Taking Responsibility for Debt While Avoiding Bankruptcy

Melissa N. was a homeowner and a mother with what she calls a "great job" that paid very well. The now-retired Fayetteville, North Carolina, resident explains that she got into bad spending habits with an "I want it now" mentality, as opposed to a "Do I need it now?" one. For many years, she found herself turning to credit cards to purchase items she wanted, without considering the consequences. "It wasn't something that happened overnight," she says of her mounting debt. "It was progressive."

She tried to remedy the situation on her own, by making bigger monthly payments, taking out a home equity loan and doing balance transfers. "I thought, being an educated woman with a bachelor's degree in engineering, that…I should be able to get out of this." But none of the steps she took changed her spending habits.

When she made the first call to Freedom Debt Relief, she talked with a representative who was "someone like me," says Melissa. "I felt stupid because of the situation I had gotten myself into."

However, the Freedom Debt Relief representative, "made me feel very comfortable," Melissa says.

The representative explained the program to her in detail, Melissa explains. "I felt very…confident that the program was what I needed." In looking at alternatives, Melissa says she was "embarrassed" to go through bankruptcy, and "did not want to have a bad credit rating haunting me for years." She also felt responsible for her debt, and wanted an option that helped her repay her creditors.

"You feel like you're drowning," says Melissa of her spiraling debt. "FDR was that life jacket."

"It was the best decision I ever made," she adds. "My only regret is…I didn't do it sooner."