JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In just over a year, a local man was able to pay off $50,000 of credit card debt. Now, he wants to share how a debt management plan helped him achieve financial freedom.
Matt Dodson said it was fairly easy to rack up credit card debt. Paying it off was a different story.
“It was hopeless, it was daunting, kept you up at night. My journey was with my wife at the time, we bought a house and got into remodeling, had this dream of making what we wanted, with the goal of flipping it and turning a profit,” Dodson said.
Dodson said they started with short-term credit cards — and it got overwhelming “real fast.” That’s when he went looking for help.
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“When you couldn’t pay the minimums, and you weren’t getting work, you’re looking at how am I going to afford to pay groceries and keep the lights on? We sat down and we were just like, we’ve got to do something,” Dodson said.
Dodson is not alone. Right now, people are carrying debt for longer periods and at record-high interest rates.
Americans’ total credit card balances add up to a record $1.08 trillion, according to the New York Fed. That’s a 40% increase since 2021.
Dodson found the help he was looking for after connecting with someone at Money Management International – a nonprofit with offices in Jacksonville that helps people get out of debt.
He used a debt management plan to pay off his creditors.
“Debt management as it relates to the nonprofit credit counseling space means that you’re going to consolidate all of your credit cards into one place with our nonprofit, and then you’ll just send funds to us, and we’ll send those funds to your creditors on your behalf,” Emanuel Rivero with Money Management International said.
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The plan can save you money with reduced interest rates and a faster debt payoff timeline that money management negotiates on your behalf. It is not a consolidation loan.
In 2022, the average client saved $32,926 with a debt management plan.
In four years, they paid $1,200 in fees to Money Management International which were factored into their monthly payments.
“When you have that weight taken off you, you’re just you feel like man, number one, I learned a whole bunch of lessons,” Dodson said. “Number two, you feel like you can actually take a deep breath because you’re not being crushed by financial worries. And three, it just felt surreal almost.”
Fees are assessed monthly; those are going to be determined by what state you’re in and they can range anywhere between $25 to about $50 per month.
If you’re interested in learning more about enrolling in a debt management plan, you can talk to a counselor for free and won’t be charged anything until you enroll in a plan.