How Financial Coaching Helped Me

Like most college students, I received what seemed like hundreds of offers for credit cards. It seemed like every major bank had a sales rep on campus. They all offered a free tee shirt or other gifts, and all I had to do was fill out an application. They even said that I could declare money that my parents gave me as part of my income when I filled out their application.

Of course, I filled out as many applications as I could, and I accepted every card that I could get. At the time I didn’t have any credit education, and to be honest if I had realized the consequences of my actions, I probably wouldn’t have accepted all of those credit cards.

I decided to use the cards so that I would have money to travel. In fact, about a week before leaving, I received another card with a $4,000 limit. I was so excited about all of the places I was going to see.
My friend and I flew to London the next week. Our plan was to take the train to visit the best European cities. At the beginning of our trip, we were feasting, drinking and having a merry time. About two weeks later we were practically out of money. With no regard to any of the credit education, she called all of her credit cards and requested them to lift her credit limits.

Several times, we stuck a card into an ATM, punched in the PIN, and stood with our heads near the cash dispenser. We were listening to see if it was counting money. If it was not counting money, we assumed that we had reached our limit.

Our trip ended quickly, and as soon as we were home, reality seemed harsh. We both had more monthly bills than we could handle. After a while, we even stopped opening our bills. We started to hope that they would just disappear. They never disappeared. Eventually, bill collectors started to call us. They even called our parents. That was the last straw. We both knew that we needed to get help.

We contacted a financial coaching place in order to receive credit education. They collected information about our income and about our expenses. Then, they put us on a repayment plan. Their credit education was so helpful. I finally felt like I understood how credit cards and interest rates worked.

By: Randshan Saldin

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Their financial coaching services were immeasurable. Every month I would send the organization money. They in turn, would send out payments to all of my creditors. Within a few years, I was debt free. My friend also completed a credit education and a financial coaching program and she was out of debt in five years. We're now saving up for our next adventure.