How this family crawled out of a $54K COVID-era debt hole

The effects of the pandemic didn’t end when we took off our masks. For Jacob and his wife, it led to a barrage of costly, unfortunate events that were out of their control. 

Through resilience and a solid financial plan, their credit card debt is now behind them. Here’s what happened.

Stressful times, lean times

In 2020, work dried up for the Delaware couple. It was the height of the pandemic, and the number of people getting COVID started to spike. Like so many of us, they were stuck at home.

Jacob and his wife did everything they could to stay financially afloat. With their income halted, they tried to save money by cutting back on expenses. Sadly, their cuts barely made a dent. Their biggest financial obligation was a mortgage payment. Not to mention a car payment and utility bills for the house. 

Soon enough, the pair burned through their savings and started racking up debt. Their credit scores took a nosedive.

"As much as we were… doing the right thing to save money where we could, it really didn't make us any better off as time went on," says Jacob, “because the money was still drying up and that was extremely stressful.”

Jacob was drowning, and he needed a debt solution

As their financial stress mounted, the couple lived in fear, overwhelmed by the depth of their debt hole. Having so many debt accounts was like having “multiple drill sergeants yelling in a bunch of different directions all at the same time.” 

One day, Jacob saw an ad for Achieve on social media. Curious, he filled out a short questionnaire. An Achieve debt consultant reached out right away and talked to Jacob and his wife about their situation. 

The debt consultant explained in great detail what to expect and several options. Jacob and his wife were impressed by the rep's warmth and politeness and were very happy with what they heard. They didn’t feel judged at all.

They enrolled in Achieve Resolution with seven credit card accounts and 2 personal loans. Achieve worked to negotiate partial debt forgiveness, and Jacob and his wife worked to contribute money each month toward resolution agreements. 

Jacob explained that Achieve provided experts who helped him make sense of the numbers and understand his options. 

Instead of struggling with making payments on 9 different debts totaling $59k, they now made a single, affordable monthly payment to their dedicated program account. This felt like a massive relief to Jacob.  

How Jacob went full throttle on getting rid of his debt

After they established a history of making consistent on-time program payments, Jacob and his wife were invited to apply for an Achieve acceleration loan. This is a special opportunity for members who have demonstrated that they are fully committed to getting rid of their credit card and loan debt through Achieve debt resolution. The couple were very interested in how an Achieve acceleration loan works.

After Jacob and his wife were approved, Achieve reached out to their remaining creditors to negotiate on their enrolled debts. Their acceleration loan was finalized for the exact dollar amount required to resolve the remaining enrolled debts. Now, Jacob makes a single monthly payment against his loan. It’s an installment loan, which could put Jacob on the road to a healthy financial future if he makes all of his payments on time*.

The Achieve acceleration loan helped them speed up their debt resolution program and put the couple in a better place to handle their other financial obligations. 

"At first, it felt like we were going down a crazy river filled with rapids, cutting from side to side, bobbing up and down and not really knowing when it's going to finally settle around the bend," says Jacob. When he recalled becoming an Achieve member, he described the feeling as “being able to take a heavy bag of bricks and just finally being able to put it down." 

What life after debt looks like

The couple had long dreamt of relocating to Northern California to be closer to Jacob's wife's relations, buy a home, and start a family of their own.

With the huge burden of debt behind them, this was something they could really do.

The pair sold most of their belongings, packed what they wanted to keep in a cargo van, and drove cross country.

“It was an incredible journey," says Jacob.  He and his wife sold most of their things and hit the road in a cargo van. They started in Delaware and drove across the country to California, experiencing the beauty of the Midwest and the West. They bought a home and started a family. “And none of that would have happened if the Achieve Resolution loan hadn't happened,” says Jacob.

By facing his debt head-on—and with a bit of help from Achieve—Jacob and his wife are pursuing their dreams. Their credit card debt is behind them.

Jacob knows that when you're hit with financial troubles, burying your head in the sand won’t help. "You've got to find a solution, stare it in the face, and just keep fighting until you find something."  

*We can’t make any guarantee about what will happen to your financial profile. Everyone’s situation differs. Your financial profile is based on a number of factors besides your bill-paying history and your current unpaid debt, including the number and type of loan accounts you have, and how long you’ve had your loan accounts open.