Fox26 Houston: Veteran facing debt? Free resources available to help with your finances

MMI’s Thomas Nitzsche and MMI client Gabriel Grant join Mandi Moynihan from The USAA Educational Foundation and Heather Sullivan from FOX26 Houston to introduce a new partnership aimed at helping veterans and their families get out of debt and improve their financial wellness.

Transcription:

All right, so after serving our country, many veterans end up fighting a new enemy at home: debt. It can come from credit cards, auto loans, medical bills, even student loans. Whatever it is, it can be really stressful. Veterans can face a number of unique challenges. Now, there’s a new free resource, though, to help get them out of debt. Consumer reporter Heather Sullivan has more on how it all works.

Hi there, Heather. Yeah, good morning. So according to the Pew Research Center, 35% of veterans had trouble paying their bills in the first few years after ending their military service, often due to a loss of that steady paycheck. Well, now there’s a new free program to help those who have served our country get out of debt.

“Got out of the service, uh, went back to work for a while, uh, met my my wife.” Former Marine Gabriel Grant says he and his wife started a family and began building a house. “It progressed where we ran over budget, you know, again and again, and I, I had a work injury is the ultimate change that kind of upped the level of debt that I had.” He faced more than $25,000 in debt. “I couldn’t keep up with the amount of payments and every month it was just a struggle to make that bare minimum payment.”

He’s not alone. Debt is a mounting problem for many service members, veterans, and their families.

“The military faces unique challenges, such as frequent moves, deployments. Spouses often have gaps in income when they move.” That’s why nonprofit credit counseling agency Money Management International and the USAA Educational Foundation have teamed up. USAA offers a free self-help program called Debt Destroyer on its website.

“So people can come and self-serve and really take this six-step approach. We’ve got our video series, we have a calculator to help people come up with a plan to get out of debt.”

“Throughout that process, people can get connected to one of our experts at MMI to help them, um, specifically with debt challenges, whether that’s working with the creditors directly or giving them advice on how to navigate, um, their unique situation.”

“They kept me on track of making this lower, more affordable monthly payment, and every time I got extra money, I would immediately throw it towards the, the total.” Grant paid off his $25,000 with the help of MMI. “Being debt-free is, is great. I finished the house build, you can, that surround me here in the background.”

So I put a link to the program, it’s on Sullivan Smart Sense on fox26houston.com. Should help a lot of people, you guys.

Oh, it sure sounds like it, Heather. Are there any other resources to help veterans?

Yeah, there are quite a few. And in fact, the National Foundation for Credit Counseling has a foreclosure prevention program for veterans. And if you have a VA-backed mortgage, you also may be able to refinance to reduce your interest rate. So just reach out for help.

Yeah, some help that’s so needed because so many people come back and they’re struggling, fighting another issue. So all right, Heather, thanks a lot.

You bet.