From Debt Nightmare to Financial Freedom: Nick’s $24K Payoff Journey with MMI

Show Notes

• Guest: Nick Vega
• Host: Tara Alderete
• Publication Date: November 26, 2024

Highlights

01:44 | Nick's Story of Debt

05:30 | Exciting end payment, comforting counselor familiarity

07:40 | Money often disrupts family life and relationships

11:20 | Never vacationed before; now financially able

Episode Transcript

Tara: Hey there. Today I'm talking with Nick Vega from Centereach New York. Working with us here at Money Management International, Nick paid off over $24,000 in debt in about four years through MMI's debt management plan. Nick is here today to share his debt payoff story. Nick, welcome to the show.

Nick: Hey, good morning, Tara. How are you?

Tara: I'm doing well. How about yourself?

Nick: Fantastic. Thank you for asking.

Tara: I'm so happy that you're here with us today. So, Nick, before we jump in and get started, why don't you just tell us a little bit more about you, where you live, what you do.

Nick: Sure. So my name is Nick Vega. I live in Long Island, New York. I should say on Long Island, New York. If anybody ever heard me say yen, that would be a problem. I am an it manager for a managed service provider. So I manage our night shift. I've got a team of about eight employees, and, you know, we do 24/7 around the clock it support for folks.

So I've been with the company for ten years now, so it's a good time. We got a strong team.

Tara: Wow. Listen, it people are some of my favorite people, I gotta tell you. So again, I appreciate you being on with us today, Nick. So why don't you just tell us a little bit about what was happening before you came to MMI and how you found us.

Nick: Sure. So as far as what was happening, as a younger man, I was definitely guilty of being a credit criminal. You know, I would take the cards out and max them out within months of having them. You know, that those numbers kind of grew out of control. And I wound up just doing a basic Internet search looking for debt relief or debt consolidation, and happened to come upon MMI. And the reviews were solid. So I reached out, and here we are today.

Tara: Yeah, Nick, you said, I think it's a common situation that a lot of people can relate to. We just have credit cards, we use them. It doesn't seem like we're spending that much. And then pretty soon, those numbers are just so high. And with even an average interest rate, it feels like we're not making any headway on those payments. So how did working with the debt counselors here at MMI help you see a path forward?

Nick: Well, I'll start out by saying having an end date, having a light at the end of the tunnel, was the first huge step. As you said in the beginning, you know, we're over $24,000 in debt. That number just seems completely insurmountable. I don't know where to start? I. You know, the payments don't seem like they're doing anything. Some of the interest rates are over 20%. So even trying to make minimum payments is almost like you're not doing anything at all. Knowing that, all right, it might be four years, but on this date, four years from now, this debt is gone.

That's the motivation there.

Tara: I love it.

Nick: Also, they made the process easy as far as gathering the information about my balances, my interest rates, taking care of negotiating down the interest rates, and, you know, me just having to make one monthly payment, I think that's another thing. It doesn't feel like I owe money to everybody in the neighborhood at this point. Now it starts to feel like, all right, I've got my one payment. It's effectively, if I had a monthly loan payment, fine, I make that one payment that automatically comes out. MMI was taking care of everything else. So also, I guess the. The autonomy that you folks have that I just don't need to be involved in the process. Aside from making sure that the money is in my bank account every month, that really made a difference.

Tara: Also, and like you said, you know, just sometimes knowing that there's an end date in mind, and especially when you take a look at the information that's included on your credit card statement and you see the difference between minimum payments and how many years that could take you, sometimes up to 30. Right. And then making a little bit extra. So, like you said, having an end date of years in mind makes things much easier. So I appreciate that. Where were your interest rates able to be? I feel, I know on a debt management plan, typically they can be a little bit lowered. But I was reading through your story, and it looks like you had some pretty phenomenal interest rates on the plan.

Nick: Yeah, like I said, I had some of these cards. I think the lowest interest rate I started out with was probably 19 point something percent, and some of my interest rates were able to come down into, like, 3%.

Tara: Makes a big, big difference. Most of your money is going to that payment. Yep. So you talked a little bit about sort of the ease of one monthly payment, not feeling like you're owing everybody in the neighborhood. I wanted to ask if there was anything else you wanted to share about your credit counseling experience overall, and then what was the most important thing that you would say you learned throughout the process?

Nick: When I was getting toward the end of the program and I started logging into the website and seeing some of these creditor balances showing zero, I called in to kind of check where the final payments were going to be allotted. Working out the math, it seemed that one payment, that the final payment wouldn't have been for the full amount, and I was paying over dollar 400 a month. So that was exciting to know that I was going to have one smaller payment at the end. And when I called in again after not having had contact since my payments were automatically coming out after not having had contact with one of the debt counselors for some time, to be able to jump right back in and they were completely familiar with my account, with exactly what was going on. That was just comforting.

Tara: Great.

Nick: It didn't feel like just being a number. I actually felt like the people who are doing this care about what they're doing. So that was huge because it's really easy to, you know, I work with a lot of vendors as well at work, and it's really easy to feel like you're just, you know, next in line, next in the call queue. And I never got that feeling here as far as what lessons I've learned. You know, big lessons in responsibility, not spending what you don't have. You know, I use my credit cards as an emergency reserve, not as free play money. Swipe, swipe, swipe. You know, seeing that amount of money go away is again a huge motivator to not let it build back up again.

Yeah, so just some self control. Definitely budgeting skills because, you know, budgeting for the monthly payment, making sure that my paycheck was going to cover my monthly payment every month, that kind of was just a microcosm of a bigger picture of how to properly budget for my bills every month. So that's another critical skill. And not directly, but it also helps with interpersonal skills. I mean, I can definitely say my relationship with my wife is better now that I don't have a huge chunk of debt looming over my head. So that's an added bonus that came out of the program.

Tara: It is interesting. Every time I hear or read something about money being one of the biggest sources or causes of a disruption in family life or relationships or stress at work, even though I know that's true, it always seems a little bit surprising and telling just because it's such a common situation. We'll talk about that in just a minute. But, you know, you talked a lot about budgeting and self control and things like that, and I just want to go back to that number. $24,000 is such a. It's such an accomplishment in four years to pay off that amount of debt. So what advice would you give to somebody in a similar situation, you need to just kind of use those credit cards. It got out of control.

Tara: Weren't even really realizing it. And then all of a sudden, you find yourself here and you were able to do it. So what advice would you give somebody that finds themselves in a similar position?

Nick: I mean, admitting you have a problem, right? During the twelve steps, admitting you have a problem is the first step. You know, admitting to yourself that things are out of control and that it is time to seek help is. That's gotta be the first step. Cut the cards. Cut the cards. And, you know, if you're in that situation to begin with, you probably don't have that self control, and you probably aren't budgeting your money, physically stopping yourself. You know, don't give yourself a shortcut, take it out of your apple pay. So limit your responsibility and don't leave that as an avenue for you to continue building that debt.

And then get on the line with these good folks at MMI and start that program. Start that program. Start getting those interest rates negotiated down, start getting that monthly payment set up. You have to just kind of pull the plug, take the plunge and go.

Tara: Yeah, yeah, I've heard that before. So I wanted to ask. We're talking about debt, and it's just such a common thing. I think most of us have it in common, and yet it's a topic that we don't typically talk about. So how do you think debt counseling nonprofits like MMI is working with consumers to break that debt stigma?

Nick: I think even if you start just by going through the website and look at testimonials like this, it's every walk of life. It's, you know, whether you're a high school dropout or a college graduate or somewhere in between high. You know, it's, the program is there, it's available, people are using it. There is a stigma around it. This isn't something that I would regularly talk to friends over a couple of beers about how much debt I've built up. It's just not a part of our daily conversation. But it's so, so prevalent. They're dangling the carrot in front of you.

The money's available to you. Go spend. It's so easy to do that, yet it's not easy to talk about it, which is crazy, but it is easy to fix it. And that's what's more important. It's easy to fix it, it's easy to get the reins. And again, you folks have been wonderful with helping get to that point.

Tara: I'm happy to hear it. I love that you said that because I think it's so true. You said two so important things in this conversation, and the first was just look at yourself and say, I got to cut it out. Right. And then the second is just do it and know that it is possible. And so I love that. So, last question, and it's probably my favorite one. What does being debt free mean for you?

Nick: Vacations. Oh, plain and simple, vacations. I never went really on vacations as a child when I was a family, you know, with my family, teenage years, college years, post college years, any of that. Never went on any vacations. Now, I just got back from a cruise to Alaska a few weeks ago, and I'm leaving tomorrow for Disney. Yeah, we're taking the kids for their birthday. I can do that now because I've got my spending under control, because I have a surplus of money and savings, because I have, if I need to do a little extra spending that I wasn't planning on because I hear Disney might be expensive. You know, I've got a credit card that I can use that actually has an open balance because I didn't run the thing up and it's maxed out and I'm shipping away at it.

$30 at a clip, you know?

Tara: Right, right. I love it. I love it. Well, you guys are going to have a fantastic time. So is there anything else that you'd like to share?

Nick: Just make the move. You know, if you're in a similar situation, cut the cards. MMI. Just start the program. You know, you see that light at the end of the tunnel? It gives you hope. It curbs the spending. It goes hand in hand. I can't stress it enough how much this has changed my quality of life.

And I would hope that there are other people out there that even if there's one person that sees this video and decides that, you know, that's maybe I'll do it then. You know, I hope that the help that you've given me, I'm able to pass that on.

Tara: I love it. Well, happy birthday to your kids and you guys enjoy Disney. Thank you so much for sharing your story and congratulations and just have a great day. It was great having you on and talking to you.

Nick: Thank you so much, Tara. Likewise.

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