WVIT New Britain: Dealing with record-high debt
MMI’s Thomas Nitzsche and MMI client Gabriel Grant talk with consumer reporter Caitlin Burchill at NBC Connecticut about record-high credit card debt and how to become debt-free with the help of nonprofit credit counseling.
Transcription:
This is NBC Connecticut News at 4. Credit card debt can put a massive weight on people's shoulders and wallets. How a local nonprofit helped a man pay off $25,000 in just a few years.
Well, America's credit card balances are at an all-time high, with our total debt topping $1 trillion.
Hard to fathom, with student loan payments continuing soon, financial experts are concerned for a debtor's futures. But there is help out there for folks dealing with debt. As NBC Connecticut Responds consumer reporter Caitlin Burchill explains.
Gabriel Grant's home build quickly became a headache, an expensive one. "We overshot our budget grossly, and then I turned to credit cards at that point." As costs increased, life happened too, with a job change and a baby on the way. And payments became unmanageable for Gabriel.
"I was over $25,000 in debt when I found MMI, so, and that was between five different credit cards and a personal loan on top of that too. So it was, it was a lot."
Gabriel found MMI, Money Management International Services, while searching for help online. MMI is a nonprofit that offers debt management plans for free or for a minimal fee, with the goal of giving you financial freedom.
"It bundled everything into one payment and most of the interest payments went down below half of what they were when I was working with the credit card companies. So they were able to negotiate lower interest rates for me and just make that easy monthly payment where I could make that payment every month." With MMI's guidance, Gabriel was able to clear his debt in three years.
"$25 grand paid off.”
“Paid off. Uh, every time I had extra cash, wherever it was from, I would just make sure and devote it towards that, and it it paid off quicker than I thought it would."
"He came to us when he was looking for a consolidation loan, um, he actually wasn't looking for counseling or education at all, but he found that part of it so empowering. When he got a windfall, he would put it towards that debt management program. He was able to pay it off early, increased his credit score over 50 points along the way."
If someone watching can relate to Gabriel's tougher financial times, he encourages you to find a plan and a program to help.
"Be proactive about it really, because the longer you let it build up, the more avenues you try to approach it, it just it builds a web of debt, and it it's hard to, to climb out of that, really.”
For NBC Connecticut, I'm consumer reporter Caitlin Burchill.
