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Cristina Flores will inspire you with her story about how she got out from under a mountain of bills.
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I HAD BEEN WORKING SINCE I WAS 16 and had never lost a job. So when I was laid off from my position as a sales rep for a kitchen-cabinet company four years ago, I never saw it coming. I was shocked and upset. It paid $48,000 a year, which is pretty good where I live. My husband and I were having marital problems at the time, so even though we were still living together, we decided to split all the bills. That was hard to get used to because he had been the big breadwinner, and we had always shared our earnings.
After being laid off, I didn’t have enough money to pay my share. I was collecting unemployment, but it was only $360 a week, and I have two sons to take care of—so I started using my credit cards to make up the difference. It took me six months to find another job. I went to so many interviews, and I just couldn’t find anything. A lot of people were telling me I was overqualified and they couldn’t afford to pay me what I wanted. I finally found a sales spot with a power-tool company; it didn’t pay as much as my old job—only about $30,000—but I took it anyway. Four months into that position, I was laid off because the company was sold. I thought, “This can’t be happening again.” I decided to become a flight attendant, but during my five-week training program, I didn’t get paid. By that time my debt was up to $60,000. I wasn’t earning enough to make my monthly payments. I was feeling desperate.
I opened new credit accounts to pay for the old ones. Then I tried getting a loan at the bank, thinking, “I’ll just get a big loan and pay everything off and then I’ll have one loan payment,” but I didn’t qualify because I had too much debt. I had to borrow from my parents and my brother, but it got to the point where I couldn’t pay them back either. By then I had 12 credit cards, and they were all maxed out. That’s when I knew I was in over my head. My brother told me I had two choices: file for bankruptcy or try a debt-management program. I found a good program on the Internet, and over the past three years I’ve paid off $33,000 of my debt; I’m more than halfway there. .gif)
Now I have two jobs: I work as a sales rep during the week and as a flight attendant on the weekends, when the boys stay with their father. Our divorce was final in October, and my ex-husband pays child support. He also took over the house payments in return for keeping all of his retirement fund. In two more years, I’ll have paid off all my debts, and I will be able to go back to working just one job and spending more time with my family. In the meantime, I’ve picked up a few tips that I’d like to share:
1. Save for an Emergency
I had been one of only two bilingual employees with my company, and I would travel all over Mexico. I thought I was irreplaceable. When I was laid off, I wasn’t prepared and didn’t have much in savings. Before my husband and I had problems, our money went into one account, and since he made a lot more than I did, I never felt that I needed to set some aside. Once I was on my own, I realized how important it is to take charge of your own finances. |
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