One couple wants to stop living paycheck to paycheck. A big obstacle: Nearly $40,000 in credit card debt

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mariza and Geffrey Gordon are among a handful of participants selected to work one-on-one with a financial expert for CNN’s Savings Challenge. This story was originally featured in the Savings Challenge newsletter, which you can sign up for here .

Milwaukee-based couple Mariza and Geffrey Gordon have been living paycheck to paycheck, saddled with a number of debts. They want to break out of that cycle.

They were a dual-income couple when they signed up for CNN’s Savings Challenge, but soon after Mariza learned she was getting laid off and would only get two months’ severance.

In her first Savings Challenge consultation with the couple, budgeting expert and financial educator Tiffany Aliche came away with two key impressions.

CNN Photo Illustration/Photograph by Tinnetta Putney (formerly Bell)

“They were so supportive of each other,” Tiffany said. And the best thing they’re doing, she added, is “seeking help. A lot of people just stay stuck.”

Having reviewed a summary of their financial situation, she realized she wouldn’t be able to address all their money issues given the limited timeframe for the challenge.

So she decided to focus on what she called “the pin sticking them the most.”

“The biggest thing weighing them down is their (credit card) debt,” Tiffany said.

Maansi Srivastava/CNN

Specifically, the couple had nearly $40,000 in credit card debt, most of which they racked up to pay for their wedding last year, Mariza said. And they have been paying about $1,400 a month just to meet their minimum monthly payment requirements.

Before diving into the specifics of their money situation, Tiffany asked the couple to forget about their money stresses for a moment and think seriously about what they wanted their lives to look like in the next decade. It’s an exercise she calls “dreamscaping.”

“I wanted to give them something to work (toward),” Tiffany said, noting that too often people fixate on becoming debt free without then doing the work to build net worth. After all, she noted, you can be debt free but still broke.

Tiffany’s recommendation: “Let’s get to a point where you don’t feel like your debt is drowning you. But the true goal is to grow wealth.”

Besides dreamscaping and coming up with a budget spreadsheet, she suggested the couple do two other things: 1) Check with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling to see what kind of debt repayment plan they might get; and 2) See if they qualify for a personal loan with a lower rate than their credit cards; or a balance transfer card.

A few days after their first call with Tiffany, the couple told CNN they really appreciated the dreamscaping exercise. “We were so caught up in the now and stressed about the present we hadn’t put thought into what we want for the future,” Mariza said.

They have a lot on their dreamscape list: own their home plus an investment property, take occasional vacations, start their own businesses and have individual IRAs on top of their workplace retirement savings plans.

They then started gathering information about what debt repayment might look like for them.

The NFCC, they said, told them they could get a five-year plan requiring them to make $900 payments every month – that’s $500 less than they‘ve been paying in minimums. The only catch: They would not be allowed to use any of their revolving credit during those five years.

“Given our situation, we don’t feel that option is the best fit for us right now, as we want to maintain some flexibility in case we need access to credit,” they told CNN in an email.

When they checked with a credit union, they learned that until they improved their credit scores, they won’t qualify for a personal loan at a favorable interest rate or a balance transfer card, which could give them up to 21 months to pay off what they owe interest free.

Now, Mariza said, “We want to get our score high enough to get a balance transfer card.”

What’s next: We’ll catch up again with Mariza and Geffrey in a few weeks. But next week, you’ll meet another participant, Jeff Kizer.

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编者按：玛丽扎和杰弗里·戈登夫妇是少数几位被选中参加CNN“储蓄挑战”活动，并与理财专家进行一对一辅导的参与者之一。本文最初刊登于“储蓄挑战”新闻简报，您可以在这里注册订阅。

居住在密尔沃基的玛丽扎和杰弗里·戈登夫妇一直过着月光族的生活，背负着许多债务。他们想要摆脱这种困境。

他们在参加 CNN 的储蓄挑战赛时是双职工家庭，但不久之后，玛丽扎得知自己将被解雇，只能获得两个月的遣散费。

在与这对夫妇进行第一次储蓄挑战咨询时，预算专家和金融教育家蒂芙尼·阿利切 (Tiffany Aliche) 留下了两个主要印象。

CNN图片插图/摄影：Tinnetta Putney（原名Bell）

蒂芙尼说：“他们彼此非常支持对方。”她补充道，他们做的最棒的事情就是“寻求帮助。很多人就这么一直陷在泥潭里。”

在审阅了他们的财务状况概要后，她意识到，鉴于挑战赛的时间有限，她无法解决他们所有的财务问题。

所以她决定专注于她所谓的“最让他们感到刺痛的事情”。

蒂芙尼说：“压在他们身上的最大负担是他们的（信用卡）债务。”

曼西·斯里瓦斯塔瓦/CNN

具体来说，这对夫妇背负着近4万美元的信用卡债务，其中大部分是去年为了支付婚礼费用而累积的，玛丽莎说。他们每月要支付大约1400美元才能达到最低还款额。

在深入探讨他们的财务状况之前，蒂芙尼请这对夫妇暂时忘却金钱压力，认真思考一下他们​​希望未来十年过上怎样的生活。她把这个过程称为“梦想构想”。

蒂芙尼说：“我想给他们一些奋斗的目标。”她指出，人们常常只关注如何摆脱债务，却忽略了积累财富的重要性。毕竟，她指出，即使没有债务，也可能仍然一贫如洗。

蒂芙尼的建议是：“让我们努力达到这样一个阶段：你不再觉得债务把你压垮。但真正的目标是积累财富。”

除了规划未来和制定预算表之外，她还建议这对夫妇做两件事：1）向全国信贷咨询基金会咨询他们可以获得什么样的债务偿还计划；2）看看他们是否有资格获得利率低于信用卡利率的个人贷款或余额转移卡。

在与蒂芙尼第一次通话几天后，这对夫妇告诉CNN，他们非常感谢这次的梦想规划练习。“我们当时太专注于当下，也太在意眼前的事情，以至于没有认真思考过我们想要怎样的未来，”玛丽莎说道。

他们的梦想清单上有很多东西：拥有自己的住房和投资房产，偶尔度假，创办自己的企业，并在工作场所退休储蓄计划之外拥有个人退休账户 (IRA)。

然后，他们开始收集有关债务偿还方案的信息。

他们说，NFCC告诉他们，可以申请一个五年还款计划，每月只需支付900美元——比他们之前支付的最低还款额少了500美元。唯一的附加条件是：在这五年期间，他们不得使用任何循环信用额度。

“鉴于我们目前的处境，我们认为这个选择现在并不适合我们，因为我们希望保持一定的灵活性，以防我们需要获得信贷，”他们在给 CNN 的电子邮件中写道。

当他们向信用社咨询时，他们得知，在提高信用评分之前，他们将无法获得利率优惠的个人贷款或余额转移卡，而余额转移卡可以让他们最多有 21 个月的时间免息偿还欠款。

玛丽莎说：“我们现在想把信用评分提高到足够高的水平，以便获得余额转移信用卡。”

接下来：几周后我们会再次见到玛丽莎和杰弗里。但下周，您将会认识另一位参与者，杰夫·凯泽。

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