mr. Chiado said. "After we watched the first couple tapes, we thought, 'This is it.' "
The couple now teaches Mr. Ramsey's Financial Peace course, as well as following its principles in their daily lives. The oversimplified version of the Ramsey approach is that families should first build up an emergency fund of $500 to $1,000. After that, he recommends paying off all credit card and other debts, from smallest to largest. Finally, Mr. Ramsey is OK with people having mortgages, but ideally just for 15 years, "and he says whatever payment you can afford on a 15-year mortgage should determine what price house you can buy," Mr. Chiado said.
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Over the past several years, they have paid off student loans of $10500, several car loans totaling $58000, and consolidation and home equity loans of $16000. Their student loans are one sign of how much has changed in the American economy.
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WBJ reported then that he had been a Realty Executives agent for six years after owning a disc jockey service, a pawn shop and payday loan business and working in retail and computer repair. Looking at consolidation more broadly, the National
You may be able to seek the help of a debt settlement company if the student loans are not government-guaranteed, but be aware that student loans are generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy. If you can, avoid check-cashing stores or payday loans.
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