Long Story $hort: Season 4, Episode 6

The Path to Debt-Free Living: Rachel's Triumph over $28,000 Debt

Rachel Sweet is an EMS living in Colorado. After two separate car accidents, through no fault of her own, she was left with over $80,000 in medical expenses. Still injured, she was working multiple jobs to make ends meet and making no progress on her debt. At one point, she was projected to pay off her debts in 50 years.

After connecting with MMI, Rachel was able to consolidate six credit cards into one affordable payment, ultimately paying off $28,000 in less than four years.

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Long Story Short - Rachel Sweet

Show Notes

  • Guest: Rachel Sweet
  • Host: Tara Alderete
  • Publication Date: February 4, 2025

Highlights

  • 1:56 | Rachel talks about the car accidents that left her $80,000 in debt.
  • 4:31 | Rachel talks about the struggle of making payments and not making a dent in her debt, which ultimately led her to MMI.
  • 7:18 | Rachel shares her top lesson from her experience with debt.
  • 12:07 | Rachel and Tara discuss the importance of not being ashamed or afraid of debt.
  • 15:33 | Rachel shares her goals now that she’s debt-free.

Episode Transcript

Note: Transcripts are machine-generated and may contain errors.

Tara: Hey. So today I'm talking with Rachel this week from Colorado. Working with us here at Money Management International, Rachel paid off an incredible $28,000 in debt in just three and a half years through our debt management plan.

Debt. We've all heard of it. Most of us have it. Debt seems to be an unavoidable reality of life, but what happens when it starts consuming life? Here at Money Management International, we believe that financial challenges aren't meant to be faced alone. On this podcast, we hear stories of people whose lives have been changed by MMI. Their stories are unique, personal, and inspiring. Stay tuned. We're sharing each guest’s Long Story Short.

Rachel, welcome to the show.

Rachel Sweet: Thank you.

Tara: Before we get started, tell us just a little bit more about you.

Rachel Sweet: Yeah. So, just moved from San Antonio. I lived there for 12 years, grew up in Ohio, did EMS for seven years, and decided… just kind of a God thing moved me to Colorado. And in the middle of that move, broke both of my thumbs. And so I had to actually—you don't know this—but had to actually start working in a career that you don't need your thumbs. You need them for ems. And so I started actually working as a financial representative in the interim while my body heals and stuff like that.

So little something you didn't know.

Tara: That's amazing, actually. I hope you're liking it.

Rachel Sweet: Yeah. Okay.

Tara: So, you know, when I think about financial wellness and financial success, you know, our financial success and wellness is a journey. It is not a linear path, and we all know this. And I feel like at different points in our lives, our situations and our finances look totally different and stuff is always changing. So can you tell us a little bit more about what was happening before you reached out to us here at MMI? How did you find us? Things like that?

Rachel Sweet: Yeah. I don't remember the exact year I signed up with y'all, but in 2017, I was in a pretty decent car accident. It wasn't bad in the aspect of broken bones, but it had a lot of muscle skeletal issues and a lot of medical stuff from that. And the girl who hit me, her Insurance claimed 100% liability, so everything seemed like it was going to be okay. So to cover all the expenses, I actually opened up several different credit cards that had no interest for, like, 14 months or 12 months, because in my mind, I really believed that the settlement would pay off the entire debt and it would do it before it reached the interest rate. Little did I know that my injuries were a little more neurological in an aspect. Just lost some nerve feeling in certain areas, constant tingling in all four extremities. And so this made my medical expenses kind of go past. You know, I figured, you know, six, eight months and you know, I'll be better.

But I was still treating up to the two-year mark. There was a little, I won't go too in depth with it, but there was a little fluke. I was hit sideswiped a year after the first accident.

Tara: Oh geez.

Rachel Sweet: Immediately saw my doctors and chiropractors. No injuries were noted. Talked with the attorney for the first car accident and he said, don't do anything, you know, we don't want, you know, the car insurance company to, you know, it'll just cause too many issues. Well, little did we know they both had the same car insurance. And so they were able to see that I was in another accident. And so they refused to pay any medical expenses past that second car accident date. And so that kind of left me in a little bit of an SOL situation. You know, going into it thinking "I'm not going to have any credit card debt because this is all going to be paid off by a settlement and then some" to “I'm now stuck with, you know, like I think it was probably about $35,000-ish, give or take.”

And I think my medical expenses for the two years totaled about close to $80,000. And so with the little bit that we got, we were able to pay off providers. But then I was stuck with this debt and then interest kicked in and once interest kicked in, I was drowning. I've always been a workaholic, get it done, make-it-happen type of person. I'll have two or three jobs. There's a means to an, like you can make it through. But it didn't matter. I was working EMS, I was doing a cleaning business, I was still trying to heal from my injuries and struggling with that and I just, I wasn't making a dent in it.

And so I, I think it might have been like a year, year and a half after the fact. People kept telling me, oh, do like a debt consolidation. I'm like, that's just too much energy. Like it's too much, you know, to go through the paperwork to go through like, you know, giving them all this stuff. And I hate doing stuff over the phone anyways. I hate, you know, all that paperwork and whatnot. And so I just kept putting it off.

And finally I just got to this breaking point of I am never going to have a life if I can't get out from under this debt, like I'm projected to pay this off, and I. I can't remember. It was like 40, 50 years, and it's like, that's my life.

Tara: So you found us, you came to us, and I'm so happy that you did. So how did working with the debt counselors here at MMI help you sort of see the light at the end of the tunnel or see a path forward?

Rachel Sweet: It was really awesome because right before I signed up, I had, I think, like five or six different credit card payments. And, you know, doing the minimum payment, I think in and of itself was over like $800 a month.

Tara: Oh, wow.

Rachel Sweet: And not making a dent. So that was really hard. So one of the biggest things, and it was like they all came out at a different time. And so one of the biggest things that really helped was I knew every other Monday, $309 is coming out and it's going to one place, one phone number to call, one customer service, you know, representative to talk to. It's scheduled, I know that, you know, most months it's going to be $618. Other months it's going to be, you know, $927 or something like that, because it's every other, you know, it's bi-weekly. So it just really made it… that in and of itself just made it so much more simple.

And then they were able to get my credit, or, I'm sorry, my interest levels down to practically nothing compared to what they were. And so it just, you know, made it easy. I was actually projected to have it paid off June of this year. Somehow, I don't know if it has to do with, you know, the interest levels or whatnot, but I ended up paying it off in, I think, like November, December of 2023. So that was…

Tara: Oh, that's amazing.

Rachel Sweet: …a huge blessing.

Tara: So, yeah. Yes. Just in time to start the new year. Yeah, that's amazing. So you said a little bit about your experience, but, you know, what, what do you think is the most important thing that you learned throughout the process.

Rachel Sweet: Before the car accident and everything I've always been, you know, very much “don't open credit cards” like they're bad and stuff like that and just kind of found myself a victim of circumstance. And one of the biggest things that I've learned is that, even if you are a victim of circumstance, even if it seems like all the cards are stacked up against you, even if it feels like you're drowning, there's always a way out and there's always a way to move forward. It kind of also kind of heightened my—and I say this might sound a little hypocritical with my what might come next in the conversation—but it was like, okay, do not get into major credit card debt again. Just don't do it. It's a trap. Like, save up your money.

Pre-COVID, I was able to save up on this plan. I was able to save up about $12,000. COVID kind of sucked some stuff out of that and so I kind of, you know, depleted that. But it kind of just helped me have a better financial awareness of “don't spend more than you make,” ”don't splurge” and stuff like that, “have a better budget” and, you know, all that.

Tara: Yeah, just being more aware. So, you know, we talked earlier about financial wellness being a journey and certainly not a linear path. And so you mentioned that you were able to pay this debt off a little bit early, which is amazing. But then I know from talking to you before we started recording that something happened. And so if you could tell us a little bit more about that, I would appreciate it. People would love to hear it.

Rachel Sweet: Yeah, so I actually, so I was working EMS in 2023 and I was actually working on the border of Texas on a contract job. There was an influx of calls just with the border crisis and stuff. And the contract ended at the three months, it didn't extend. And so I found myself without a job. And so I kind of just, you know, prayed through things and told the Lord, you know, “I'll do whatever you want.” And through a series of events, doors opened wide open for Colorado.

And I did not want to leave Texas—very much love Texas—but the Lord opened the doors and so I was like, let's go. And so I did a little trip to Colorado, end of September, came back the very end of September, two days later, I think was October. And very beginning of October, right after I decided I was going to move to Colorado, fell roller skating with one of my friends and broke both of my thumbs. And so in the middle of my savings has already kind of depleted a little bit. I hadn't really been working much since July of that year, just doing little odd end things until I could find something more permanent. And it was like, okay, I have to pack up my entire house, I have to move and start a new career.

My thumbs weren't healing. I'll kind of backtrack there. Couldn't figure out I had like bruising all on my wrist. It's actually my wrist I broke, but it's the bone right before below the thumbs. And so I had to have a series of like, follow ups and exams and had to do MRIs. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm about to move. I don't have too much left in savings. I need to keep any amount that I have just for moving expenses. And so I did have to do credit card stuff again.

But I, I knew I was like, I'm not, you know, this is going to be very, very strict with this. This is only going to be, you know, necessities that absolutely have to get done to figure out what's going on with my thumbs. And then once we kind of get on track, we're just going to send this right back to MMI because unfortunately that credit card, it was interest right away. So there was no, like, grace period of no interest. And so once that door was closed, I'm like, okay, you're going right back because we're not going to let this get out of control. We're not going to drown in this. And we're getting this interest rate down because this is, this is, you know, too high.

Tara: I love it. I love it. And I love what you said and I love that you made the decision to say at the outset, this is a necessities only, nothing extra, and I'm paying this sucker off as soon as possibly can.

Rachel Sweet: Yeah.

Tara: And I'm glad that you had such a good experience that you were able to come back to us and that we can help you knock that out too. So thank you for sharing that. I just had a couple of questions. You know, we, we're talking about debt. And so it is something that is so common for so many of us, but we don't talk about it. We're talking about it today, but typically we don't. So how do you think debt counseling organizations, nonprofits like MMI, are breaking that debt stigma?

Rachel Sweet: I think, you know, it's just helping people see and realize that they don't have to be afraid of their debt. They don't have to be ashamed of it. My experience with MMI, nobody sat there and judged me like, oh my gosh, how did you get $30,000 in credit card debt? It was just, it was completely, oh, yeah, we're here to help. We're going to help counsel you. We're going to close out all the credit cards you're sending to us. So you're not going to be able to spend any more on that. For me, it just, it made it easier. You know, you're with your friends, your peers, you're kind of ashamed to be like, you know, I'm in so much debt. But with this, working with MMI, it's, it's been, you know, there's so many friends that I'm like, go to Money Management Incorporated. Like, go to them, call them up. I had really great success with them. And you know, I've, I've seen, you know, posts, these random things scrolling on Facebook, like, “don't do a debt consolidation. You know, it's a trap.” And I'm like, I go on it and I comment: “No, it's not. It gave me my life back.”

You know, so it's, I think a) the easability of it, the friendliness of the counselors, they really made it easy for me to make that first step. But then going forward, just being able to get out from under that debt just kind of gave me this torch to carry now. And I'm not ashamed to say, “hey, this is where I was, this is where I'm at now. And you can do it too.” Like, you can.

Call them up, I know that's the hardest step, but once they take it all… and what's funny, I got my… they send you a statement every month and it has a little pie chart that has the percentage that your debt has paid off, how much percentage you have left to go. And you know, every month I'm like, oh yeah, okay, I'm a little closer. And I got my last statement and it's the only one I'm keeping. And I, I haven't bought a frame for it yet, but I'm like, I want to buy a frame for this because this was huge. Like, this was big.

Like as 0% debt on this, it's a hundred percent paid off. This is hard. But I did it, I stuck to it, and you know, it's done.

Tara: So it's exciting, it's good stuff. I'm happy that you're sort of working with us to help break that debt stigma. You know, telling people “no it is not, it’s a good thing,” you know, and I think it's going to go a long way, these types of conversations. So, last question: what does being debt free mean for you? You were able to pay off $28,000 in three and a half years. You've got a little bit left to go. And this other situation that happened unexpectedly, but, you know, you climbed a big, big mountain. So tell us about what being debt free means for you.

And now that you've been able to achieve this debt reduction goal, what comes next?

Rachel Sweet: Yeah, I feel free. I don't feel weighed down. It was such a breath of fresh air to see that, you know, everything was paid off. And it, it's interesting that it was paid off six months early and it was paid off at a time that it really needed it to be paid off. So I don't have that stress anymore. Even though it was easy to work with, there was still that $618 a month is going to this.

Tara: Right.

Rachel Sweet: And so that stress is gone. I’m able to save more, I'm able to focus more on me, my health, my now family. So yeah, it's just, I don't have that burden. I don't have that okay, I have to go get 2, 3, 4, 5 jobs just to make ends meet. I can actually have more time, you know, to focus on other things, what comes next. So I just got married, May 7th. My husband and I are right now… he owns the home, so I guess I own the home. But we would actually like to start saving up for some land.

And so that's kind of the goal and then, you know, lord willing, have a family. So that's kind of next. And having that money freed up allows us to be able to put more into savings for that and prepare for that.

Tara: That's amazing. Congratulations on your, on your wedding and on your move. And I hope everything's healing up nicely and...

Rachel Sweet: Thank you.

Tara: …and I thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today and to share your story. I really, really appreciate it. So best of luck to you, Rachel. Thank you.

Rachel Sweet: Thank you as well.

Tara: This guest is a real MMI client whose success is the result of hard work and dedication. While MMI cannot guarantee results, taking early action can increase available options and improve long term outcomes. Thanks for listening to this episode of Long Story Short. Brought to you by Money Management International. To learn more about our work and how we're helping people in all walks of life repay debt, balance their budget and find lasting financial peace of mind. Visit moneymanagement.org.

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