Client Story: Charissa’s Journey Back To Financial Stability

7/28/2022

Charissa struggled with debt twice, but the second time she had Navicore on her side.

Charissa was like many of our clients with too much credit card debt. Thankfully, Navicore was able to help her reduce her interest and make a payment plan that she was able to stick to.

Charissa is married with three grown daughters who are successfully out on their own with their own families. When her daughters were young, Charissa made the mistake of putting too much on her credit cards to give her girls the best of everything. At that time, she and her husband remortgaged their home to take care of that debt and provide a clean slate and healthy credit score for Charissa.

As with many people, Charissa fell into old habits of over using her credit cards once again. In 2017, the problem was exacerbated by Charissa leaving her teaching job of over 23 years to help look after one of her 9 grandchildren. Her granddaughter needed extra attention after being born prematurely. While she was paid for her caretaking role with her granddaughter, there was a drop in her income.

Charissa found herself almost $30,000 in debt with high interest credit cards and struggling to make the minimum payments. Determined to fix the problem and not take out another mortgage on her home, she found Navicore through her bank. “I was feeling hopeless and unable to find a solution to fix my credit problem myself, and then I suddenly had an advocate in my credit counselor,” she said.

Her counselor was able to create a DMP plan with greatly reduced interest rates and a reasonable monthly payment. Charissa was able to sleep at night again with the burden and worry lifted from her shoulders. She worked towards increasing her income with a new part time job and was able to put more money towards her debt management plan. She found it exciting to log on to her account and see the balance decreasing every month.

Charissa is proud that she was able to make some short term sacrifices and stick to her new budget. Navicore Solutions gave her the confidence to get herself out of debt. She took advantage of the free financial education offered by Navicore and changed her mindset towards money.

Her life is good now with little stress. She was concerned that her financial stress would affect her health as she got older, but that is no longer an issue. Charissa has a new job she loves, teaching homebound students with complex medical needs. She has a new credit card that she uses responsibly and is able to now spend money within her budget on her 9 grandchildren, and help her church with their mission in the Philippines.

In hindsight, she wishes she had found Navicore years earlier, and that she was more open about her credit card debt with her husband who has always been very supportive of her. Overall, Charissa is delighted to be almost finished with her DMP. She says "Navicore was doing their job, and so I did mine by paying everything I could towards my plan."

 

 

 

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